My husband and I both used to be self-employed. What we ended up doing was buying a "catastrophy insurance" plan that was about 60 bucks a month for both of us. There was a 5k deductable, so it obviously didn't cover any routine doctor's visits, prescriptions, etc. However, we had the reassurance that if something awful were to happen (car accident, etc.) that it wouldn't send us flying into debt past 5k, because our insurance would kick in then. What I suggest is to find something along those lines, and then also pick an amount to sock away each month - whether you can afford 50, 100, even just 10 bucks. Keep putting that into an account, and then when you do get sick and have an unexpected doctor's visit, you can pull from that fund to pay for it out of pocket. Another thing you may want to look into is an HSA that the government now offers. These were not available when my husband and I were self-employed, so I don't know terribly much about them, but from the little I know, it would have been a valid option for us. The last thing is also that there are some Christian groups who offer plans in which it's a kind of "share and share alike" mentality. You put in however much you can afford based upon your income. Then, whoever in the group needs money, takes it, with the assumption that once they are better, they will pay into the system and allow someone else in need to take the money. One such system is called "Medi-care" or is it "medi-share"..hmm..one of those two! We had friends who were in a group like this for their family of 4. They seemed to be pleased. I don't remember which exact group they were part of, but it's another idea. I don't have any personal experience with a group like this, so I can't say for sure, but our friends did recommend it to us when we were trying to figure out the whole health insurance thing.

Thanks for response steve_o. I have yet to find anyone who has coverage by them, but haven't found any "red flags" on Google either. It seems like a good and honest deal.

spanky.... Lots of good ideas here. I like the idea of pricing my current coverage. Let's see what is it I dislike about our current agent...they have an answering machine and they're not afraid to use it [g]; the last time I left a voicemail, I did not receive a call back; last claim we made, I had to work it out myself with the insurance company, the agent was useless; they gave me the wrong information in a potential claim situation once; and they never review our policies or update us at all or call even once a year to check on us. We end up just renewing because our attention is elsewhere and because we haven't any confidence in the agent anyway. spanky...why does carrying a high liability keep the suit birds away? You don't mean it would discourage suits, you just mean it will cover you if someone sues you, right? I thought that might be the case with flood insurance. I am not in a flood zone. The last time we had serious rain, there were areas in my state that had overflowing riverbanks and towns that were flooded, but none of it effected us in the slightest. What about if you get flooded from an accident of some kind? Like a burst pipe from workmen in the street? Burst pipes in the house are covered, right? We aren't in an earthquake area either, so what if we had a freak earthquake? These days, to my way of thinking, you could get any kind of disturbance anywhere. Could we lose our house? We would still have our land, but we could put up a tent, right? [g] Hurricanes we do get. We are on the East Coast and have lived through many of them. Our house was built in the 1950s and never had damage from one though. When you say 'special hurricane deductible' ...so I would have one deductible for everything else covered by the policy, but a hurricane would be an exception and would be higher, as in a percentage of the total damage the insurance company paid us? I'll have to look into umbrella coverage. Sounds familiar. Very helpful..thank you very much. :-) pm2

Keep shopping then. Most preferred companies allow up to 5 days with no prior insurance. Is the surcharge with you for the first term or will it continue and for how long? I always encourage my new business to wait to cancel until they have my policy and are pleased. There is never any reason to jump on a cancellation of a policy until you have proof you are covered elsewhere. Binders are not necessarily what you will want either. A binder shows proof of coverage but the underwriting isn't complete and rates could change. Policy on the other hand is complete for that term. A policy cancellation can be backdated, a good insurance company will generally ask for proof you are covered.