The primary forms of affordable health insurance are employer-provided health care, government provided/assisted public health care, individual provided private health care, and plans like COBRA, which merge some elements of private care with some elements of governmental care. Which you use will depend first on which are available to you.

For the vast majority of Americans the only valid option is employer-provided care, which will usually come in one of two forms: an HMO or a PPO. HMOs are managed health care plans that restrict the choices of providers and treatments as part of a policy to control costs.

PPO offer more choices, but tend to charge higher premiums, and many employers do not offer them. They are available in some cases though. If you are given a choice you will have to consider the offered benefits of each carefully. Your employer may have chosen to offer comparable value, which will often mean that the ultimate out of pocket cost to you of the PPO may be higher, but the options wider.

For many other Americans some form of government assisted/provided care is the only option: “entitlement” programs like Medicare and Medicaid provide for the elderly after the age of 65, for the legally disabled (in some instances) and for the extremely poor (in some restricted instances.) States, too, may offer some programs providing medical care, and again tend to go to the older citizen, the disabled, and the severely impoverished when they are offered.

You may not be eligible for many of these programs, though: many states that offer them are very cautious about who can apply, as the cost of unchecked medical aid could bankrupt many state governments.

Individually purchased private health care, like employer provided plans, can be broken into the HMO and the PPO with similar cost/benefit ratios. The main difference will be out-of-pocket costs. It is estimated that only a small percentage of Americans purchase private health care through individual buyers. The cost is prohibitive without some form of aid for many, who go uninsured due to inability to pay regular premiums.

COBRA, not precisely a plan as such, is an extension of existing health insurance procured through an employer. If you are laid off or otherwise cut off from the employer-provided plan COBRA can be used to provide for health care for up to 18 months…but at your own expense. However there are government subsidies of up to 65%, which can offset the problems of payment during periods of unemployment.

When you have considered the various options open to you, you will be better able to determine what form of coverage you want to obtain. Then you will have answered the question: “What Choices Do I Have For Health Insurance?”

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It is generally agreed that insurance purchased by the consumer without either government aid or through an employer’s group health plan will cost substantially more. It has been determined that an average Californian using COBRA will spend $380 per month in premiums, though subsidization can alter that amount to varying degrees for varied periods of time.

According to the US Census Bureau 84% of US residents have health care, and only 9% obtain it privately. The remainder are receiving insurance through an employer provided plan, or through some form of subsidized government program. The remaining 16 % of the nation is uninsured. That alone provides a vivid understanding of the average price of health insurance.

If it is assumed that, for the average user, an independent single insurance plan will cost greater than the $4,700 established for employer-provided health care in the Kaiser study, then it can be assumed that privately obtained plans are likely to cost as much and more with the cost rising as age or other health complications are factored in. When evaluating health plans offered the baseline of the average costs of employer-provided plans at least gives a number to work from.

Given the current unsettled state of the nation in respect to its health care system, however, it remains difficult to provide a clear indication of what average health insurance costs would be in any instance for any prolonged period of time.

The best advice available is to use employer-provided health care if offered, government-provided health care when you are eligible, temporary bridging plans like COBRA if you can afford them and can’t find other insurance, and look into reduced plans through hospitals and clinics if you are unable to address your health care plans any other way.

That is not, perhaps, the most reassuring recommendation. It is, however, realistic: the current state of the economy, the fluid state of the legal issue of how the American Health Care system is going to be structured, and ever increasing rise in health care costs makes any other advice irresponsible.

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Nevertheless, many people rightly feel that we as taxpayers should not have to be on the hook for poor business choices made by financial institutions. However, I am not going to discuss who is to blame or even how to fix the problem (I will leave that to people more qualified than I am), but instead I will give you a few ideas on how you should look at your personal insurance options given the current climate of economic uncertainty.

To do this I will look at four different types of insurance that you may or may not have. These will be auto, health, life and home insurance. There are ways you can structure your insurance policies that can save you money while maintaining the coverage you need.

Auto Insurance

If you drive there is no way you can get around having coverage for your car. That being said there are ways you can reduce your auto insurance premiums. The easiest way to do so is to get a free quote (see the left hand sidebar of this page). Beyond that I have previously outlined 11 insanely easy ways to reduce your auto insurance premiums by 40%. Hopefully you can find some new ideas to help save you even more money.

Health Insurance

Losing your job can have a double blow on your finances if you also lose your health coverage at the same time. Obviously, you will want to find a new job as soon as possible but until you do, you may need to consider paying for your own health coverage.

Many people consider health insurance as optional at least for the short term. However, you never know when an accident or disease may strike, so it is a good idea to stay covered at all times. You can find out which companies are offering good deals on individual health insurance coverage in your state just by using the free quote option on the left hand sidebar.

Life Insurance

This is another type of coverage that many people consider optional, and in certain cases I think it is. If you don’t have any dependents (e.g. kids or a spouse who does not work) then you really don’t need any coverage beyond your funeral costs. This is especially true of things such as children’s life insurance which is totally unnecessary for 99.9% of all families.

Another important thing to consider when thinking about life insurance is whether to opt for term or whole life coverage. With the current market conditions it may seem tempting to build cash value with a whole life plan but I still think term life makes more sense. If you are not sure, you can always get a mix of both coverage types to hedge your bets no matter what the future throws at you. You can find great deals on life insurance coverage by getting a free quote on the left hand sidebar.

