California health insurance - Individual and Family health - What is Individual health insurance?

Individual California Health Insurance Introduction

A large segment of the so-called "private" health insurance market is called "Individual and Family" California health insurance.

Of the three segments, (Individual, Group, and Medicare), it's probably the most dynamic and confusing to people since on average, people shop for California health insurance every seven years.

Let's take a look at individual health insurance with the goal being that we want to find the best options while being armed with insider's guidance to how to navigate this insurance.

Let's begin...so what is individual health insurance?

Individual California health insurance is insurance that people purchase for themselves under the age of 65.

The age requirement since Medicare generally takes over after age 64.

Many people get their insurance through an employer which is called group health insurance so individual health would be for people who do not have group health or for whom, group health is not advantageous which we'll discuss.

Who makes us the typical purchaser of individual health insurance in California?

Who Buys Individual Health Insurance in California?

Most of the shoppers of individual health insurance are self-employed, retired (under age 65), students, and those in-between jobs.

At first, this might not seem like a large part of the population but keep in mind that the average size of a California company is between 1-5 employees.

We tend to think that the big corporations of the world drive industry but really, there's a lot of self-employed construction workers, CPA's, real estate agents, etc that make up the bulk of Californians. Most of these people (especially 1099 contract workers) need their own individual health insurance and the association plans were hit pretty hard by AB1672 which established guaranteed issue group health insurance.

Many people we speak with are comparing their Cobra option with individual health plans to see if they can get a better deal (which they usually can). So how do we get the best rates for individual health and what's changed with Health Reform?

How Do You Quote and Find the Best Individual Health Coverage?

You can quickly run your instant California health insurance quote here.

A few key points.

Individual Family insurance is no longer medically underwritten and there may be tax credits. You can find out answers to many Covered Ca questions here.

Applying for individual health insurance

The easiest way to apply for coverage is by phone. We can quickly size up tax credit eligibility, plan selection, and more in 5-10 minutes.

Just call 800-320-6269. As Certified Covered Ca Agents, our services are free to you.

The earliest effective we can choose is 15 days from submittal of the online app so it's best to start the process in advance. Payment is not required up front with the application for the 1st month of premium (can use credit card) but you have a 10 day free look window to cancel the policy for a full refund from when they notify you by mail of your approval.

You can cancel individual California health insurance month to month and there is no long term contract.

There are short term options and "permanent" plans available. We go through when short term makes sense here. Of course, we're here to help you in any way so feel free to call or email us with questions.

Important Pages:

Simple Tips on Comparing Covered California Plans

You can run your Health Plan Quote here to view rates and plans side by side from the major carriers...Free.

Again, there is absolutely no cost to you for our services. Call 800-320-6269 Today!