Regardless of where you live in Missouri, if you don't have a job that offers a health benefits package, or if you don't work at all, you're most likely going to have trouble finding affordable health insurance in Missouri. The exceptions, of course, are those individuals who are married and have spouses with excellent health benefits packages, or those individuals wealthy enough to purchase individual health insurance policies.

Some Missouri residents have trouble obtaining affordable health insurance in Missouri for various other reasons. Some people find their health insurance policies involuntarily cancelled, while others are being charged more than 300% of the standard health care premiums. These residents also probably need help obtaining affordable health insurance in Missouri.

Missouri offers a special program to Missouri residents who are in these kinds of situations. The program is called the Missouri Health Insurance Pool (MHIP), and it's governed by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield programs of Missouri and of Kansas City. The MHIP isn't an insurance company; it's an insurance program for Missouri residents that offers four kinds of comprehensive and major medical health coverage.

You're eligible for the MHIP if you don't receive or aren't eligible for any other health care coverage; haven't already received the maximum $1 million dollars in coverage from the MHIP; and haven't been turned down by other health insurance companies due to alcohol or drug abuse. For more information, visit Missouri's Department of Insurance Web site.

The MHIP works as a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), and in order to get the most from the program, members should stay within the PPO when getting health care. The MHIP offers prescription drug and managed care coverage. Although there is a “pre-existing condition” exclusion, there are ways to get that exclusion waived. Other kinds of coverage, as well as costs, depend on which of the four kinds of comprehensive and major medical health coverage in which you're enrolled.