[paulakaye]

If anyone knows when Blue Cross is having open enrollment for new applicants for 2008 I would appreciate the information. We are self employed and uninsured. With two kids and a husband with a bad back we really need insurance and with his back, a lot of companies do not want to accept my husband.

[Southlander]

Usually it's the month of November.

[Charles]

Self employed? Why would there even be an enrollment period? Aren't enrollment periods for employees?

But yes, for my current company it is around November. But my last company started the plan year in June so open enrollment was in the Spring I think.

[Southlander]

Charles, when you are self-employed and do not have a pool of 100+ employees, health insurance is an entirely different beast. There are some threads on city-data that address the issue.

[southernnaturelover]

I have private BCBS insurance and I am not aware of any enrollment period. I just went to their website and applied. I have a $1k deductible and I pay $102 per month (just myself).

https://www.bcbsal.org/plans/individual/iblue/index.cfm

[paulakaye]

southernnaturelover, One can enroll at any time but during open enrollment they will accept you even if you have prior health conditions such as my husbands bad back, my daughters weight {she is 18 , 5'4" and an athlete and weighs 205 lbs of muscle and they say she exceeds the weight limit of acceptability} and my family health history. Other than my husbands back, which the problems are sporadic, we are all healthy but I know the insurance companies guidelines and what I feel is fair are totally different.

[Charles]

The Los Angeles Times is running a good series of articles on this topic:

An eroding model for health insurance - Los Angeles Times