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So I'm down to (hopefully!) the final stretch for getting this divorce done. I'm looking at individual health insurance plans. Since I have no job, I have no job-covered insurance. I'm not seeking full-time work due to the cost of childcare being prohibitive (not to mention that I'd actually like to spend time with my children as well as have time to attend college), so on-the-job insurance I don't think is going to be an option for me.

The state-sponsored plan isn't accepting my kind of people at this time.

What insurance options are available? I'm actually going to be applying at the local hospital to be considered a charity case for the time being. I don't know that they'll take me, but it's all I'm left with.

Health insurance is something that those of us going through a divorce have to have, but some of us can't afford.

I went without health insurance for over 2 years, until I got a full time job that offered it as a benefit. I was very lucky that I didn't have any serious medical issues during that time.

Are you taking classes? Universities used to offer low cost plans to student. Otherwise you could ask a insurance broker (I think that is what they are called).

And I think by this fall each state has to offer a competitive plan.

Look at your school to see if they offer health coverage.

Check into cost of Cobra with XWH. You can request that he cover all or part of those costs.

I had to go a year without work coverage for me before DH's could cover me once. I wound up getting an individual plan online, but just the emergency only stuff. So it wasn't terribly expensive, but it was only for when I would have to go to the hospital.

Then there was a period that our COBRA was messed up and we did not show up on computers as having insurance. I found out at that time many doctors and urgent care centers have separate amounts they charge for uninsured people that pay OOP, and it was not as much as they charge the insurance companies. Call your regular docs and urgent care and ask what they charge.

When I thought I was going to have a gap in my insurance between the D and being eligible for insurance at work...I was planning on buying a catastrophic plan.

With new US health care law, you are eligible for Cobra at the rate your H company was paying for the next 3 years, is what I was told by HR.

I pay 248/mo for vision, dental, health. I could have chosen only health and it would have been 195. or so. The nice thing is, they will send you a letter and give you like 3 months to start it up and it will be retroactive to the date you were cancelled -- that payment will be 3months worth tho.

Also, you can open up an acct at a bank HSA and you put money in that, and then you turn right around and pay the ins with this money so that at the end of the year, all the money you put into the HSA is pre tax dollars!

Also, you can get someone to watch your children and you get a credit for that, so you will get your $$$ back for childcare PLUS money because you had to pay childcare. But, the key to all this is working and making at least a certain amount.

When I was laid off last year I consulted an insurance broker who suggested several options based on what I wanted, but on his website there were probably a hundred different plans to choose from. Even though I was hoping to land a new job with insurance quickly, I went with a comprehensive high deductible plan with coverage for Rx and preventive care (rather than just catastrophic) that was actually quite a bit better than my prior company's insurance and about 25% less than Cobra.

The main thing I was told is that you don't want to go more than 90 days without coverage because of pre-existing condition clauses. Better to get catastrophic only than go without for now.

I have had none for 8 years. I am self employed and can't afford the monthly premium. Even with insurance, I'd be bankrupt if something happened to me, so until I have an employer that offers coverage or the US health care system makes me eligible for something I can afford, I am flying by the seat of my pants.

BCBS has a lot of goof plans with various levels of affordability. When I was trying to start my own business we had no insurance. I loked them up and got a 50/50 plan. They covered 50% of the cost of everything which while not grate, was way better than me having to pay 100%. The premiums were pretty reasonable too except that xWW simply refused to pay that bill.

I have been looking at plans for myself and found several that are around $250-$275 per month. There are several websites like ehealthinsurance.com where you can just plug in your info and see a bunch of different options. These were for plans that were not just catastrophic either.

Also, according to one health company that I called, you no longer have to worry about pre-exisiting conditions. That was one of the things that went out with the new health care laws. They can no longer hold them against you.

I was going to take COBRA, even though it was initially estimated to me to be around $330 a month. Then I got the actual letter and it was more like $450 a month, which... no. just no. So I am currently without, but am applying for a plan that is a step up from catastrophic for about $115 a month. It will give me one preventative visit per year, plus a simple copay on up to 3 more visits, and catastrophic coverage after a highish deductible. I'm pretty healthy and don't need much other than my thyroid meds so I think that will do me and I am afraid to go without completely.

I have bcbs for 208 a month. 3500 deductible, dental and eye options. Same as most employee plans now days.