Ferget It

Sticking that NaBloPoMo post at the top here was interfering with Bloglines somehow, and annoying the crap out of me. So, never mind. I'm doing it. You'll just have to take my word for it.

-------
Our current health insurance is going to run out by the end of the year, unless we sign up for Cobra, which will run us...wait for it...over $1400 A MONTH for the four of us. This, at the same time that our family's for-sure income will be dropping to under two grand a month...less than we owe in mortgage payments. (That makes it sound more dire than it will be; I've always done ample freelancing, and expect to continue to do so. And Baroy's been working steadily on a freelance project that will continue into early next year. But none of that income is guaranteed, so while it's good to have, I can't really spend it on a month-to-month basis, you know?)

Let's just say that I'm not signing up for Cobra.

I did this whine in the past, when I thought I was quitting my job earlier this year, and it turned out OK; we ended up getting accepted at a fairly low monthly rate by Blue Cross on one of those huge out-of-pocket plans that would probably work out OK for us. But I've been hearing so many ugly stories about Blue Cross since then; about them pulling benefits retroactively on people for flimsy excuses. Considering N's disappearing/reappearing testicle and the Hernia That Wouldn't Leave, I see issues for us in the future.

Feh.

So...Have any of you recently applied for private insurance? Is ehealthinsurance.com (or whatever it's called) any good? Has anyone used a broker lately? I'm somewhat spoiled in that I really don't want to have to go Kaiser after years on a really good/expensive PPO; in fact, I'd rather stick with a PPO than an HMO, but I know that may not ultimately be possible.

Your advice is requested...and will be appreciated.

P.S. Could this post BE any more boring?
P.P.S. That was a rhetorical question, thankyewverymuch.