According to a Washington-based consumer advocacy group, Families USA, one in three South Carolina residents has gone without health insurance at some point during 2007 and 2008 (read more from Families USA report: New Report Finds 1.3 Million South Carolinians Were Uninsured at Some Point in 2007-2008.)

Some recently unemployed residents have opted to purchase COBRA, a federal insurance program that has been around since 1986. It allows for a recently terminated employee to receive the same benefits as when they were employed, paying 100% out of pocket. COBRA rates can be a little out of reach for some when income comes to a halt. The Wall Street Journal reports that fewer than 1 in 10 who are eligible for COBRA sign up — possibly because the annual cost of COBRA for a family is around $13,000. When maximum unemployment benefits for a South Carolina worker are just over $1,200 a month, it makes continuing insurance with COBRA a very costly option.

Fortunately, Congress recently passed The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  This allows unemployed workers to receive a nine-month subsidy to cover 65 percent of the COBRA premium (read more about the subsidy from The Department of Labor.)

Other options, instead of completely going without insurance, include a scaled-down policy. There are many options out there that have a reduced amount of coverage. Catastrophic policies and policies with high-deductibles might be a better band-aid than going completely without coverage. Companies like Golden Rule and United Health Care One have a variety of different plans for different budgets.

To help you shop for other insurance policies, we have a few pages on our site to assist you.

Our Quick Guide to South Carolina Insurance Resources has links to pages like:

South Carolina Department of Insurance,

South Carolina insurance laws,

Consumer services,

and a glossary of insurance terms.

SCIway also features a directory of South Carolina insurance agents and agencies.