Health Insurance Referral

http://www.healthcare.gov/using-insurance/understanding/basics/index.html

There is a pull down menu (by state) that should answer all your questions.

http://finder.healthcare.gov/?state=OH&x=23&y=16

Good Luck.

Call a broker - savage and associates is a great local place to get help - 419-475-8665 - ask for Steve Milewski or Tami Hagen.

Tough break, madjack. I know a broker, but he only markets group plans. I will ask him when I see him next week, though.

You might also give this guy a call; he said something about affordable health care on television the other day.

Last year I too had to look for health coverage for myself and my husband. I used the link ehealthinsurance to search the health coverage options in our area. You are able to do some custom searches based on price or HSA compatible plans. Once I found the insurance carrier and plan I wanted, I went direct to their website. The sites I went on had good resource tools and usually a FAQ to review. I am glad I used this site to help me ratchet down the list of potential health insurance plans otherwise it could have been overwhelming. Good luck.

My understanding is that brokers usually handle group plans because they basically make no money selling individuals plans. That being said, Kaminsky and Associates went to bat for us earlier this year when I was looking for an individual plan for our family and was getting rejected everywhere because of a pre-existing condition in our family. Even then, the best we could do was a $600/mo premium with a $15,000 per year deductible (you read that right).

Don't get me started on the health insurance thing. It is the one topic that truly makes my blood boil.

Good luck!

On a related note: do you not qualify for COBRA coverage, madjack?

good call mike. cobra should be an option
overpriced, but very helpful

This is who we used when we had to have family insurance outside of work.

https://www.uhone.com/

madjack - Without disclosing any sensitive personal information of course, could you share in general terms if and how you were able to find health care coverage?

In 2009 some of the employees I laid off due to selling the business were quoted prices as high as $3k a month due to pre-existing conditions. (Unfortunately Cobra didn't apply because we had dropped below 20 employees when we sold.)

I hope by now you have found something.

I'll know more by Monday, and I'll post the entire saga if you like. The basics are that my ex-employer refuses to activate my health insurance in spite of COBRA regulations. The company is in Texas, so now what? I got hold of a broker who tells me he'll have some results by Monday.

COBRA is all well and good right up until the time the ex-employer refuses to cooperate. Nothing will happen and they know it.

I'm so sorry. That's just plain criminal.

Thanks Holland.

Well then. As promised, here are a few preliminary results.

Coverage that is somewhat comparable to the group insurance I used to have will cost me $1000 per month, and only one company would even think about writing the policy. Catastrophic insurance will cost around $600 per month.

I haven't finished looking yet, but I don't expect to find anything I can afford. My intention is to go without until after the election.

Madjack - I don't know what kind of health you are in or if you need any maintenance medication but most drug manufacturers give huge discounts to the uninsured. Also any expenses incurred while uninsured will be discounted depending on income.