If you’re searching for more affordable health insurance, you might want to check out various alternatives to “mainstream” plans under the umbrella of the ACA. These include:
- Short-term health insurance: There are a number of plans that are offered on a short-term basis, but these options are only really intended to fill gaps in coverage. For example, COBRA represents a short-term solution for employees who lose their health benefits through their employers. However, these options aren’t very affordable and should only be viewed as a temporary solution.
- Health-sharing plans: Health-sharing plans are not the same as insurance, but they can offer some of the same general advantages at a fraction of the cost.
- Private health insurance: Private health insurance is offered outside of the federally regulated ACA marketplace. Most private health insurance plans are held by employees under their employers’ plans. While this represents a viable alternative to Obamacare, it usually isn’t as affordable for non-employees.
- No insurance: Of course, the cheapest possible option is to simply abandon insurance altogether. This might be a viable choice for healthy individuals, but you never really know what will happen in the future. If you’re going to abandon insurance, you first need to check whether you’re actually allowed to do this in your state. Secondly, it might be a good idea to create an emergency fund.