Medical insurance is one of the most important purchases you can make for your family. However, it's often too expensive for the budget of many people. In order to make health insurance more affordable, medical insurance assistance programs are part of many different state benefits for lower income individuals and families.

Right now, this insurance assistance comes from state programs some of which the federal government supplements. However in 2014, that will change. Because of the required changes, many of the group health care policies will increase in price because of the mandated changes effective September 23, 2010. The changes will make all policies increase in price and potentially reduce the number of small businesses carrying health insurance making medical insurance assistance important for those with moderate and lower incomes. The new changes remove the lifetime coverage cap, remove all deductibles and co-pays for preventative care, require there be no preexisting conditions clause for children and cover adult dependent children to the age of 26. Even though smaller businesses receive a tax credit, it most likely won't be enough to cover the increase in cost of the changes.

Right now, many states, such as Oregon, have family medical insurance assistance plans. The Oregon FHIAP, Family Health Insurance Assistance Plan, subsidizes the premium payments for health insurance through work or on an individual basis if their income is below a specific level. Other states also have family medical insurance assistance plans for families and now, because of health care reform, there are federally sponsored plans that provide tax credits for companies to insure their early retirees.

Massachusetts has required that since December 31, 2007 each citizen of the state carry health insurance and be able to provide proof of coverage. Because of this mandate, the governing body of Massachusetts also provides an assistance plan for lower income individuals. In this case, the assistance comes in the form of purchasing a low cost, state funded plan.

For low-income families, the state Medicaid programs have been in place for a number of years. These programs offer free insurance for those who can't afford any health insurance. Finding a program offered in your state is as simple as going to a website to find your state's rules and regulations for qualification for Medicaid or CHIP, children's insurance. The site is http://www.statehealthfacts.org/medicaid.jsp.

The changes in the qualifications for assistance plans came in the new health care reform bill. The bill expands the Medicaid coverage to families with higher incomes. By 2014, it will include individuals with incomes of 133 percent of the poverty level. However, the government will also offer premium subsidies for those individuals between 133 percent and 400 percent of the income designated as the poverty level. The medical insurance assistance or premium subsidy is just part of the program with the other part being a lower out-of-pocket expense for lower income individuals.

Nobody knows the effect of the changes to the cost of medical insurance but many believe that the new programs will lower the cost of insurance for those with preexisting conditions and increase the cost of the insurance for the healthy. However, even with the increased cost, the subsidies through the new health care bill should help all Americans afford insurance coverage. The medical insurance assistance program is important since there will be a penalty starting at $95 for an individual and rising to $695 or 1 percent of income and $2085 or 2.5 percent of income for families if you don't carry health insurance by 2014.