Hi all-

I am currently self-employed (as a sole proprietor) and my spouse works at a non-profit. Right now we both get health insurance through her job. However, my portion of the insurance costs are not subsidized, so adding me to her insurance basically quadrupled the premium deducted from her paycheck.

Information is starting to filter out about the costs of the plans in the new health insurance exchanges will be next year, and it looks like moving from her insurance to the exchanges will reduce the premiums we pay by quite a bit. But I was wondering if I would be allowed to take my premiums as the above-the-line self-employed health insurance deduction, as I still am eligible to be on her insurance if I want to be. Some things I've found online says that you can't take the above the line deduction even if you're just *eligible* to be on a family member's plan, but I've also found a few notes (without much detail) saying that this changed in 2010 (maybe as part of the health care reforms?). If I can't take the premiums as an above-the-line deduction, can I take them as a deduction as a medical expense on Schedule A?

I'm also curious as to whether health insurance premiums deducted from your paycheck are subject to FICA tax. Even if I can deduct premiums above the line as a freelancer, that amount of freelance income would still be subject to self-employment tax, so to question of whether we'd pay FICA tax on the equivalent would help determine if it's really a better deal or not.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Josh