If you think affordable health insurance is a myth, think again. That’s right. It’s the new millennium, and you can almost afford medicine again. That being the case, if you have any sort of serious illness or condition, you may have to take out a small loan just to afford your prescriptions every month. That’s why finding affordable health insurance is so important to people now. If you’re in perfect health, you may be thinking ‘why do I need insurance?’ Well, insurance protects you in case something does happen. At last check, I didn’t know anyone who woke up and said ‘I think I’ll get hit by a bus and have a broken spine today.’ It doesn’t happen that way. The fact is nobody ever plans to be sick or injured, it just happens that way. However, there are some steps you can take to make sure you’ve got your bases covered. Finding an affordable health insurance plan is one of them.

Now, in order to find an affordable health insurance plan, you need to be willing to put in some time and work. For instance, you might have to take an afternoon calling insurance agencies and requesting information. That’s about 2 hours worth of work. Now you can take a nap while you wait for the information to arrive by mail. Once you have all the information, compare plans and find the one that has the best options for the lowest price. Options and price are a balance. You need to decide how much certain ‘extras’ are worth to you in the plans, and adjust your ideas accordingly.

Now, if you’ve picked one plan already, don’t call them back and start paying right away. Many states offer an affordable health insurance plan all of their own, usually to lower income individuals and families. I live in Washington State, and I know that we have a plan here. I can’t tell you exactly how they figure the cost, as they use a sliding scale based on income, but I know it’s CHEAP compared to just about any plan you can find out there. That’s the joy of state subsidized plans. Check into your states available health care options before committing to any plan on your own. If it’s not for you, the disregard it and go on with your plans.

When picking your health insurance, please keep in mind what I’ve said about options and price. Affordable health insurance can be a reality if you pick wisely, but the more options you add that are unnecessary, the higher your cost will be. Suddenly your ‘affordable health insurance’ becomes your ‘unholy burden.’ Remember, insurance should help you, not hinder you.

For many people living in New York, the inclusion of a comprehensive health insurance plan provided by an employer plays a strong role in deciding whether or not to take a job. Most people understand the importance of health insurance and the increasing costs of having and maintaining a worthwhile policy. Therefore, when you're interviewing for a new job and need to learn which benefits are associated with the role, it is important to find out if health insurance is one of them.

Without a doubt, the most affordable way to obtain health insurance in New York is through a group insurance plan sponsored by an employer. However, while more and more employers are realizing that offering good health insurance is a great way to attract and retain the best employees, not all employers offer insurance plans. Legally, they are not required to. So what should you do if you are attracted to the job but find out your new employer will not be offering you any medical benefits?

Your next best alternative should be Healthy NY. This is an insurance program for people in New York who own businesses, are self-employed or who work for employers that do not offer health insurance plans as part of a person's benefits package.

To be eligible to join Healthy NY, you need to be currently employed or employed within the last twelve months. You should also be able to demonstrate that you are unable to access any group health insurance plans or any health insurance plans that you may have had with previous employers.
If you are a small business owner in New York, you are eligible to take out a health insurance plan with Healthy NY providing that you have less than 50 employees. A second prerequisite is that 30 percent of your employees earn less than $35,000 a year. Healthy NY offers an attractive deal for small business owners as they can claim tax deductions on their health insurance plans.
If you do not qualify for Healthy NY initially, you may be eligible later in life if your personal situation or employment status changes. Some common changes including separation, divorce, family bereavement and changes in employment can help New Yorkers that were previously ineligible for insurance through Healthy NY to qualify.

If you are interested in finding more information on health insurance coverage through Healthy NY, you should contact the New York State Department of Insurance.