With the rising costs of group health insurance many employers have found themselves unable to provide coverage to their workers without driving the business down into dangerous economic territory.

Which is why, as Kaiser reports, many small business owners are looking to professional organizations and trade groups to offer group health insurance to their employees.

At first glance it looks great - some organizations like state medical or bar associations offer dues-paying members the option of buying into a group health insurance plan with them. The coverage is often designed to mirror employer based coverage, and is less expensive than individual policies.

But it's important to look closely at these types of policies. Purchasing group health insurance through one of these associations means paying into an organization that isn't as carefully regulated as individual or employer-based coverage. Too often consumers discover the hard way that their coverage isn't all that great after all.

And in the worst case scenario, they can discover that they've been paying into fraudulent insurance, leaving them with substantial medical debt when something goes wrong.

This is why it's so important to know that the company you're working with is legitimate, hopefully with a long-standing history in the community. It sounds nice to save money on insurance through an organization, but not understanding who that organization might be or what type of coverage they're offering can lead straight to financial ruin.