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Individual health insurance -- how good is it?

Posted on Feb 2nd 2007 2:33PM by Brian White

Filed Under: Diet & Weight Loss

For those of you who have ever provided health insurance for yourself -- as opposed to having it provided by (in part, at least) an employer, I am anxious to hear from you.

Have the prices you paid, the coverage you receive, the benefits you get and the dependent benefits you receive been worth it over comparable coverage from a present or former employer?

I've heard from many people -- those who have done extensive research and who have willfully searched for their own health insurance -- that individual health coverage is indeed very competitive with company-sponsored plans, in general.

What is your take?

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3 Comment

Tags: Health insurance, HealthInsurance, Insurance, private health insurance, PrivateHealthInsurance

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Brandon Carson 2-02-2007 @ 4:15PM

It's been my experience that individual health care has always been more expensive then plans through an employer. I'm a freelance designer, and my wife also works from home. We have a joint policy so the cost is reduced somewhat, but for the two of us on a relatively decent policy is about $450/month. I'm not sure how that compares to what employed people are paying so maybe we can get some feedback from them as well.

Jamie Hatch 2-03-2007 @ 12:46AM

From my experience, my individual policy is much more expensive than an employer-group policy. The coverage is comparable with an employer policy, but my prescriptions and co-pays are much more expensive. I am a self-employed single male, 31 years old, with high blood pressure that is under control. I was paying $140/month plus $300-$500 a month in prescriptions, with prescription insurance. When I recently moved to another state, my insurance jumped to $771/month plus my prescriptions went to $1200/month--and that is with a $5000 deductible. Needless to say, I’m currently searching for a job to get on a group policy since now, at 31 years old, I cannot afford to have an individual health insurance policy. I just wonder what my rate is going to be at 41 and 51? My doctor told me from the beginning that within five years, I’d be working for a corporation that provided me with health insurance or I’d be migrating to a country with socialized health care. Looks like the doctor was right after all...