When you find yourself being faced with a gap in your health insurance you should think about purchasing short term health insurance.
How It Can Help
This can save you from very expensive medical bills and ensure that you do not go to long without health insurance making pre-existing condition issues a problem even when you do obtain group health insurance.
You can get temporary health insurance through many insurance providers.
With group health insurance you automatically get coverage but when you look to buy short term individual health insurance the company can look at your records and deny you.
You may think you have to have a life threatening illness, like cancer to be deemed uninsurable for individual health insurance.
However, this is not the case. Many people find themselves uninsurable for taking anti-depressants or anti anxiety medication even when they only have taken them on a short term basis.
Restrictions Of A Short Term Plan
There are other restriction when you do get a short term policy, such as only being able to have it for a set amount of time without applying again.
Most plans offer the option of adding a spouse of children to a temporary health insurance plan. Family coverage in this instance will be subject to each individuals ability to qualify for coverage based on the insurance underwriters policies.
This can make it tough for a family to qualify as just one person may be eligible while the others are deemed uninsurable for one reason or another.
Carriers And Rates
Each carrier sets their own rates and benefits can vary widely from one plan to the next. This is a case when it pays to shop around to find the plan that will offer you the most benefits for the lowest premium amount.
If you can afford to self insure a portion of your medical bills selecting a plan with a higher deductible can save you money on the premium.
For example, if you are willing to pay $1,000 as a deductible before the plan coverage kicks in you can save quite a bit each month on your policy.
Protect Against Major Losses
Short term health insurance is a way for consumers to insure against a major loss from medical bills that could occur should they be without health insurance coverage.
Due to the nature of these plans it is advisable to rely on them only for the short term of the policy and look for a group health insurance plan that will not be as expensive or restrictive.
However, if you find yourself without any health insurance these types of plans can truly be worth their weight in gold should anything happen when you are covered by the plan.
A short term inpatient hospital stay can easily run $20,000 or more. When you think of it in those terms the premium amount seems much more reasonable and needed to protect against such a devastating loss.
