I used ehealthinsurance.com to find a plan for myself when I got to college. I went with an HMO to keep costs down for myself, and really only bought it for "just in case" scenarios.<p>On the other hand, most people don't seem to know that the vast majority of doctors are perfectly willing to negotiate rates with people who are uninsured. You're not going to get much of a break on your bill when you have a sore throat and need some antibiotics, but if you need an outpatient surgery, for example, you can expect steep reductions.<p>I was in that situation and the surgeon cut his rate in half and charged me nothing for any follow up office visits, which went on for some two or three months. The hospital operating room charge was the most expensive part of the whole equation, but they still dropped about 30% off their rates if I paid in full up front, which wasn't a problem with a credit card that I keep paid off.<p>All in all, it still cost me several grand to have the surgery done, which would have been the cost of several years worth of my current insurance payments. On the upside, I got to shop around for a doctor I was comfortable with and had faith in, as opposed to having a much smaller pool to choose from with an HMO.<p>Something else you could look in to is a health savings account. Basically, it's a tax free savings account that can only be used to pay for medical expenses unless you want to be taxed on what you withdraw from it, kind of like an IRA. The idea is that you should put the same amount in that account as you would pay an insurance company, but it's still your money. If you don't end up having to spend it, it's still in your pocket as opposed to an insurance company's coffers. If you're diligent about making deposits to it, that's probably the best way to go if you don't have some sort of corporate or government health care to draw from.