The Dallas Morning News published an article today entitled “Laid-off workers face health insurance woes” that did a very good job describing the struggle many Americans are facing today. With the current recession causing the loss of over 500,000 jobs per month and the high prices of COBRA, familiarity with Temporary Health Insurance is more important than ever.

This part of the article provided a real life example of the decision people are being forced to face between COBRA and Short Term Health Insurance:

Keith Peterson, 33, of Dallas was laid off Dec. 9 from a Philadelphia-based drug manufacturer. He passed on COBRA insurance because it would have cost $1,200 a month.

In most cases, COBRA costs just as much as the company’s subsidized insurance plan. But with COBRA, the individual pays the entire premium without the company’s help. It’s normal for monthly COBRA premiums to be more than double what a person paid while employed.

Mr. Peterson’s company-provided health insurance for himself, his wife and 2-year-old daughter runs out Dec. 31.

“I’ve got to figure something out,” he said. “Maybe catastrophic insurance on myself and just something on the wife and little girl.”

He said he’s eyeing a short-term individual policy from Blue Cross Blue Shield that will cost him around $100 a month, but he’s not sure.

To be fair, the COBRA plan probably offers richer benefits than the temporary health insurance plan Mr. Peterson is considering, but $1200 per month sounds like a pretty steep monthly health insurance payment for someone that just lost their job. As long as he and his family don’t have any pre-existing conditions that require expensive medications or frequent medical care, the short term health insurance policy is likely a great option for protecting him against today’s high health care costs.