Health Insurance 101:

These articles, prepared by the writers and editors of the Health Insurance Resource Center, will help you better understand health care and medical insurance issues.

Types of insurance

COBRA: understanding the safety net's pros and cons

Laid off? A seemingly obvious insurance option will be COBRA, a federal law that allows you to continue to purchase the health coverage from your employer-sponsored plan ... more

Student health insurance: required reading for college-bound

Long before the first class of the first college semester begins, prospective students and their families need to begin doing their homework ... more

Short-term major medical: fills tall order for “in-betweens”

Many health care consumers are now looking for a quick fix that has appeared in the form of short-term major medical health insurance policies ... more

Mini-meds: guaranteed-issue for the medically uninsurable

Turned down for major medical insurance? Simply can't afford the premiums that traditional plans demand? You may have another option: a "Mini-med" plan. ... more

Medicare Supplement policies: bridge coverage gaps

When it comes to health insurance, Medicare is definitely the 800-pound gorilla. The federally funded program covers more than 40 million Americans ... more

High risk pools: an answer for the uninsured

According to a 2007 report by United Health Foundation, 15.9 percent of all Americans are uninsured. State-sponsored risk pools are aimed at a small slice of those Americans ... more

General articles

Self-employed health insurance

The self-employed have their own unique challenges in finding and keeping health insurance. The self-employed typically have to apply for ... more

Health insurance FAQs

There are many questions that individuals have regarding health insurance. This is because the insurance purchasing process involves many people, from the ... more

How to buy health insurance

Learn all you can! An educated consumer is a smart consumer. Use this and other sites to learn about: the different types of policies available... more

Tips to reduce your family's health care costs

Common sense approaches to lowering medical and other health-related expenses. ... more