What to Do When Your Health Insurance Runs Out

For information on state continuation coverage, contact your state's insurance department. Find contact information at http://www.naic.org (click on " NAIC States & Jurisdictions").

Option

3. Buy a Long-Term Plan. You can get preliminary quotes in a matter of minutes from Web sites that work with a number of health insurance companies, such as eHealthInsurance Services ( http://www.ehealthinsurance.com), as well as some insurers' home

pages.

But for those who prefer more guidance, a licensed agent can help. Good agents can help you sort through options, and their fees are usually built into plan costs.

If you decide to buy a private plan, keep in mind that the benefits might be limited compared with an employer's plan. The plans might not include maternity care, for example, or could have skimpy coverage for prescriptions.

"The drug benefit is limited sometimes to $1,500 a year, but there are some drugs that cost $1,500 a month," says Dave Dixon, an agent at Early, Cassidy & Schilling in Rockville.

You'll want to read the fine print of any policy. Make sure you know what's covered and what's not. Also confirm that the policy will renew regardless of changes in your health as long as you pay your premiums on time.

"Read the exclusions very carefully. Read the benefits," says Brenda Wilson of the Maryland Insurance Administration. "A lot of times in the complaints that come up, a person's coverage has been very clear, it's just that they didn't take the time to read it."

If you have poor health, there can be a catch: Insurers can decline to offer you a policy, exclude coverage for certain conditions or charge you high premiums. Those with serious conditions such as HIV, cancer or diabetes, as well as those with common conditions such as obesity, can feel the snub.

"In the past four or five years, I've had people turned down just because of height and weight," says Jerry Patt, an independent agent in Gaithersburg who has been in the business for more than 35 years. "They could be having no medical problems whatsoever, but their build was not acceptable."

For links to online insurance companies, go to http://www.ahip.org (click on "Consumer Information," then " Health Insurance Plan Links").

For local agents, try the National Association of Health Underwriters site at http://www.nahu.org (click on "Consumer Information," then " Find an Agent").