The latest Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment report coming out for January 2010 showed an increase in unemployment above 10% was a alarm bell ringing to those who were hoping for positive signs of the recession’s end. As the number of people losing their jobs increases more and more people are left without some type of health care insurance. The numbers are staggering In December, 2009 the number of unemployed persons totaled 15.3 million, at the beginning of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed people was 7.7 million, and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent.
This is a huge concern for all the people out there who are now unemployed since most of these people obtain health insurance benefits from their employers. These people are now faced with finding Health Care providers, where they are inexperienced with the options that they have purchasing individual or family health care plans. According to major insurance providers they found that almost 70% percent of the people had never heard of individual or family health insurance plans, while almost 40% percent said they believed to pay the same cost for COBRA (continuation of benefits under a previous employer’s plan after an employee leaves up to 36 months) coverage as when they were employed . In fact they pay almost double the premium in certain cases.
What You Can Do to Keep Your Healthcare Options Lower
If your spouse is still employed check to see if they can add you to their policy.
Check with your state to see if you may be eligible for reduce or free state programs such as Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP).
COBRA coverage, is another option which allows the individuals to maintain the same coverage they had through their employer, even after they lose their job. To help these unemployed individuals the government enacted a temporary bill; The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, (ARRA) they allotted 24.7 billion dollars to provide a 65 percent subsidy of health care insurance premiums for the unemployed under the COBRA program. Still, unfortunately this option may be too costly.
Comparison shopping is a another great way to save money. When insurance companies compete for your business; you win. Results have shown that consumers can save 20 % and more just by taking five minutes to compare rates from top rated insurance companies that compete for your business. Compare Health Care Insurance Now has done all the research and due diligence to make sure that you can get all the facts you need here at our site. They immediately match you to local and national agents who can meet your insurance needs. This makes your job of comparison shopping much easier.
Remember, health insurance is one of the most important ways that individuals and families can protect both their health and their financial security.
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