The process and cost of buying health insurance

I try to keep this real estate / business related and having your own health insurance is part of being a Realtor / business owner. It is now becoming the reality of many people who have been laid off this week or were let go do to the state of the economy. I am not in health care field or insurance field so I'd contact the appropriate parties before moving forward. This is just how I did it. 

Getting started:

I had no idea how to get started. I had the Cobra plan from my old employer but that was looking like a payment of at least 500/month. My real estate plan that my brokerage offers is atleast 562/mo. I do not really go to the doctor or take prescriptions I just needed a plan incase crap hit the fan, dental, and a physical every year. A lot of people fall in this boat and others need a lot of prescriptions/frequent hospital visits. Having Independence Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance before I went to their website: https://www.ibx.com/individuals/find_plan/index.html . You will find the below page:

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Next I went to individual plans, then shop now, then see if I am eligible. So if you start going through this or talk with someone they will tell you The Period for Open Enrollment is closed! However losing coverage or a job is a "life event" and you will be eligible to enroll. 

You then will click apply now and answer some personal questions and it will select a list of plans for you to choose from. There were 20 some plans but the below is just an example of what you will see:

For me I didn't need much as stated earlier. I would highly suggest calling them, some people are eligible for a credit from the government based on certain factors that a representative could explain. For me my plan worked out to 

$302.00/mo 
$33.00/mo for dental. 
$335.00/mo total

I think that is an amazing deal for a plan with dental. I have heard of other people going through other suppliers and getting better rates so shop around. This is what worked for me. ​