A contract protecting an individual and/or a family with health insurance. It requires a health insurer to pay some or all of health care costs in exchange for a monthly premium payment.
Individual and Family Plan (IFP) contracts are usually coverage you secure on your own – working directly with an online source (such as the Health Insurance Marketplace), through a broker, or an insurance company. You typically pay your premiums through a direct withdrawal from your financial institution or using a credit card.
Coverage secured through an employer-sponsored health insurance plan is usually paid for by your employer, or the cost is shared with your employer, with your premium payments made through payroll deduction.
If you have health insurance through your employer and your employment ends, you may be offered the opportunity to maintain your group health insurance coverage using COBRA. You may find paying the full COBRA premium is expensive. It may be more affordable to switch to an individual health policy, which you can purchase on your own or through the Health Insurance Marketplace.