What to know about individual health insurance comes down to realizing that there is a difference between traditional group health insurance plans and the health policy purchased by a single person. Group plans are usually only available through an employer, and the strength of numbers that an employer brings to an insurer will always result in a lower rate than one can get on his own.

Sometimes, the only health insurance a person can get is an individual plan. This usually is the case when someone has left a job where the employer offered health insurance or is taking on a job where health insurance isn’t a benefit. These two conditions usually necessitate that a person will have to search the marketplace for a plan that will cover not only himself but also his family.

Another thing to keep in mind when thinking about individual health insurance is that there’s generally no guarantee that an insurer will decide to extend health insurance coverage in every single case. This is because an individual plan has to undergo what’s known as “medical underwriting” in the insurance industry.

In some unfortunate cases, people seeking an individual health insurance plan end up rejected by the insurer because of pre-existing medical conditions. Or, the insurer will offer a plan that excludes any sort of coverage related to the ill effects of that specified medical condition. There are some states, though, that have “guaranteed issue” laws on the books, meaning that an insurer must extend a policy regardless of condition.

For the most part, anyone enrolling in an individual health insurance plan can expect to pay a premium for the insurance coverage based on what the insurer expects to have to pay out in health care coverage costs. This will usually mean that prices for a person who is older or less healthy or a combination of the two will probably be higher.

In some states, if you are running a business as a sole proprietor or are just self-employed you may be eligible to purchase insurance as what the state refers to as a “group of one.” There are other ways to qualify for a group rate, too, so spend a bit of time on the Internet looking for in insurer that may be able to offer such a rate for what is really an individual health insurance policy.

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