If you are new to a job or trying to gain medical insurance through Cobra or Medicaid, the process of obtaining and confirming medical insurance can be very confusing. Maneuvering the web of contacts between employee, employer and insurer is enough to make anyone's head spin. Although you are unable to call and ask about whether someone else has medical insurance unless you are a doctor, pharmacy, or human resource representative, you can always call to ask about your own insurance situation or your family members' situations. To do so, follow these steps.

Gather relevant information. When calling an insurance company or other organization to inquire as to whether you or someone else has medical insurance, you will need certain information. You will need the person's name, date of birth, and social security number. Without this data, you will not be provided access to even information as simple as whether the person has health insurance.

Contact your human resources department. Your Human Resources (HR) Department should be able to tell you if your employer offers health insurance for employees and whether you are eligible for their plan. The HR representative should be able to tell you if your benefits have come through and who to contact with the actual insurance company your employer has a contract with.

Contact your medical insurance company. After finding out the name of the medical insurance company, you can contact the plan administrator with that company. If your employer has not given you the contact information for the plan administrator, simply call the 1800 number associated with the insurance company and ask to be transferred to the appropriate person.

Call the SSA. If you want to check to see if someone has Medicare or Cobra insurance, call the Social Security Administration (SSA). Although the SSA will only give this information out to the individual being inquired about, doctors and pharmacies can also access this information.

Make further inquiries. If your policy is terminated, inquire further. If you find out through your calls that you no longer have medical insurance, find out why. Repeat steps one through three until you find the source of the problem. Perhaps your company terminated medical insurance to cut costs or because they made an error. Or maybe the insurance company believes that you withheld information essential to your coverage or failed to pay your premiums. Either way, be sure to get to the bottom of why you no longer have health insurance before you need access to medical help. For more information on what to do if your medical insurance is terminated, read the link under Resources from the San Diego News Network.

Research additional plans (if uninsured). If you find out through your calls and contacts that you are indeed uninsured, you should start researching medical plans. Vimo.com provides a good search engine for finding health insurance quotes for affordable health plans and is a good place to start. The AARP also provides information on gaining medical insurance.