Short Term Health Insurance

If you cannot afford a full-fledged health insurance plan, short-term health insurance may be the best option for you. It is especially useful for college students and fresh graduates who have meager if any resources to spend on insurance. Even though short-term health insurance is not an enduring solution it provides continuity of coverage and ensures protection for a minimum term at the least. Short-term health insurance provides coverage from one month to six months. Short-term health insurance is an excellent choice for people between insurance plans. For example parents’ health policies do not cover students after a certain age and they may not have a job and are thus unable to afford health insurance. Short-term health insurance is better than having no coverage at all. In the absence of health coverage, your essential medical treatment will be delayed which may prove to be life threatening. You need to be a fairly healthy individual under 65 years of age to qualify for short-term health insurance. Short-term health insurance can be extended to dependents under 19 years of age, or under 25 for dependents that are full time students.

Short-term health insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions. Pre-existing conditions refer to illnesses and health problems that have been identified in last 3 to 5 years. The majority of short-term health insurance policies cannot be renewed. Most short-term health insurance providers also offer long-term plans. If you require coverage for more than six months you should opt for an individual health insurance policy. Short-term health insurance is a suitable option if you are healthy, unemployed, employed part time, are a student or fresh graduate or taking early retirement. It is probable that a change in your job or student status would help you qualify for the lowest cost health insurance. Short-term health insurance has gained immense popularity in recent times because of low monthly premiums and high coverage limits. Short-term health insurance plays a significant role for healthy segments of the society because of its low cost, high coverage amounts and fast purchase process.

Most corporate health insurance plans do not provide coverage to part time and temporary employees. Thus, part time and temporary employees are the target market of short-term health insurance. Mostly people between jobs also opt for short-term health insurance. People who are temporarily out of work and other financially unstable people who would not be able to qualify for conventional health insurance would be readily accepted for short-term health insurance. People who have lost their jobs and are searching for a new one can continue to avail health coverage of their previous employer up to a maximum of 36 months after which the cover is withdrawn. Short-term health insurance is also popular with fresh graduates, who are searching for their first permanent jobs. Consumers of short-term health insurance also include students who are no longer covered under their parent’s health insurance plan such as if you are at 18 or above and are not registered as a full time student you would no longer be covered under your parents’ health insurance policy. Short-term health insurance is the perfect solution for the above-mentioned people until they attain a financially sound status and can afford a long-term insurance policy. In case you do not have health insurance for any reason you can opt for a short term insurance policy. This is also true for discharged or retired military personnel who need coverage until they are eligible for Medicare.