Individual Health Insurance is a kind of insurance coverage option for the self-employed. It usually is the kind of health plan to turn to if your employer does not offer health insurance as part of the company benefit. Individual health insurance covers one person and also his/her family. With this kind of plan you may even have more options available for yourself than the ones included in a group health insurance package. Individual health insurance is highly customizable to meet your needs but may also turn out to be more expensive in terms of premium payments compared to group health insurance.

This is because the risk factor for Individual Health Insurance is concentrated on one person only.

Aside from it being more expensive, It is also more difficult to get an individual health insurance coverage compared to group health insurance coverage. This is because policies for individual health insurance are also individually underwritten. This means, your complete medical history will closely be scrutinized by the insurance companies. They may refuse you especially when you have a pre-existing medical condition or they may set a "rider" on your policy. Riders are modifications made to a certificate of Insurance that deals with the clauses and provisions of a certain policy.

Health insurance companies are there to profit from the premiums that you pay for the coverage they are able to give you. They will naturally agree to insure you because they believe that you will be able to pay more into the company than they will pay out for your claims later on. This is the reason why they need to make sure that you do not have any pre-existing conditions that they may find too risky for them to bet on. Because of this, most individuals turn to group health insurance so that they can qualify even if they have pre-existing medical conditions.