You lost your employer-based health insurance when you switched jobs, you’ve started your own business, or you’re just starting out and are looking into health insurance for the first time.  For whatever reason, you’re reading this article wondering what you’re getting yourself into. 

Individual health insurance can seem complicated, and for those of you used to employer-based coverage, you may be in for some unpleasant surprises.  But if you don’t panic, if you take it one step at a time and really think about what it is you want your health insurance to do, you may find going it alone to be the best decision you ever made.  Because the health insurance you buy for yourself is tailored to your needs, your lifestyle, your long-term goals and your wallet.  And it’s yours for good – no matter how your career evolves, how many times you switch jobs or move around your state, or how your health proceeds over the years – no one will be able to take this policy away from you or insist that you start over with a new plan and a slew of preexisting conditions. It’s yours. End of story. And that’s saying something these days.
 
That said, the laws and regulations governing individual policies are very different from those governing job-based coverage. Individual policies don’t generally offer the same benefits and protections you may be used to getting through a job-based policy. The consumer protections available to those who buy individual health policies are significantly different from those you enjoyed with your employer’s plan. For these reasons, it’s important for individual health insurance shoppers to be aware of their rights and to develop “smart shopping” techniques in order to get the most for their money.
 
In most states, individual health insurance policies conform to the following rules:
 
1. Guaranteed issue: No.
In most states, applicants can be turned down for coverage based on their health status.
 
2. Guaranteed renewability: Yes.
Your health insurance cannot be cancelled if you become sick.
 
3. Limits on Pre-existing Conditions Exclusions: Yes.
Depending on where you live, these limits can vary widely. For example, some states allow insurance companies to impose exclusion riders that eliminate all coverage for any pre-existing condition for the entire life of the policy.

4. Portability: Yes, with caveats.
Portability from state to state is limited by the laws of the state you’re moving to.  In some states, insurance carriers are allowed to give you no credit for prior coverage, making long-standing policyholders who simply moved from one place to another wait through another pre-existing condition exclusion period.

5. COBRA continuation coverage: No.
COBRA is designed to ease the health insurance transitions of ex-employees, and as such applies only to job-based coverage. Once you own your own health insurance policy, however, COBRA becomes unnecessary.

Georgetown University has written consumer guides to the individual health insurance laws affecting all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. This is a great resource no individual health insurance shopper should be without. To give you an overview of the plan types and prices available to you right now, InsureMeOnline.com can run you a complementary set of quotes.
 
All things considered, this is a smart move you’re making, one you’ll be happy with for years and years to come.  Let us help you get started.