No, not friends...

I'm lucky. I have had a full-time job with benefits since graduating from college, less a year's worth of market fluctuation that left me unemployed for a bit. But, I knew a lot of people who couldn't find a full-time job and actually had to work several part-time gigs to make ends meet. At the time, I wondered how they dealt with health insurance, but, it turns out, most of them just did without.

Well, I've often wondered how someone on a reduced income or who did something artistic for most of their money managed to swing benefits. It turns out that there are actually a number of places that offer benefits to people working part-time. So, if you're a struggling consultant who has to work at a gig part-time to get by, why not try one of the places listed in the link above? (The same goes for you starving artists and hopeful authors.)