In Illinois, 1.4 million adults do not have health insurance. And this number is expected to rise as insurance costs go up and businesses reduce or drop insurance benefits. So where can you find low cost health insurance in Illinois?

Explore Your Options

Many Illinois residents are fortunate enough to get adequate health insurance through their employers. However, if you’re unemployed or your company doesn’t offer health insurance you can still get coverage:

* If you left a job that offered health insurance or your employer dropped your health insurance benefits, look into COBRA coverage. COBRA offers you coverage under your former employer’s health insurance plan for a few months at your own cost.

* Look into Illinois Covered, the state health insurance program. This program helps with health care and insurance costs for a variety of Illinoisans, including children, low-income residents, uninsured adults, businesses, and middle-class families.

* Group insurance from an organization. If you buy health insurance through an organization such as your college alumni group or a professional group, you may be able to qualify for a lower group rate.

* Buy an individual health insurance plan. This may be the most expensive option, but it also offers the most choices, as many types of individual plans are available: comprehensive coverage, major medical coverage, emergency coverage, short-term coverage, PPOs, HMOs, and POSs.

Finding a Low Cost Illinois Health Insurance Policy

If you decide to buy an individual health insurance plan, an insurance comparison website is the best place to find a low cost policy. On these sites you spend a few minutes completing a form with information about yourself and your health insurance needs. Once you complete the form you’ll receive health insurance quotes from multiple A-rated insurance companies.

The best websites also let you talk with insurance professionals via an online chat service so you can ask questions and make sure you get the best health insurance plan for you (see link below).

The major thing to remember when searching for health insurance quotes is that the bigger companies are not always the best choice to ask for quotes. Although they have multiple carriers, their sites don’t often offer side-by-side comparisons of one plan to another. That’s what you want – a site that gives you the ability to see what others offer at the same time. It’s a novel thought, and yes, there are sites on the Internet that do that.

Don’t base your search for health care insurance on price alone. You might find that a rather radical thought, because trying to save money leads logically to shopping for the least expensive plan. However, you may not want to do that because when you go for the cheapest options, you often end up foregoing benefits you may need later.

Here’s where your local health insurance agent comes into play. Call them; that’s what they’re there for – to provide you with a health care insurance quote that is tailor-made for your specific circumstances, not everyone else’s. The advice is free, and it can save you a ton of money while getting you what you really need in terms of health care coverage.

When talking to the health insurance agent, tell them precisely what you are looking for based on what you need for you and/or your family. Tell them all the circumstances, such as pre-existing conditions, your family size and plans for future children, or conditions you currently have under control through the use of medication.

All the information you give the agent is confidential and will help them to provide you with a plan that works. There are thousands of options out there, and you can’t read about all of them online. That’s what health care insurance agents are for, to make choosing a health care plan a whole lot easier.

The big name online companies might not always be the best option for you either, largely because they don’t always have the same kind of plan flexibility as a smaller company does. Brand name companies, like brand name drugs, don’t always do what you think they will do. Ask smaller companies to provide you quotes while also taking time for a free consultation with the insurance broker. You will be pleasantly surprised.