The Guide Health Insurance for the Unemployed

The main argument for choosing to obtain this type of insurance is that it will not terminate before you are eligible for Medicare. You can only lose this type of health insurance if you falsified your application or failed to make your premium payments within 30 days of the due date. The other, but rare, exception to that is if your life-time claims exceed the maximum benefits outlined in your policy. This amount is usually $2 million or more and unlimited on HMO plans. Furthermore, the insurance company can't single you out for an increase in premium payment due to the number or nature of the claims that you have submitted. They can, and will, periodically increase premium requirements, but these increases will apply to all persons that are insured by that company on an individual health plan.

The "permanency" often associated with individual health insurance is cause for many families to keep their children our spouse covered under this type of policy, even when group health insurance is available through an employer. Our previously released Family Health Insurance Guide has a useful section on the benefits of placing dependents on an individual policy versus including them on COBRA or adding them to your new group health insurance policy when you find new employment. Of course, this decision will be impacted by your new employer's contribution to your dependent's premium.
There is also a greater availability of options to choose from when considering individual medical insurance. You are not limited to the plan choice preferences of your previous employer, nor are you subject to change coverage against your will if your previously employer moves the group insurance to a different insurance carrier.