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Wisconsin Individual Health Insurance Options

By: EconomyWatch Content Team Date: 3 February 2010

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If you are a resident of Wisconsin and not covered by any group insurance plan, you may consider purchasing individual health insurance from private insurance carriers. However, chances are that you will get rejected and your application tossed aside. This may for a variety of reasons. The insurance company may think that you are too expensive a customer to provide insurance for, or your past record isn’t right.

Usually the insurance carriers are free to deny you insurance coverage on the basis of your past health record, criminal record and other factors. But whatever the reason, finding an individual health insurance in these turbulent times is a rare instance indeed. Surviving without an insurance coverage is not a feasible option either. With economy in shambles and prices skyrocketing every day, affording daily trips to hospitals and physicians for medical treatment out of one's own pocket has become next to impossible.

However, there is no need to despair if you can't find yourself an affordable Wisconsin individual health insurance plan. There are plenty of opportunities out there still waiting to be availed. Alternatives such as the COBRA or state continuation coverage, and HIRSP coverage are easily available that allow high-risk category individuals to buy insurance coverage at subsidized rates.

The Cobra or state continuation coverage occurs in cases where you lose your group insurance plan provided by an employer. You may be an employee, a spouse, or a dependent child of an employee in order to qualify for the plan. The employer must have twenty plus employees under him. Finally, you are eligible for the COBRA only when you do not lose your job due to absolute misconduct. Usually an event that qualifies an individual for the eligibility of a plan involves death, divorce and layoff etc. The state continuation coverage is very similar to the COBRA plan and allows coverage of up to 18 month.

Yet another alternative to Wisconsin individual health insurance is the Wisconsin Health Insurance Risk Sharing Plan, also HIRSP. Under this program, Wisconsin residents who are unable to acquire insurance coverage from private insurance agencies because of their health are offered HIRSP Plans. With these plans, specifically Plan I and Plan II are specifically for individuals requiring Medicare. The HIRSP covers fee for visits to doctors and hospitals, drugs and medications with many more services. The maximum possible coverage amount under this plan is one million dollar in a lifetime.