How to Buy Individual Health Insurance Coverage at Group Rates

Written By: Brockton Barton on October 27, 2009 No Comment

When you’re buying health insurance as part of a group plan at work, it’s normally at lower rates on premiums. If you’re self-employed or between jobs, a group health plan may not be an option. If you start another job which does not offer health insurance, or work as an independent consultant, you’ll more often that not notice a sharp rate increase when you buy individual health insurance.

An individual plan is one purchased on the private market, not tied to workplace benefits. Although they are called “individual” plans, they can cover you, your spouse and your children. Other ways to buy health insurance when you’re between group health plans include “short-term” health insurance and “catastrophic” health insurance.

“Medically underwritten” individual plans allow the insurer to reject your application or attach exclusions to your policy if you have a “prior existing condition”. So there is no guarantee that an insurer will accept you for an individual policy. Under “Guaranteed Issue” laws, some states require that health insurance carriers issue you a policy, no matter what medical problems you have. Do your homework and check the list of “Guaranteed Issue” laws for your state. The Kaiser Family Foundation has published a list of these laws.

The typically higher premiums for individual plans are determined by the “expected” health care costs of the enrolled customer, so their rates continually increase as the customer grows older. If and/or when you’re confronted with finding individual health care insurance, don’t be confused or tempted into going without coverage. You may be perfectly healthy and still suffer a serious accident and be forced into “medical bankruptcy”, as millions of others are each year.

Keep in mind, if you go without insurance for 63 days or more, a time period set by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), you’ll lose your rights to coverage of pre-existing conditions.

You may feel locked out of the health insurance market if, for example, you’ve been uninsured for too long, or have a “pre-existing condition”. It may seem impossible, there are practical ways you may be able to get coverage.

Remember to do your homework, because in some states, the self-employed, sole proprietor can be eligible to buy health insurance as a “group of one” – even a home-based businessperson – just as long as you’ve been in business for at least 30 days.

Do some research to find out if you qualify for a group rate, even if you live in a state that does not offer these “group of one” insurance policies. For example, if you own a business, even a home-based business, and have at least one partner or employee, even your spouse who may be doing secretarial work for you; this situation qualifies you as a two-person business, eligible for a group-rate policy.

Let’s say you’re planning on leaving an employer where you have a group health plan. Simply ask the insurer to convert it to an individual health plan. The rate will, of course, be higher than your group plan, but at least you’ve secured your health insurance if you have medical conditions. Another option to check on: if your spouse has a group plan at work, you might be able to be added on to it.

Looking to find the best deal on Guaranteed Individual Health Insurance? Then visit here to find the best advice on Gauranteed Issue Health Insurance for you and yours.