Affordable Health Insurance | Free Health Insurance Quote

eHealthInsurance is the #1 source for Individual and Family health insurance plans nationwide, online or offline. Unless you get your health insurance through an employer, an Individual and Family health insurance plan is your standard private market option. If you need to purchase individual health insurance, it can be expensive. Unlike group plans, in which the costs and risks associated with health care are spread among many people; individual health policies are "medically underwritten" to take into account your personal health history. Any "pre-existing" condition such as heart disease, diabetes, and even pregnancy, can nix your chances of acceptance or boost your premiums.Though your choice of plans will differ from state to state, there’s a great deal of variety in the Individual and Family market and you may be surprised by the affordable options available. These plans typically provide both preventive and emergency care coverage for families and individuals and generally fall into two main categories: indemnity plans, or managed-care plans.

In many states, Individual and Family health insurance plans are underwritten by the insurance company and you may be denied coverage -or your coverage may be limited- due to your medical history or conditions.

Individual and family health insurance plans are usually described as either "indemnity" or "managed-care" plans. Put broadly, the major differences concern choice of healthcare providers, out-of-pocket costs and how bills are paid. Typically, indemnity plans offer a broader selection of healthcare providers than managed care plans. Indemnity plans pay their share of the costs for covered services only after they receive a bill (which means that you may have to pay up front and then obtain reimbursement from your health insurance company).

There are several different types of managed-care health insurance plans. These include HMO, PPO, and POS plans. Managed-care plans typically make use of healthcare provider networks. Healthcare providers within a network agree to perform services for managed-care plan patients at pre-negotiated rates and will usually submit the claim to the insurance company for you. In general, you'll have less paperwork and lower out-of-pocket costs with a managed care health insurance plan and a broader choice of healthcare providers with an indemnity plan.

Study: NC children are losing health insurance (Asheville Citizen-Times)A new report by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute shows North Carolina workers are losing employer-based health insurance at a greater rate than all but one other U.S. state.

Census: One in five Arizonans lacked health insurance in 2005 (Tucson Citizen)PHOENIX ? About one in five Arizonans overall and one in three Hispanic residents lacked health insurance in 2005, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Only five states had higher overall rates for uninsured residents.

Census: 388,000 in Utah without Health Insurance (FOX 13 Utah)Census figures show that 388,000 people in Utah don't have health insurance. Those figures include about 100,000 more people than state agencies have estimated and 40,000 more than advocates for the uninsured have forecast in the worst-case scenario. Census figures released Wednesday showed that Daggett County has the highest percentage of uninsured residents at 27 percent in the state and ...

Census: 388,000 in Utah without health insurance (Standard-Examiner)SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ? Census figures show that 388,000 people in Utah don?t have health insurance. Those figures include about 100,000 people more than state agencies have estimated and 40,000 more than advocates for the uninsured have forecast in the worst-case scenario.

More in El Paso lack health insurance (El Paso Times)EL PASO -- The number of El Pasoans without health insurance coverage rose by 3.3 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released Thursday.

Census: 388,000 in Utah without health insurance (2News Salt Lake City)Census figures show that 388,000 people in Utah don't have health insurance.

Many Floridians lack health insurance, study says (Miami Herald)Almost one-third of people under 65 in Miami-Dade and one-fourth in Broward lacked health insurance in 2005, according to Census Bureau figures.

State health insurance costs up (The Nashua Telegraph)CONCORD (AP) -- A new national study says health insurance costs in New Hampshire have climbed nearly five times faster than salaries this decade. ...

20 percent of Coloradans lack health insurance (Rocky Mountain News)Nearly one in five Coloradans has no health insurance, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today, and among Hispanics it is more than one in three.