Health Insurance for the Low Income Families

Being in college is like being sheltered from a lot of the problems of the world. One thing however, affects us as college students as it affects those not in college. Health insurance. My family, except for my daughter, has been without health insurance for quite a while now. We will have health insurance again, provided by the school, as soon as I start graduate school in January. I had looked previously at independent health insurance offered by Blue Cross et. al. and was not surprised to see a family health insurance package starting well out of our meager price range. When looking at school provided health insurance I found it much cheaper thankfully, averaging about 200 dollars a month. If it was not provided by school it averaged about 500 dollars a month for my spouse and I. The only problem is that it must be paid for a full year up front, and I cannot just jump on in the middle of the year. I keep telling myself graduate school will be worth it, I just do not want to put my families health second!