Need another reason NOT to vote for McCain? His health insurance plan would force more people out of employer-sponsored health insurance to the individual market — in the guise of giving you “choice.” And guess what: Women are forced to pay significantly more for health insurance for men, even for policies that exclude maternity services.

Of course, for those of you who — like me — don’t have employer sponsored insurance anyway, there’s no choice but to try and find an option in the individual health insurance market. Most of you’ll want to buy individual health insurance, warts and all.

However, if — like me — you’ve been turned down by a bunch of health care companies and can’t get individual health insurance. So here’s what I’m up to now.

First, I checked out the California Department of Insurance site, which has put together a short guide for insurance seekers. Unfortunately, most of the info had little to do with me, but I’ll list those here for those who might be helped by it:

>> Family Medical Leave Act, for those working at companies with 50+ employees

>> COBRA, for those who used to have employer-sponsored health insurance and want to extend that after leaving the company

>> Access for Infants and Mothers, for pregnant women and their newborn children

>> CalWORKS, for families with minor children

>> Healthy Families, for children and teens

>> Medi-Cal, for those 21 or younger or 65 and older — or adults taking care of people that fit those age constraints — as well as those who are pregnant, disabled, refugees, or living in a nursing home.

>> Medicare and Medigap, for older or disabled people

While I didn’t qualify for any of the above, I did find some programs I might be able to take advantage of. That’s what my next health care post’ll be about.

Update: Here’s part II — in which I find a health insurance program that might actually have to accept me!

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