So you find yourself looking for health insurance.  Maybe your employer has stopped offering coverage and thrown you into this new world of discovery.  You may be surprised with what you find.  Hopefully this article will help guide you through the process.  To start off, there is no “easy button” when it comes to individual health insurance.  We need to eliminate “discount cards&plans” that portray themselves as health insurance.  Discount plans are not insurance.  The discounts are generally taken off the cash price and you may end up paying more for a service than the discounted rate that insurance companies have already negotiated for.
You may also run into some very affordable “Limited Benefit Plans.”  These plans put limits or caps on most covered services.  These plans are attractive until you dig into the details.  The plan may have a drug benefit but the annual limit is usually low, $250 for example.  Most services have annual limits.  For example, let’s say you have a $10,000 per year limit for surgery.  If you have a procedure that costs $70,000, you would end up paying the remaining $60,000 after your plan paid it’s limit.  They almost always have an annual maximum benefit that could be as low as $1,000.  A limited benefit plan may be a consideration if you are willing to be on the hook for catastrophic coverage.  These plans are followed by a building debate about whether such policies provide a false sense of security, and raise the question: Is a little coverage that much better than none at all?
Now let’s look at some real health plans.  Individual plans are hard to compare apples to apples due to different variations between the companies but can be broken down into three basic plans.  Hospitalization only, PPO plans and HSA qualified.  All three of these cap your exposure with a maximum out of pocket limit.  After you reach that limit your insurance will cover you 100% for the remainder of the year.  These plans also provide a maximum lifetime benefit, usually $5,000,000.
Hospitalization only plans typically don’t cover things like prescription drugs and doctor office visits.  They provide coverage for the big things, commonly referred to as catastrophic coverage.  The premiums for these plans are quite a bit less and the savings on premiums can more than cover a few office visits and prescriptions over the year.  These plans have an annual deductible and coinsurance which is the percent of the medical bill you pay after the deductible is met, typically 20-30%.  Some companies include preventive care in these plans.  This will allow you annual physical exams and preventive testing such as mammograms and prostate exams at a very low copay.
PPO type plans are the most recognizable to most people.  These plans have annual deductibles and coinsurance but, waive the deductible for office visits where you would pay a copay instead.  Prescription drug coverage is provided up front as well usually with copays for different tiers of drugs.  Drug plans will be discussed later in this article.  The premiums for these plans are higher than the other two types of health plans but with choices on deductibles, coinsurance and drug plans they can be designed to fit most peoples budgets.
Plans that are Health Savings Account (HSA) qualified can be extremely competitive.  The concept of an HSA is that you have a high deductible health plan and with the premium savings you self fund the deductible through an HSA account which is your money and can be used toward the deductible or for future health care costs.  In 2009 you are allowed to deposit up to $3,000 for individual-only coverage and $5950 for family coverage.  If you are 55 and older you can deposit an additional $1,000 per person.  If you have an HSA qualified health plan all the money you deposit in an HSA account is tax deductible.  The account can also be used to pay for vision, dental and many other medical expenses on a tax free basis.  Any money left over at the end of the year rolls over to the next year and can be used for medical expenses in that and future years.  The health plan itself will have a deductible of at least $1,150 for individuals and $2,300 for two or more people.  Medical and drug coverage does not start until the deductible is met.  Any money spent on drugs will count toward your deductible in most plans.  After deductible, medical and drug is covered 100% in most plans.  You can save premium dollars by changing this to 70 or 80%.  Most companies provide up front preventive care on these plans.
That is a basic rundown on the different plans.  So, what else do you look for?  Some companies offer up front accident coverage.  This can allow you to have a high deductible plan, but when junior breaks him arm on the wrestling mat, coverage will be there before deductible.  How companies compute deductibles can be different.  For example, if you have your family insured on a $1,000 single deductible and $2,000 family deductible plan with a common deductible you would have to satisfy the $2,000 deductible before coverage starts.  With an embedded deductible, coverage would start if one of your family members satisfied the $1,000 deductible.  Dental coverage is available with most companies.  Vision coverage is hard to find in the individual market.  Maternity coverage on individual plans is either non-existent or very expensive.
One final area to consider is underwriting.  Most companies are going to look at your health history to determine coverage.  Based on medical history they can either issue the policy at standard rates, charge more premium due to a medical condition (rating) or decline you due to a medical condition.  Lucky for you in the state of Michigan, you have access to guaranteed coverage at affordable rates.  This is not the case in a lot of states.  Most states offer guaranteed coverage but will charge two to three times the standard rate to get it. 
A final suggestion, find an agent who is familiar with the different plans who can help you find the right plan based on your needs.  An agent can help eliminate some of the headaches and surprises at claim time.