Even after your COBRA has ended, there is still the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) that you may be able to fall back on. It allows you to buy an insurance from any carrier of your choice.  Unfortunately, New Jersey is does not belong to the states that have high-risk pools. Which means that you may have limited options considering that you have a chronic preeisting condition. However, most insurance companies have HIPAA. The law requires insurers including any NJ health insurance company to accept any individual applying for a health insurance regardless of his or her health condition. You have 63 days to apply for HIPAA from the date that your COBRA lapsed. However, the portability plan may not have a ceiling for the premium. Some NJ health insurance companies, just like other insurers, may base the premium on the type and severity of the pre-eisting condition. Some portability premiums may run from $1,000 to $2,700 a month. There may be instances that insurance companies, which may include NJ health insurance, would charge $200 higher than the standard rate of a regular health insurance. Even if you were able to purchase an NJ health insurance, it may have inadequate benefits that someone with a chronic illness like you may need. -- June 11, 2009 @ 9:14 pm