There is a bill in Congress aimed at extending the stimulus package that provides government assistance in paying for C.O.B.R.A. (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) health insurance benefits from the current nine-month period to 15 months. C.O.B.R.A. allows former employees to keep their health insurance coverage, but requires that they absorb 100% of the cost. A portion of the government’s stimulus package was directed at temporary assistance with these payments. If this bill is not enacted, all government contributions towards C.O.B.R.A. will end at the subsidy expiration date, which is December 31, 2009. This could leave millions of unemployed people without health insurance, and will cause many of them to begin shopping for some type of affordable health insurance plan to provide basic coverage.
The first step to take when trying to find health insurance would be to contact several brokers and agents who can assist you by providing a new individual health insurance policy to replace the one you will be losing. It is possible that the company who is currently insuring you through C.O.B.R.A. would be willing to offer you an individual plan. A phone call to them could be a starting point in your search.
It is important that you do not just except the coverage that you current insurance company is offering, as you may be able to get a better prices premium or better coverage by switching to another insurance company. You will want to obtain insurance policies from various companies and look through each for comparable plans. Once you have a few policy that are comparable in all areas, including co payments, deductibles and maximum out of pocket expenses, you should then contact the providers to obtain premium quotes. By obtaining the premium quotes you will then be able to compare each policy by cost and chose the one that will cost you less, over all, through out the year.
Each policy that you obtain can have a great difference in cost. You should look through each one carefully and contact an insurance broker with any question that you may have. The insurance broker will be able to assist you in understanding the areas that are not clear for you, as well as choosing the policy that will be best for your medical requirements ans budget. If you find that after all your research you are still unable to afford any of the policies that you were quoted then you should research into other ways that you can obtain your medical insurance coverage.
There are two other options that you can choose if you are unable to find an affordable premium. The first is to look into local groups or organizations that you may be interested in joining. Often times these clubs and organization will carry a group insurance plan, where the members will be able to by into medical coverage at a reduced cost. If you are unable to find any organizations in your area, your second option would be to purchase a high deductible policy. Although this policy will cost you a large amount in deductible fees, your monthly premiums will be much less. With high deductibles policies, however, you will want to be sure to save up the funds required to cover your deductible should you need medical assistance. Your insurance company will not pick up the coverage unless you have completely met the deductible of your plan.
When you are trying to research a variety of insurance quotes in order to purchase medical insurance coverage that is adequate and affordable log onto www.healthquotefinder.com.
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