About Short Term Medical Insurance Coverage
Short-term health insurance is a cost-saving method to cover the gap created between jobs or before Medicare compared to the use of COBRA. It's also excellent for college students no longer on their parent's policies and soon to be employed.
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Function
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As the name implies, short-term health insurance covers short-term needs. You use it not only between jobs, before your first job or Medicare but also while you wait for permanent coverage approval.
Time
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Policies vary from selections of one month to 18 months. Most allow one to two renewals but some short-term college plans allow unlimited renewals.
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Features
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Short-term plans normally have a deductible, co-insurance and maximum out-of-pocket. They tend to model traditional indemnity policies, but some that offer more savings with a preferred provider network.
Renewal
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Look for policies that guarantee renewability. Even though the policies say they're renewable, if you become seriously ill, some plans that don't guarantee renewability have the right to deny you renewal.
Considerations
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Before you buy a short-term health policy investigate the U.S. Government subsidy in 2009 for COBRA. It subsidizes 65 percent of your COBRA payments for nine months if you lost your job between Sept. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009. There are restrictions, so check the site in the resource area to see if you're eligible.
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Hamed Saber
