At any one given time in the United States there are more than 40 million people living without a personal health insurance. This thought is one that isn’t a happy one, it’s even quite frightening. If you should be going without insurance and have a major health issue it can ruin you financially. With that fact it comes as no surprise that unpaid medical bills are the leading cause for bankruptcy filings.

If you find yourself falling into this group of the uninsured there isn’t any reason to fall into hopelessness. It is possible for you to find affordable health insurance if you just take the time and sort through all of the options that are available to you.

In regards to the cost of health insurance the word affordable isn’t equal to cheap. In these rough economic times even a lower premium can be a lot, but when you’re asking yourself if you can afford it you should really be considering whether or not you can afford to go without it.

If you’re a healthy person that is under the age of 40 you can plan on paying right around a $160 minimum monthly payment. This type of policy would have a co-payment of possibly more but not less than $355 and a yearly $1,200 deductible. Should you be looking for a family health insurance plan you should be planning on a starting amount of around $400 per month.

You’ll need to provide access to all your past medical records and answer a list of questions. This is all part of the process and there are a large majority of plans that aren’t going to cover any preexisting conditions.

A good starting point would be to find out if you qualify for Medicaid. It’s worth looking into as many of the people that could qualify for Medicaid have no idea that they can.

Searching on the internet is a good place to start your health insurance search. Almost any company that has a web presence will have the tool for you to put in some general information and receive an instant quote. You should keep in mind that when it comes to health insurance more than any other type of insurance it is not going to be binding as there is a discovery period that needs to be gone through to properly vet and underwrite a health insurance policy.

By taking out some time and doing the proper level of searching you can find a health insurance policy that will work for you. Even if you end up having to get a policy that has a lot higher of a deductible to still have coverage is better than nothing at all. For instance, a 10 day hospital stay with 3 days in ICU and the rest in regular care is going to be around $65,000 at least.

Getting a policy that has $5,000 deductible in order to pay less of a premium would be worth it compared to financial ruin should something happened. Serious and severe injury is something that nobody wants to prepare for or have happen; however, if you don’t you’re putting yourself at risk.