An individual or family health insurance policy is a policy purchased from an insurance company or government entity covering a single individual or selected family members.

The terms individual policy, family policy, individual and family policy, individual/family policy, and individual or family policy all mean the same thing—a policy purchased by a consumer directly from an insurance carrier (similarly to auto insurance) covering an individual or a family. (The terms policy, plan, company, and carrier are also used interchangeably and mean the same thing.)

1. Employers and their group-policy insurance carriers are legally required to accept all applicants regardless of their health. In contrast, insurance carriers offering individual policies can reject applicants with preexisting medical problems, and therefore can typically offer far lower rates to healthy applicants (except in five states).

2. The premium paid by employers for their group policies is typically increased every year based on the previous year's healthcare costs of the employee group. In contrast, the premium you pay for an individual or a family policy cannot be raised each year, nor can the policy be canceled based on your health or your prior year healthcare costs.

New Health Insurance Solutions for individuals, families, self-employeds, and businesses.

View the basic chapter table, expanded topical table, and pdf table of contents.

View the html or download a pdf version of the October 2005 press release.

Read excerpts on each topic discussed in The New Health Insurance Solution.

Read full reviews of The New Health Insurance Solution by Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc.

Read selected portion of reviews by Newsweek, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc.

Read endorsements of The New Health Insurance Solution.

View other books written by New York Times best-selling author Paul Zane Pilzer.

View contact information including phone numbers and email addresses for book publicist, author, etc.