If you have recently been laid off from your job and it provided your health insurance benefits, it is important to know the options for layoff health insurance that you now have. Depending on the length of the expected layoff, you may need to consider purchasing individual health insurance to avoid a lapse in coverage.

If the layoff is intended to be temporary, your employer may offer you the opportunity to continue your health coverage at the subsidized rates that were previously deducted from your paycheck. You would make the payments directly to your employer and would need to be certain they were paid on time so that coverage is not canceled.

Your company should give you the exact date on which your health insurance will be ending if they do not provide continuing coverage. This will give you time to research the possibilities of individual health insurance or getting on COBRA with your employer's health plan.

COBRA is a federally mandated program that offers terminating workers the opportunity to stay on the employer's health plan at their own expense. This option can be a very expensive one for the average worker since the employer is no longer covering the majority of the cost of the premiums.

If you are married and your spouse has health insurance through their employer, you should be able to be added to it within 30 days of your layoff. A spouse losing their health insurance is considered a qualifying event, so you would not need to wait until your husband or wife's company had their next open enrollment period to sign up for benefits.

Another option for layoff health insurance is to purchase a policy through the open market. It is important to be aware before starting this process that policies which are purchased in this manner are subject to health underwriting, and you could be denied based on your past health history.

If you are denied for coverage and have exhausted all other options such as continued subsidized coverage through your employer, COBRA or getting on a spouse's medical plan, then you may be able to turn to your state's health insurance program for additional help. Every state has different versions of state-sponsored medical risk pools where health insurance is made available to those who were denied traditional coverage and have no other recourse.

To see if you qualify for state-sponsored insurance, contact your state's department of insurance to find out what the requirements are to apply and to get approved for coverage. You are guaranteed coverage in a state-sponsored health insurance program if you meet certain criterion, which varies according to the laws of your state.