Freelance Health Insurance Buffer Calculator

About this calculator

Freelancers and independent contractors don't get employer-subsidized health coverage, so the full cost of premiums, deductibles, and other benefits has to come out of billable work. This calculator spreads your annual benefits cost across your billable hours to find the hourly rate uplift you need to add on top of your base rate just to break even on coverage.

The math is simple division: uplift per hour = annual benefits cost ÷ billable hours per year. A freelancer with $9,000 a year in premiums and 1,200 billable hours needs an extra $7.50 on every invoiced hour before that cost is covered — separate from profit or savings.

It's a standard step in rate-setting for self-employed professionals — consultants, designers, developers — who are used to comparing their quote against a salaried job and forget that health insurance, unlike for an employee, is not a hidden line item paid by someone else.