On their own: far from a remedy, insurance for individuals is a world of pain.(HEALTH CARE)(Survey)

Imagine that shopping for a new car worked like this: If you really didn't need the auto and lived two blocks from work, any dealer would sell you a car for a song. If the commute was 50 miles, much too far to walk, no one would sell you a car at any price.

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You wouldn't get to see a full contract until you plunked down your cash. Your monthly car payment would go up 20 to 30 percent every year, and, by the way, the steering wheel might be extra.

The auto industry doesn't work like that, of course, but the market for people who buy their own health insurance does.

"I have been living with a dark cloud over me, thinking I am one illness away from poverty," says Kathie Baughman, 57, a self-employed title searcher, of Howard, Pa. She couldn't get insurance because she takes medication for high blood pressure and once had a lab test that detected slightly high blood sugar.

Our yearlong investigation of health insurance shows that consumers stuck in this market often have traumatic experiences. Here's what we found:

* Consumers who bought health insurance on their own had higher costs and more limited coverage than people who had insurance through an employer, according to a nationally representative survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Individual buyers were more likely to have complaints: 71 percent vs. 53 percent.