Know the insurance options offered by your state

Affordable family health insurance can be near impossible to find if you or any member of your family has pre-existing health conditions. Some states offer options to help those who are self employed to afford family health insurance even if their medial history isn't the best. 34 states offer Health Insurance Risk Pools that allow individuals or families with pre-existing medical conditions to buy into an insurance pool where costs are partially offset via assessments to health insurance carriers, but be wary because many states HIRP's are woefully under funded and poorly managed.

I recommend: The Health Insurance Resource Center offers a comprehensive list of states with the best Health Insurance Risk Pools and their contact information.

Find the right mix of benefits and costs that fits your family's needs

Many low cost family health insurance plans don't begin to cover all the needs of you and your family. Often you can pay high premium and still not get basic coverage for fairly routine events such as pregnancy or wellness checkups. The best way to compare costs between plans is to get several family health insurance quotes from various companies so you can compare differing plans with the solid numbers in front of you.

I recommend: EHealthInsurance.com offers a quick and easy way to get family health insurance quotes from several insurance companies at one time.

Understand the health insurance related tax breaks available for the self-employed

With recent changes in the tax laws, the self-employed are now able to deduct the cost of their family health insurance plan premiums on their federal taxes. The deductions are allowed up to the amount of your actual income, meaning you can't deduct more than you make and use your health insurance premiums to show a loss for your business.

I recommend: IRS.gov features a section that talks about the health care deductions available for the self-employed.