I'm 30 years old and I don't have health insurance. I haven't been to the doctor in 3 years, and I figure i should go just for checkup purposes. Whats the best option for health insurance for someone who doesn't have an option provided from their employer? I'm in texas, if that makes a difference.

I am not a big fan of Kaiser, so stay clear. I feel that they don't give the best health care. I have blue cross and I have been very satisfied. Check out their website to find out prices in your area.

Honesty, if you think you're in good health, I would suggest just asking your doctor if they would take payments.

However, if you suspect that something may be wrong, you need to look into some sort of health coverage. The problem you're going to run across is that premiums are very high (mostly) and coverage is low (again mostly).

If I had to pay for my own coverage it would cost me about $5,000 each year! Logically, I probably won't run up that much in medical bills, but what if? There are times that it pays for itself (we just had a baby, thank goodness for insurance) but there ae times that I know I wouldn't have insurance if my employer didn't pay part.

You need to weigh how much you'll pay in premiums. Add in your deductables and co-pays. Then decide from there if you'll really run that much up in medical bills this year.

Also keep in mind that many health insurance carriers have anywhere from a 60 day to 6 month PRE-EXISTING condition clause that basically says anything diagnosed in that time COULD be a preexisting condition and they don't have to pay a dime.

Whatever you decide, READ ALL THE FINE PRINT and CHOOSE WISELY!!

Good luck!

You would have to look at individual plans from companies such as Blue Cross, Humana, Aetna, etc. They can send packets of information to you in the mail. Just google their companies and call them up. If you are going to go through an individual plan I would suggest an HMO because they usually cost less but have a few more restrictions as far as doctors you can see and referrals to specialists.

I would encourage you to find a job that does offer health insurance through the employer and here's why. When health insurance is provided through an employer, you cannot be turned down. That means the health provider has to insure you weather you have ALS, Cancer, AIDS, etc. You also cannot be cancelled because your employer is paying part of your health insurance costs. These are known as group plans which also offer the best rates and the best services. If you took somewhat of a pay cut to get a job that offers health insurance I would opt for that if I were you because the costs of an individual insurance plan are not only much more expensive, but also much more restrictive. Hope this helps, stay healthy.

You can get major medical that covers hospital expenses in an emergency.

Since you are young (and most likely healthy) it would be cheaper for you to just pay for the check up.

Private full coverage insurance is expensive and the premiums increase so much every year that it becomes prohibitive.

I am older than you are and started out with Blue cross/blue shield at a couple of hundred dollars a month for full coverage.

Within 2 years, the premiums increased to over $600 dollars a month and I had only been to the dr. twice for regular check ups. That is over $7000 a year, and it didn't even cover my Dr. visits because there is $1000 deductible.

We REALLY need a national health insurance of some kind.