Elance contest offers a year of healthcare to lucky freelancer

One of the most difficult parts of losing a job and becoming an unintentional freelancer is losing health benefits.

While changes to the COBRA insurance program this year make health insurance more affordable after losing a job, it's still no substitute to employer-paid health insurance. In my household, I'm underemployed and working part-time while looking for full-time work after being laid off last year, and my part-time jobs don't have benefits. My wife has gone back to work full-time so we can have health insurance.

In what sounds like an acknowledgment to this fact of life, Elance, a site that matches freelancers to clients, is sponsoring a contest,in which the winner gets his or her health insurance paid for one year, up to $10,000.