Free-Reprint Article Written by: Kevin Kielty See Terms of Reprint Below.
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Additional Article Information: =============================== 639 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line Distribution Date and Time: 2009-04-01 12:00:00 Written By: Kevin Kielty Copyright: 2009 Contact Email: mailto:[email protected] For more free-reprint articles by Kevin Kielty, please visit: http://www.thePhantomWriters.com/recent/author/kevin-kielty.html ============================================= Special Notice For Publishers and Webmasters: ============================================= If you use this article on your website or in your ezine, We Want To Know About It. Use the following URL to let us know where you have used this article, and we will include a link to your website on thePhantomWriters.com: http://thephantomwriters.com/notify.php?id=6643&p=load HTML Copy-and-Paste and TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of Article Are Available at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/k/group-health-insurance.shtml#get_code --------------------------------------------------------------------- Advantages and Disadvantages of Individual and Group Health Insurance Copyright (c) 2009 Kevin Kielty North Carolina Insurance http://www.ncinsuranceplan.com Switching from group to individual health insurance is a change many people are currently facing. There can be some big differences between the two types of insurance and their cost. Becoming familiar with some of those basic differences will help you to know what to expect. Group Health Insurance Group health insurance is purchased by your employer from a health insurance company. Everyone who is eligible can receive coverage under the plan. Group health insurance is less costly than individual health insurance, because you have the buying power of the group. The insurance company bases the premium upon a calculation of how much insurance the group as a whole will use. However, if you are buying individual health insurance, the calculation of your premium is not based on a group, it's based on you alone. That is why individual health insurance can be so expensive. Individual Health Insurance Individual health insurance is health insurance that you purchase from an insurance company on your own, and not through an employer. You can choose coverage for either yourself or your self and your family, individual policies often provide less coverage than group policies do. Under an individual plan, some services such as substance abuse treatment may not be covered. Another important difference between group and individual health insurance is that with group insurance, the law requires the insurance company to cover everyone who works for that employer. With individual health insurance, companies are not required to issue you a policy. This can be very alarming for people who have pre-existing conditions. If you have recently lost your job, it can be surprising to find out that even though you have been covered under a group plan, there is no assurance that you will be able to obtain individual health insurance coverage. In some states, health insurance companies are allowed to issue policies to people with pre-existing conditions, but they are issued with an exclusionary rider. That means that any services for the pre-existing condition are not covered. Each state has its own laws overseeing how individual health insurance is administered. Therefore, plans can very a great deal from state to state. Plans can also vary from one insurance company to another. Be sure to check around and compare quotes and plans from several different companies before making a decision. COBRA As An Option One of the first options presented to people who have lost their health insurance coverage is COBRA. COBRA stands for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act and it allows you to continue on your employer's health insurance plan for up to 18 months after losing your job. However, there are several situations in which employees would not be eligible for COBRA coverage such as, if the company employed less than 20 people and went out of business, or if it dropped its group health insurance or went into bankruptcy. One of the drawbacks of COBRA is the expense. Under COBRA you have to pay the entire amount of your health insurance coverage. Whereas when you were employed, your employer paid a portion of your benefits. One recent development that will be beneficial to COBRA recipients is that after March 1, 2009 recipients will only have to pay 35% of the cost of the monthly premium and the federal government will pay the remainder for up to nine months. If you have recently lost your group health insurance, switching to individual health insurance will cause the cost of your health insurance to increase. Understanding the different types of insurance and how they work, will help you to prepare. If you have pre-existing conditions and are concerned about finding individual health insurance coverage, investigate COBRA and find out if it is an option. Also, check with several different health insurance companies and compare the costs before you make a decision. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kevin Kielty lives in North Carolina and writes articles on health insurance. If you are looking for rate quotes on health insurance in North Carolina, visit BCBSNC, also known as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina http://www.ncinsuranceplan.com --- END ARTICLE --- Get HTML or TEXT Copy-and-Paste Versions Of This Article at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/free_content/db/k/group-health-insurance.shtml#get_code ..................................... TERMS OF REPRINT - Publication Rules (Last Updated: May 11, 2006) Our TERMS OF REPRINT are fully enforcable under the terms of: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.2281.ENR: ..................................... *** Digital Reprint Rights *** * If you publish this article in a website/forum/blog, You Must Set All URL's or Mailto Addresses in the body of the article AND in the Author's Resource Box as Hyperlinks (clickable links). * Links must remain in the form that we published them. 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Kevin Kielty can be reached at: [email protected] *** Print Publication Reprint Rights *** If you desire to publish this article in a PRINT publication, you must contact the author directly for Print Permission at: mailto:[email protected] ..................................... If you need help converting this text article for proper hyperlinked placement in your webpage, please use this free tool: http://thephantomwriters.com/link-builder.pl ===================================================================== ABOUT THIS ARTICLE SUBMISSION http://thePhantomWriters.com is a paid article distribution service. thePhantomWriters.com and Article-Distribution.com are owned and operated by Bill Platt of Stillwater, Oklahoma USA. Learn more about our article distribution services by visiting: http://thephantomwriters.com/x.pl/tpw/info/article-distribution/index.html The content of this article is solely the property and opinion of its author, Kevin Kielty http://www.ncinsuranceplan.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ---------------------------------------------------------------------
