Affordable Family Health Insurance While Unemployed

If you lose employer provided health insurance coverage you will be faced with an important decision. Are you going to elect for Cobra or HIPAA coverage? Or are you going to decide to seek out your own affordable family health insurance? Approximately two thirds of Americans receive their health insurance coverage through their employer. But with that being said, the number of employees losing this coverage for one reason or the next is at a record level. Some people opt for COBRA or HIPAA, while others decide to shop for their own affordable family health insurance.

Employers that have more than 20 employees on their group coverage are required by law to offer COBRA coverage to former workers who lose their eligibility. Choosing COBRA is usually not the best idea unless an employee is in the middle of receiving treatment for a medical condition. The reason for this is that COBRA coverage is very expensive.

Most group health plans offer former employees the ability to convert to an individual plan; this is known as HIPAA. If you have no health risks, this is a good option because you will be able to save a lot of money on your premiums. But if you have major pre-existing conditions things will not be quite as easy on you.

Deciding against COBRA or HIPAA may or may not be the best idea. You need to look at your health situation as well as how much an individual or family policy would cost. You may find out that you can get affordable family health insurance on your own, whereas COBRA would cost you much more on a monthly basis.