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I'm still undecided about whether I'll continue to work after my baby is born. There are a lot of issues, and my work is interesting and fun, but doesn't pay well. It also can occassionally require long (12-16 hour days) though I am pretty flexible about my schedule, and the experience I get now, should lead to a higher paying job someday. I'm a freshwater biologist and work in research and conservation. Also, its very hard once you leave a job in this field to find a new local job, since you pretty much have to be willing to move to find a job at all since the jobs are scarce. My husband is self-employed and makes much more money than I do, so it's kind of hard for me to convince myself that continuing to work is the right thing to do. However, I do currently provide our health insurance. The policy we have through work is not great coverage. I had a much better plan when I was in grad school and it was free. The premiums are so high, because the employer pays a relatively low proportion of the total cost, and since my husband and I are young (29 and 34) and we don't smoke, coverage privately through blue cross blue shield or united health care with about the same level of coverage we have now is only going to be about $200 more than my current premiums. I'm asking who else has private health insurance and what things I should watch out for. someone warned me not to do it, because a plan can drop you if you later develop health problems and they think you're not a good investment anymore. I'm also concerned about how quickly the rates could go up and how we'd have no control over this. I've always been on a group plan in the past, so I'm not really sure of what to watch out for. Any advice on which company might be better-BC, BS or United HC? Thanks.