Good health insurance coverage is very important for survivors. Without insurance coverage, you may be responsible for the costs of medical procedures, visits with your health care team and prescribed medications or equipment. Health insurance helps make the medical care you need affordable. Knowing about individual and group health insurance plans and coverage options may help you choose the health insurance plan that enables you to receive the best treatment and health care services for your specific needs.

Group HealthInsurance Plans
Group health plans provide coverage for qualified group members and sometimes their dependents.

Insurers make group health insurance plans available to membership groups, such as employers, credit unions, labor unions and trade associations.
The premium that you have to pay for coverage through a group health plan is usually much less than through an individual health plan. An employer may pay a portion of the premium cost.

If you are self-employed and have no insurance benefits, check with your state insurance commission to find out whether you are entitled to "group of one" coverage. This type of coverage provides the protections of group coverage.

Group health coverage may be available through an employer or another group. Your relationship or membership with that group may qualify you to participate in their health insurance benefit plan.

An employer may pay all of the plan costs. However, often an employer pays a portion of the health insurance cost and the employee is also required to pay a portion. There may also be an option for extra insurance coverage if you are willing to pay an additional amount.

An employer's group health plan typically offers an open enrollment period once a year. During this time you may have an opportunity to join or change your current plan options and add eligible dependents, such as a spouse or child.

Some changes in your life may enable you to change insurance coverage outside of the open enrollment period. Contact your plan administrator for specific information about qualifying events and the terms of coverage your plan allows.

Note: There is typically a specified time, such as 31 days, of the qualifying event during which you must notify your benefits administrator in order to be eligible to change your benefit coverage.

During the open enrollment period of the health insurance plan, carefully review the plan benefits as the coverage may change from year to year. This is the one time each year during which you may make changes to your group health insurance coverage without having to go through a pre-existing condition exclusion period.

A pre-existing exclusion may be applied if you have a medical problem which exists at the time you enroll in or purchase your health insurance. In that case, the insurance company is likely to deny all claims pertaining to this medical problem for a specified period of time.

Individual HealthInsurance Plans
Individual health insurance plans provide coverage through single insurance plan policies and not as a part of a group plan.

Because you purchase the plan as an individual, the premium cost tends to be more expensive than the premium for a group policy.

If you are self-employed, not working or work for an employer that does not provide health insurance benefits, you may find that purchasing an individual health insurance policy is your only option.

Individual health insurance coverage may be very difficult to find if a cancer survivor is in the active treatment stage. In addition, an individual health policy may then exclude coverage for cancer-related medical expenses for a specified length of time after treatment is completed.

If you need to purchase an individual health policy, talk with an insurance professional to learn more about the many types of plans that are available to individuals.

Be aware that some programs call themselves health plans, but do not offer insurance coverage. Instead, they provide prearranged discounts with certain medical providers for the cost of health care services.

Find out if the insurance company selling the plan you are thinking about buying is accredited and licensed to operate in your state.

Be sure to investigate insurance companies and the plans they offer before deciding to purchase a policy. Make certain the plan includes coverage that meets the needs of you and your family.

The Department of Insurance in your state can provide important information about insurance companies. Find out:

If the insurer is currently licensed in your state; Whether disciplinary actions have been filed against the insurer for business practices;If beneficiaries have had concerns or negative experiences with the insurer in the past.

Types of Group Health Insurance Plans
1.Fully-Insured: Employers may purchase this type of group health insurance for their employees through an insurance company. Premium payments are contributed by employees to cover the cost of the purchase price of the health plan.

2.Self-Insured with a Third Party Administrator: This type of group health coverage is provided by employers who pay for their own claims, but contract with an insurance company to process claims and oversee the administration of benefits. Employee premium contributions are kept in a health care fund to be used specifically for beneficiary claims. Benefit coverage may either be determined by the employer or chosen from a list of existing products offered by the contracted insurer.

3.Self-Insured: Employers who both process and pay for their own claims provide this type of coverage. Employee premium payments are kept in a health care fund and used specifically for beneficiary claims. Benefit coverage is determined by the employer.

The Department of Labor governs all self-insured plans while the state Department of Insurance administers fully-insured plans. The type of policy you have determines the regulatory body. It may be Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Labor (DOL), or your state Department of Insurance (DOI). Your state DOI can tell you if additional protections apply to you if you are covered by a fully insured group health plan or an individual plan.