> You are fortunate not to have any pre-existing conditions

THIS. Although in many states there is a high risk pool that you can sign up for, when insurers deny you. I know someone who's done this in California and while there was a 6-9 month waiting list, and the coverage wasn't great, it was much much better than no coverage at all.

States with high risk pools:

http://www.naschip.org/states_pools.htm