For entrepreneurs who built a livelihood out of necessity, taking care of everyone else can come naturally. Covered California Executive Director Jessica Altman wants them to know that help finding health coverage is within reach—and that their own well-being deserves attention.

They get up early to prepare for customers and stay up late answering messages, finishing orders or wondering how to make the numbers work. Some started a business because they saw an opportunity. Others started because they needed one. At Urban Business Journal, we call these resourceful, determined people everyday unicorns.

They are good at making a way. They may be less practiced at making time for themselves.

A checkup can wait until after the busy season. A nagging concern can wait until the next invoice is paid. Rest can wait until everything on the list is done—which, for an entrepreneur, may feel like never.

That is one reason a conversation about health coverage matters. For people who work for themselves or take on gig work, there may be no employer handing them a benefits packet. Some assume insurance is out of reach. Others simply have not had the time to find out.

Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered California, has a message for them: “We see you.”

Asked about self-employed workers and entrepreneurs without job-based coverage during an interviews at Covered California’s Connected to Coverage Summit at Charles Drew University, Altman told Urban Business Journal, “We see the struggles to get by, but also that it is so challenging to choose to work in a way that you don’t get the stability of benefits.”

Covered California is the state’s health insurance marketplace. People who work for themselves can use it to explore individual health plans and find out whether they qualify for financial help. The same application checks eligibility for Medi-Cal. If you are self-employed and have no W-2 employees, an individual plan may be the right place to start; owning a business does not, by itself, disqualify you from assistance.

“We are incredibly proud to be the place that people who are self-employed or in the gig economy can come and still get financial support to bring health insurance within reach, hopefully for them,” Altman said.

Make room for the person behind the business

Health coverage is a practical step. So is using it.

Entrepreneurs can become so accustomed to solving problems for other people that they brush past their own. They show up for a customer despite a poor night’s sleep. They reschedule a medical visit to take a meeting. They promise themselves they will slow down when business settles.

Caring for yourself need not begin with a dramatic overhaul. It can begin by scheduling an appointment you have put off, asking a health care professional which screenings are appropriate for you, or making enough room in the day to eat and rest. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends staying current on appropriate checkups, screenings and vaccinations, and says adults should get at least seven hours of sleep a day.

For an everyday unicorn, this is part of being about the business: taking the best possible care of the person the business depends on.

How Covered California works

Visit CoveredCA.com to compare plans and apply. If you would rather talk it through, call (800) 300-1506 or use the website to find free local enrollment help. Altman said Covered California also offers online help and works with enrollment partners in communities across the state.

“They speak your language if your first language is not English,” she said of local enrollment partners. “And it is their job to provide free and confidential assistance in navigating health insurance, period.”

You do not have to know in advance whether you qualify for a Covered California plan or Medi-Cal. One application checks both. If a marketplace plan is an option, you can compare its monthly premium—the amount you pay to keep coverage—with other costs, such as deductibles and copays, before choosing.

If your income changes from month to month, make your best estimate of your household income for the year you want coverage. That estimate helps determine financial assistance. Update it when your circumstances change so your assistance reflects what you are actually earning. The cost of coverage and the help available will depend on your household and the plan you choose.

Mark these dates

Open enrollment for 2027 coverage begins November 1, 2026, and ends January 31, 2027. To have a health plan start on January 1, 2027, enroll by December 31, 2026. Enrolling in January generally means coverage begins February 1. Certain life changes, including losing other health coverage, may allow someone to enroll outside that window. Medi-Cal enrollment is available year-round.

Altman acknowledged that finding health coverage does not make every challenge disappear. “It’s never going to be perfect,” she said. But she wants independent workers to know that helping them access care is part of Covered California’s mission.

If you have been waiting for the business to give you permission to take care of yourself, consider this your reminder: check your coverage options, make the appointment, and give your health a place on the schedule. You have spent a great deal of energy building a way forward.

You deserve care along the way.

For more information visit: CoveredCa.com