Tips for unemployed buying health insurance

The Wall Street Journal, in a personal finance column: "With no job prospects long before they can afford to retire -- and Social Security benefits still years away -- many unemployed workers in their 50s and early 60s are struggling to pay the bills. ... Of the 14.9 million unemployed, more than 2.2 million are 55 or older, according to the U.S. Labor Department."

As for their health insurance costs, "Most states have programs that offer low-cost coverage, typically if one earns less than $30,000 a year. … Short-term insurance policies, which typically cover unexpected illnesses and accidents, can run as low as $30 per person for a month. Catastrophic insurance typically starts as low as $30 a month depending on a person's age and health." Those that have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition (and who have been uninsured for six months) "can enroll in the federal Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, a part of the new health-care law. ... You also may be able to use out-of-pocket health-care costs to your advantage come tax time" (Glazer, 10/24).