Where can I buy individual health insurance?

Most health insurance companies offer health insurance for individuals. However, these companies and their plans vary by state, so it's important to be well informed, and to shop around the major health insurance carriers in your particular state.

You can do this by looking in your phonebook and getting the numbers to call insurance companies, or even going online to get health insurance quotes from various companies at once.

Shopping around also provides you with the opportunity to find the best priced plan for your needs. It's surprising but true that two health insurance companies in the same state might offer the same insurance plan at very different prices.

Health insurance brokers are people trained and certified by certain insurance agencies to help you choose the best plan. In many cases people simply feel that navigating all of the twists and turns of the health insurance market is just too difficult, so they turn to a health insurance broker to help them to make their choice.

That can be a great decision. After all, a broker might know of a health insurance plan for individuals that would better suit your needs than the one you had originally had in mind.

Also, some brokers sell for multiple companies, so in those cases you'll be able to get prices for similar plans from different health insurance companies in your state without doing much of the legwork yourself.

Most health insurance brokers are paid on commission by insurance companies, and you can check out a broker's disciplinary record by calling your particular state's insurance commissioner, who should have a consumer hotline available.

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