how can i have cheap health insurance for 3 little kids?

I was laid off earlier this year because the company I was employed with decided to move 80% of the work at our manufacturing plant to plants in Mexico and Indiana. When I found out I was being laid off the first question that I asked my wife is what are we going to do for medical & dental benefits? This was my biggest concern because throughout my career I have been fortunate to work for companies that offered good insurance plans. Obviously COBRA was an option until we found out that it was going to cost approximately $350 per month for medical coverage only. With Dental and Vision added in it was going to be closer to $400 per month. For us this was not an affordable option. These dollar amounts may not seem like a lot of money to some but when you are unemployed and depending on unemployment checks and your savings, you do your best to stretch your dollars as far as possible. The next thing that we did was begin to search for insurance plans on the internet. While we found a lot of good information on the internet, the traditional insurance plans were going to cost just as much or more than the COBRA option. Once again just not an affordable option. Fortunately for me I’m blessed to have a wife who is good at searching the internet for information and she found information about medical and dental discount plans. While discount plans are not insurance they do allow me to go to the doctor and dentist to get my needs met and not pay full price. Depending on the discount plan you choose you will receive a 20% to 80% discount on medical services and prescriptions. Once again these plans are not insurance but it is allowing me to get health issues addressed at a price that I can afford. As an example I can go to a dentist in our area and get my teeth cleaned for less than $40. This is perfect for me because my main goal is to maintain my health while I searched for a job. We decided to get our discount plan with a company that is based in Plano, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas, and they have been in business since 1992 with over 1.5 million members. This was important to me because it showed that they were not a fly by night company. In addition the discount plans from this company have nationwide coverage. Other important features of discount plans is that they are affordable, you are not turned down for pre-existing conditions and you don’t have to worry about limits on the number of visits. These plans are also good for someone who is employed but their employer does not offer insurance.