When to Buy Short Term Health Insurance

If you missed out on Open Enrollment and don’t qualify for Special Enrollment, you may want to consider a Short Term Health Insurance policy to cover you until the next Open Enrollment.

These policies have been around for years, and are usually aimed at recent college graduates, people between jobs, and recently hired employees who are waiting for their group benefits to kick in. However, short term plans have started to gain more notoriety, due to the Affordable Care Act and certain restricts on buying periods.

Short term health insurance is defined as policies with terms lasting less than 12 months. They often don’t provide the same amount of coverage as ACA approved plans, and they also don’t have to adhere to the same regulations. Insurance carriers that offer short term plans are allowed to turn away patients who are sick, and can refuse to cover preexisting conditions, unlike major medical plans. Short term plans also don’t have to pay for preventative care and aren’t required to renew a policy if a patient needs a lot of medical care.

Short term health insurance plans are a great alternative to fairly healthy people who don’t have any other options available to them. They can also be much more cost-effective for people who don’t qualify for a government subsidy. While short term plans don’t always satisfy ACA requirements, so you may face the same tax penalty as the uninsured, they are a viable option if you need coverage for a limited amount of time.

These health plans have a number of positive aspects. They are a low cost alternative to major medical insurance, you can get approved in as short as one days’ time, the policies are written for 30 days to 12 months of coverage, and they’ll help bridge gaps of insurance in times of transition.

Many health insurance companies have rushed to offer short-term plans in the face of health care reform. United Healthcare, Humana, some Blue Cross and Blue Shield carriers, and many smaller companies all sell short term options. For a free short term insurance quote, just click here.