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Health insurance is critical if you want to secure your future against medical disasters that can easily drain your finances.
However, there are times when you may not have the funds to get a comprehensive health insurance policy. It’s not difficult to imagine circumstances where it’s not possible to afford a full health insurance plan – such as unexpected troubles, job termination, bankruptcy.
In desperate times, it becomes even more important to have the means to protect our finances against the most basic medical needs.
That’s where short-term health insurance comes in.
In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about short-term health insurance to help you assess your needs and pick better choices.
What is Short Term Health Insurance?
Ideally, health insurance is something that you should have at all times. The specifics may change a little over time or as certain life events happen, but generally speaking, it should always be a constant in your life.
After all, pausing or switching insurance policies without having another one in place exposes you to risk, no matter how small.
Sadly, real life isn’t always neat. All too often, we face problems that reduce our ability to pay the monthly premium of a comprehensive health insurance policy.
Most Americans get their insurance policies from their employers. But what happens when they suddenly lose their job because of layoffs or willful resignation? Their healthcare policies may lapse, exposing them to a significant risk of financial disaster in case they fall ill.
That’s why short-term health insurance is absolutely necessary.
This type of health insurance is much cheaper than regular health insurance. Short-term policies are designed to protect you during transition periods, when you’re holding off getting a comprehensive insurance plan because you’re banking on your next employer to provide you with a good one.
After all, having little insurance is better than no insurance at all. That said, keep in mind that it’s called a short-term policy for a reason: although it’s cheap, it’s not comprehensive, which means there are certain coverages that you may miss out on.
Who Should Get Short Term Insurance?
Short-term insurance policies have specific sets of advantages and disadvantages. Many insurance providers will design this type of policy to favor specific arrangements over others.
Thus, although you’re certainly free to get short-term insurance if you’d like, it’s not always the best option for everyone.
Short-term insurance is ideal for those who are facing specific situations, such as the following.
- Individuals looking for temporary health insurance between jobs
- Young adults who are no longer covered by their parent’s insurance
- Individuals looking for a policy bridge to Medicare
- Currently unemployed individuals
- Individuals who missed the open enrollment for the ACA Marketplace
In situations like these, you must have an accessible form of insurance, even if it will only cover your most basic needs. Short term insurance will weather you through periods where you can’t find, or can’t afford, a more permanent and comprehensive insurance policy.
What Will Short Term Health Insurance Cover?
The benefits that you can get from short-term health insurance will vary a lot based on what specific plan you’re availing of and where you’re getting it.
That’s because generally, short-term insurance isn’t part of the ACA mandate. The ACA, or Affordable Care Act, is a law that created the ACA Marketplace as part of its implementation.
The ACA Marketplace standardizes benefits for all the policies you can’t find there. They all follow the same basic guidelines, such as covering preexisting conditions or the ten basic benefits.
However, short-term insurance policies aren’t included in the ACA repertoire. You can only get these types of policies at private insurance providers, such as Magnum Insurance.
Nevertheless, there are several benefits generally offered by most short-term insurance.
- Preventive care
- Emergency care
- Urgent care
- Prescriptions
Make sure to go over the Exclusions and Limitations policies of an insurance plan beforehand. This section shows you what’s allowed or not under that insurance policy that you are thinking of buying.
For starters, short-term plans will generally not include the following:
- Pre Existing conditions
- Mental health services
- Physical rehabilitation
Keep in mind though, that you can generally negotiate for a short-term policy to cover specific needs. You’ll have to talk to your provider or agent to see how that will work.
How Can You Get Short-Term Health Insurance?
Although short-term insurance is generally not available in the ACA Marketplace, there are multiple ways for you to get good health insurance without a job.
However, there are also several things to keep in mind.
Availability
Short-term plans are not offered everywhere. In several US states, you can’t get short-term health insurance at all. These states are:
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
Although the laws around short-term plans were relaxed quite recently, these states still don’t offer any short term health insurance.
This is because the direct regulation of temporary policies is still up to the state government, so they can choose to prohibit these types of policies altogether or make the regulations strict enough that insurers will choose not to offer them.
Enrollment Period
Unlike ACA policies, enrolling for temporary insurance plans is available year-round. This availability is because these types of insurance aren’t offered by the ACA, but by private insurers. Thus, you can opt to enroll or change your short-term plans at any point in the year.
Length of Coverage
The longest possible length you can enroll for short term insurance is up to three years. This includes one year of primary membership, with two allowed yearly extensions.
However, these regulations change depending on where you live. Some states have stricter rules that make it difficult for plans to stretch out for the full three years. It can also depend on the insurer and the specific plan that you’re getting.
How Much Does Short Term Health Insurance Cost?
Temporary health insurance might not cover the ten ACA-guided essential benefits, but one advantage these types of policies do have is that they cost much less than regular insurance.
Typically, you can expect short-term health insurance premiums to be less than $100 per month. This number will vary depending on your provider, your specific plan, and any other coverage that you might want to include.
Upfront costs usually include the following factors in their calculations.
- Co-insurance. Most short-term plans will have you pay the percentage of expenses you contribute to your plan after meeting deductibles.
- Co-pay. Most plans like this require copayment during specific doctor visits.
- Deductible. Deductibles in temporary plans are generally much higher than in regular plans.
- Other costs. If anything goes over the limits and exclusions of your plan, there are very minimal protections in place and you may have to pay everything out of pocket.
- Premium. Short-term insurance premiums are much less expensive compared to traditional plans.
Getting the Right Short Term Health Insurance This 2022
Health insurance plans are critical safety nets to have, especially given that we’re living in uncertain times. But if you’re not in an ideal position to afford comprehensive healthcare coverage, you need to have a good fall-back plan.
Short-Term Health Insurance is accessible and provides the necessary coverage for you to tide over tough times.
If you’re looking for the best temporary insurance that your money can buy, you should check out Magnum Insurance. We offer tailor-fit policies designed to bring you the most value out of your buck. Give us a call now!
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