Finding affordable health insurance was not an easy task by any means. Don't get me wrong: there are a lot of companies that offer low-cost policies. So if you just need some kind of coverage, I'm sure you'll be able to find it. What I wanted, though, was more than just a piece of paper saying that I was covered in the event of a catastrophic illness. I wanted affordable health insurance that provided coverage for everything from routine checkups to prescription medication to major surgery. This was much more difficult to come by.

Like tens of thousands of other people before me, I recently gathered up enough courage to permanently leave my day job in order to join the ranks of the self-employed. This was a major step for me because I'm the kind of person that values comfort and security. I liked knowing that I would get a paycheck every two weeks whether business for my employer had been bad or good during that period. I also liked the benefits that I got from working for someone else -- not the least of which was great medical coverage. So prior to quitting my previous job, I had to try to find some affordable health insurance.

My search for affordable health insurance taught me many things. First of all, I learned to look past the initial quote. Now that I'm self-employed, it's very tempting to base all of my decisions on money alone. But that's definitely not the way to go when it comes to medical coverage, so instead of accepting or dismissing a particular policy based on the quote alone, I forced myself to compare policies according to what I would actually get out of them. Second, my search for affordable health insurance taught me that many times, companies that offer low monthly premiums require you to pay huge deductibles in the event of a hospital visit. Sure, I guess I could play the odds and hope that I nothing happened to me, but that would just give me something extra to worry about. Third, searching for affordable health insurance means reading the policy's fine print. I wanted to know exactly what my policy covered and what it didn't so that I wouldn't get hit with hidden charges later on. Reading the fine print saved me from making a couple of mistakes on policies that initially looked good, but turned out to be bad deals.

The quest for affordable health insurance is the Holy Grail for self-employed people everywhere. You owe it to yourself and to your family to carry medical coverage at all times, so don't give up on your search. Affordable health insurance is not a myth; it can be yours if you're willing to put in the necessary time to find the best policy for your needs.