I just found a post on a financial blog, punny money, that is a review of a book dedicated to helping people lower their health care costs. It sounds like a good book, with in-depth analysis of the financial ramifications of which health plan you choose and how you use it. I had to laugh when I saw that the author mentioned creative solutions to the health insurance dilemma, including moving to one of the five states (Maine, Massachusetts, NY, NJ, and Vermont) that have guaranteed-issue individual coverage if you can’t qualify for insurance in your home state. Hopefully this was offered tongue-in-cheek, as the prices for insurance in those states can be three times the price of coverage in the other 45 states. Also, most major insurers do not operate in the states where individual insurance is guaranteed-issue. So there may only be one or two options for coverage, and don’t be surprised if it costs $350/month for a 22 year-old.
Moving to another state would be a bit of a challenge for most people, especially when there are only five states to choose from. Another option might be to see if you live in one of 31 other states that offer state sponsored guaranteed-issue health insurance to people who cannot qualify for insurance because of medical history. Colorado is one of the states on the list and offers one of the best health insurance risk pools in the country, it’s called Cover Colorado. Like any guaranteed-issue plan, these policies are not cheap (although the state-sponsored part helps out a bit with the cost), but this list brings brings the total to 36 states that have an option for people who don’t qualify for medically underwritten health insurance. The other 14 states have some catching up do to.