Buying temporary health insurance
It may be time for you to get medical health insurance if you no longer have a job that provides you with it, have recently graduated from college, or are no longer listed with your parents’ on their medical health insurance plan. Sometimes, it’s hard to make the right decision about your health insurance in this time, because it’s expensive and there are just so many choices available. It also might be true that you are expecting to get another job that provides health insurance soon, or you already have but you have to work there for a certain number of months before you are eligible to opt in.
When you are in a situation like this, you don’t want to make any big commitments, especially with something as expensive and important as medical health insurance. That’s why if you find yourself in these positions, you should buy short term health insurance. Short term health insurance is a health insurance plan similar to more long term ones, but is given for a period of only 6 to 12 months. Sometimes it can be renewed over and over for up to 36 months.
It might be the case that you just can’t afford the cost of regular health insurance, and thus need another option while you try to get back on your feet to the point where you can afford it again. Short term health insurance is cheaper, so it is also helpful for people who don’t have any current prospects for health insurance, but just need something to hold them over in a hard time.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Who can get temporary health insurance?
Reader question:
Who can get temporary health insurance?
Mark
Great question.
One of the reasons that short term health insurance is able to offer its policies at such low monthly prices is because it has much stricter limits on who can be covered under one of its medical health insurance plans. It creates a stricter requirement, and thus those that purchase a short term health insurance plan are part of a pool that has less risk, and with less risk come fewer health insurance claims, and with fewer health insurance claims come cheaper rates.
Usually you can’t get short term health insurance if you are over the age of sixty five. More problems that are similar to the amount of pre-existing conditions come with older age, so short term health insurance companies don’t want to cover people who have the higher risk of getting sick or injured more often. It’s also true that if you applied for a health insurance policy before and were denied, you might not be able to get a temporary health insurance policy.
If you already have a health insurance policy that covers you, even if it’s coverage is very limited, you probably won’t be able to get short term health insurance to pick up the slack. Temporary health insurance plans have several requirements, and you’ll probably have to be within a certain height and weight range in order to qualify. It’s also true that there are several questions that you will be asked about your health history that you will have to answer correctly in order to be allowed to take out a short term health insurance policy.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
How much does temporary health insurance cost?
Reader question:
How much does temporary health insurance cost?
Jack
Great question.
The main reason that a lot of people choose to take out a short term health insurance policy is because it is so cheap. The reason it so cheap is because, well, it is short term and its coverage is limited. It does not cover things like pre-existing conditions and preventive care, so they tend to take on people who do not need those things and that lowers the premium payments for everyone. Most people, then, who have temporary health insurance are healthy and loyal as they only have to have the policy for twelve months. That’s a pretty risk free insured group, and without risk and with very few health insurance claims, costs are less.
If you are married and have two kids and live in Chicago, for example, let’s look at your case. You could be paying as little as three hundred dollars every month for the whole family to get one million dollars of temporary health insurance coverage with a one thousand dollar deductible. If you don’t make any claims, you’ll probably be able to renew your plan for three years until you find a long term health insurance coverage.
If you’re just a single guy and want the same thing, you’re looking at a mere seventy bucks a month.
Where the cost really comes in, though, is when you need to file a health insurance claim on your short term health insurance plan. If you have a one thousand dollar deductible, then your 100% coverage probably won’t kick in until five thousand dollars, and before that you will be co-paying.
A lot of companies that offer short term health insurance plans give you the option to pay either all at once or by month. If you pay all at once, you can get a discount.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
How does short term health insurance work?
Reader question:
How does short term health insurance work?
Mac
Like this.
- It’s kind of like an indemnity plan. What that means is that you are able to pick the doctors and specialists that provide you with your medical care without having to get a referral from within your health insurance plan’s network. They will have to be pre-certified in most cases, so you should understand this requirement before choosing a health care provider.
- There are certain limits, but a good deal is provided for, even some mental care, along with the usuals of things like surgery, diagnostics, and prescriptions.
- One of the major drawbacks of short term health insurance is that it doesn’t cover preventive medical care, which is one of the reasons why it is so cheap. It only pays if you get injured or fall ill while your in the policy period. Anything before or after is not their concern.
- Like a lot of health insurance plans, temporary health insurance doesn’t cover anything that involves a pre-existing condition, which goes along with the only within the insured period idea. This is a bad deal for people who have such conditions, but that’s the kind of limit that you get for opting for a cheap health insurance coverage plan. If you’ve had a condition within the last three years, then you are in most cases out.
- Short term health insurance coverage can actually often be renewed for up to three years, but this comes withfurther restrictions. If you had to file a claim during your first year, you probably won’t be allowed to renew. If you did file a claim and are renewed, whatever you filed a claim for is now an existing condition. That means that if last year you got a gunshot wound in your leg and were covered, this year if you get one in your arm you won’t be.
- Lots of temporary health insurance provides offer a one hundred percent money back guarantee within a month if you don’t like your coverage and haven’t filed any claims.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Who needs temporary health insurance?
Reader question:
Who needs temporary health insurance?
Rebecca
Great question.
- People in between one job and the next. It is often the case that you will leave a job or be laid off from a job that provides you with health insurance coverage, and find yourself without that coverage while you are looking for another job. This is where short term health insurance comes in. It is true that COBRA law allows you to continue your coverage from your old company for up to thirty six month until the coverage at your next job kicks in, but COBRA premiums tend to cost a lot and you will probably want to avoid them. Getting short term health insurance will help you avoid those high costs and allow you to be well covered until the coverage from your next job comes along.
- College grads. After you graduated from your college or university, the dream job that you spent all of those years studying for doesn’t just pop up out of nowhere. You have to look for it and try for it, and often it isn’t even available to you, despite your education, until you get a lot more real world experience. You may be forced to stick with a job that is less quality and does not provide you with any kind of health insurance coverage. You can get temporary health insurance while you’re looking for a better job. Also consider getting cheaper health insurance through your alumni association.
- When you’re growing up. If a teenager turns eighteen and isn’t enrolled in school or college full time, they will usually be dropped from their parents’ health insurance plan. Although COBRA laws do apply in this situation, too, it is true that these premiums costs quite a bit and it’s a better idea for the teen to get short term health insurance coverage until they make it into a job that provides them with coverage or get a different kind of plan.
- Miscellaneous reasons. There are plenty of other people who get short term health insurance for plenty of reasons, not just those listed above. Some just aren’t ready to commit to a full time insurance policy.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.