Home Insurance

If you have a mortgage you probably already have homeowners insurance, since most lenders will require you to have it. You need to make sure you have enough of it and that you are paying as little for it as possible. Essentially, you want to make sure you have enough coverage to cover the costs of rebuilding your home should the unthinkable happen. You can do this by getting a few contractors to give you quotes on what they think it would cost to rebuild. It may be less than you think, due to the oversupply of builders left over in many areas due to the housing crisis.

The reason why you don’t need to cover the full cost of your home is that we are assuming that the land your house is built on still has some value as well. To pay as little as possible for that coverage you can simply get a free quote from the left hand sidebar.

So there you have it, a few simple ideas on how you can maintain all the coverage you need at prices you can afford. I expect to see increasing competition over the next year in the consumer side of the insurance industry. This means you should get a free quote for each of your insurance products every 6-12 months to make sure you are continuing to pay as little as possible. To see if you paying as little as possible right now, just select one or more of the free quote options listed to the left of the screen.

If you get hurt or injured in a foreign country you will of course have to seek medical attention. This will cost money. If you don’t want to be out of pocket thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars you want these costs to be covered by your insurer.

Most people who plan active summer vacations like cycling through France or mountain climbing in the Canadian Rockies will of course have already planned on getting travel medical coverage. This is due to the fact that people who participate in active vacations are more likely to get hurt and thus need medical attention.

However, everyone needs to consider getting travel medical insurance. If you think nothing can happen to you just because you plan on relaxing on a beach in Acapulco, think again. You could get sick from food poisoning or get into a car accident or any other number of potential accidents.

These unfortunate circumstances would also lead you to seek medical attention. And yet again this would cost you money if you don’t have medical insurance. So save yourself the risk and get some travel medical insurance.

Costs will vary depending on your destination, level of desired coverage, types of activities planned and length of your stay and of course your overall level of health. Make sure to read all the fine print before buying any plan and make sure your insurance plan covers you for the entire duration of your trip from the day you leave until the day your arrive back home.

Keep these tips in mind and you can enjoy a worry free vacation.

However, he does not want the mandatory health insurance to come from government, so presumably he expects people to buy it from private insurers. Thus, the system he envisions would probably resemble something along the lines of the fact that all drivers are required to have valid auto insurance.

So does his idea make sense? Well lets look at some figures provided by The National Coalition on Health Care. Currently, almost 47 million Americans lack health insurance or roughly 16% of the total US population. Of people lacking health insurance, 40% (almost 19 million people) have a household income over $50,000 a year.

Unfortunately, I was not able to find any information on how many American earning over $75,000 lack proper health insurance, but given the numbers above it could well run into the millions. If true, this would certainly lend credibility to Newt’s argument that these people cost the system money.

However, what we don’t know is why people who earn over $75,000 choose not to get coverage. Is it an issue of affordability or personal choice? I am sure for some people it is an issue of affordability, especially if they are self-employed (hence have to pay the full health insurance costs) and have a preexisting or chronic health issue.

However, some people choose not to get coverage because they would rather spend their money elsewhere. Therefore, it seems bizarre that Gingrich, who has tended to support free market initiatives, would interfere with people’s individual spending choices. Unlike, auto insurance (you can choose whether or not to buy and drive a car) there would seem to be no way to opt out of his health insurance mandate.

This makes his scheme seem rather similar to a universal health care scheme, the only difference being is who pays what, the individual or the government. Then again maybe having universal health care wouldn’t be so bad after all. At the very least, it would reduce the conflict between providing good medical service and trying to increase profits.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

How can that be you ask? Well once students graduate college or even high school (if they don’t plan to attend college in the fall) they no longer qualify for coverage under most of their parent’s health insurance plans.

Moreover, it takes time to find full time employment with an employer that offers full health coverage for many recent graduates. Many former students assume that they will still be covered under their parent’s plan until the new insurance kicks in. However, this is rarely the case.

Basically, once you are done school you are on your own in terms of finding your own health insurance. The good news is that it is entirely possible to get short term health coverage, which if you are still in your 20s, should not cost too much.

Typical premiums are usually between $75-125 a month to those under 30 who are in good health with no preexisting conditions. However, you should be aware that most short term plans limit how long you can hold a policy to 12 months or less.

If you think that it will take longer than 12 months to get full health coverage from an employer, you will probably have to opt for a longer term, full price plan instead. It is always recommended that you maintain coverage, because you never know when a medical problem may arise.

To make this process easier please use the form below to select your state to get free, no obligation health insurance quotes.

Our overall aim is to help you to stay informed about the world of insurance. To this end we are planning on writing articles about how to save money on insurance, new insurance products or services you may be interested in, as well as general industry news and updates.

To help get you started please feel free to read and use some of our existing services to help you save money instantly. Currently, we provide free no obligation quotes for 4 different types of insurance.

The most common type of insurance policy people have is one for their cars, since it is mandatory to do so. To help you save money, you can either visit our page on free auto insurance quotes online or just use the form on the left hand menu.

Another important type of insurance people need is life insurance. This can protect your loved ones should something happen to you. However, to make sure you are not paying too much please visit our page on free online life insurance quotes or use the form on the left of the screen.

If you own a house you are usually required to have homeowners insurance. To find out how you can save on this type of coverage please read our article on how to get free home insurance quotes online or use the form on the left to get multiple free quotes.

Finally, if your employer does not offer health insurance or does not offer enough coverage you will want to find out how to get some for as little as possible. To help you you can read our page on how to get free health insurance quotes online or use the bottom left hand form.

Have a great day.