Health insurance is a topic that seems to always be in the news here in the United States. Whether it's a topic in the presidential race or the latest attention getting tactics of film maker, Michael Moore, there's always something new coming up to keep the topic in the public eye. Unfortunately, most people don't even have a basic understanding of health insurance, the different types of health insurance or what is available to them. Here is a brief rundown of the different types of health insurance available and what they're meant for.

Individual or Family

This one is pretty obvious. Individual and family plans are private policies that provide protection against illness or injury. The amounts of coverage provided are different and depend upon the plan purchased. Premium payments are determined by
the amount of coverage provided within the plan, the deductible amount, Riders, etc.

Group Health Insurance

This is similar to the example above, with the main difference being that Group health insurance is mostly purchased by an employer seeking to provide low cost health care to their workers. This gives individuals and families the opportunity to buy
health insurance at a greatly reduced cost, compared to buying a private policy. If your employer offers Group coverage you should take advantage of it.

Short Term

Short Term health insurance is exactlt that, "short term". It's designed for individuals that only need a temporary policy, such as students graduating from college that no longer have a student health plan, but haven't found a job yet, or an individual who is between jobs and needs short term protection.

Student Health Insurance

This is also pretty self explanetory. Kids leaving home for college are generally no longer covered by their parents policy, therefore, they need their own protection. These are policies thare designed specifically with the needs of students in mind.

There is of course, more to these policies than what I've given here, but the idea was just to get you familiar with health insurance and some of the different types of coverage available to you.