Short Term Health Insurance Plans

Anyone who has struggled to pay the premiums on an Obamacare plan may wish that their health insurance was cheaper. It can be if you switch over to short term health insurance plans. These are more streamlined healthcare policies that offer coverage to fit your needs. They are usually very affordable and will be available whenever you want to sign up for them. Let’s talk about how you get a short term plan, what they can offer you, how much they will cost and why you might be included to choose one as your coverage plan moving forward.

How to Sign Up

Enrollment in these plans is so simple. You don’t need to look for a specific enrollment period. You can simply sign up whenever you like. You can choose the plan you want with the coverage you want and not worry about it taking weeks or months to start covering you. In fact, after an enrollment process of just a few minutes, you can be covered by the next day. That’s astoundingly fast when you compare it to Obamacare plans and other kinds of major medical plans that can take a very long time to start providing you with coverage.

You also don’t need to worry that you will incur a tax penalty if you give up your Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) plan for a short term one. That tax penalty is being removed starting January 1^st, 2020, so you will be able to sign up for whatever kind of healthcare plan you want without having to be concerned about having an Affordable Care Act plan as well.

How Well Will a Short Term Plan Cover You?

If you choose the right short term medical insurance plan, then you can be covered very well. These are very limited plans with targeted coverage, but they can cover exactly what you need without making you pay for additional medical expenses that do not apply to you. You can be covered for x-rays, dental checkups, visits to your regular healthcare provider, surgery, pregnancy complications, some medications, preventative treatments, emergency services and more. You will not be covered for preexisting medical conditions, so don’t expect to be approved for plan that would cover a condition you have already.

You also should not expect to receive standardized coverage from a short term plan. In other words, these plans do not have to offer a specific set of coverage items like Affordable Care Act plans do. They can cover you for whatever the insurer wants them to. Now, once you sign up for the plan, then the coverage is set and cannot be changed, but don’t expect to be covered for unexpected expenses that were not specifically stated in the plan.

The coverage varies from one plan to the next, and if you are not finding the kind of short term plan that you need to cover you for expenses that are relevant to you, then keep on looking. There is surely a plan out there that fits your situation and fulfills your needs. These may not be massive plans with lots of coverage, but if you need some targeted coverage of medical expenses, then there is no better option than the short term plans.

The Cost of Short Term Coverage

How much should you expect to pay for a short term plan? On average, these plans cost about $100 per month. This average changes based on where you live, as the prices are different from one state to the next. Some states will not allow these plans, so be aware of that and what your state restricts or allows.

Cheap health insurance plans are possible with short term coverage. You can get an affordable plan that costs you far less than the average of $350 a month for Affordable Care Act plans. That’s a huge savings, and it really adds up every month. The best thing is that you can cancel your short term plan at any time. If you decide that this kind of plan is not working for you and isn’t covering you right, then you can cancel it without incurring any penalty, in most cases.

Short term plans also come with an annual deductible. This is something that needs to be paid before your plan will cover you at all. However, the plan will cover you no matter where you go. You can even use the same healthcare provider you were using before you signed up for the plan. This is part of why short term health insurance plans are so popular.

The private health insurance policies are always changing prices. The rates can even go down from time to time, especially as new legislation is enacted that affects the plans. You can use our site to see what the current rates are and to tell if you are getting a good deal by choosing one short term policy over another. The health insurance marketplace is very competitive, so if you want to find good prices, then you just need to do some looking. There are some very low rates out there that you can take advantage of. Our site lets you source a bunch of prices on the plan you are interested in and see how the rates compare across multiple insurance companies.

The Length of a Short Term Plan

How long is a short term plan designed to last? By the name, you might suspect it wouldn’t be very long, and to an extent, you would be correct. Short term plans can have terms that are as short as 30 days. They can last longer than that, though, and most insurance companies will offer a range of plans that give you options to pick from 30-day plans, 90-day plans, six-month plans and 364-day plans. The maximum length for any short term plan, according to federal regulations, is 364 days. Now, you are allowed to renew the plan for longer than that- up to 36 months. However, individual states will restrict the plan further, in some cases only letting you renew the plans for 18 months or not allowing renewals at all.

If you know how long you will want your short term plan to be, then keep on looking until you find a suitable plan. You don’t have to settle for anything different from what you really want. If you are having some trouble finding a plan that works for you, then please let us know. Our team is experienced and can help you determine what the best plan would be in your situation. We can assist you in finding a plan that offers coverage that works for you and a term length that fits your needs.

Why You Should Consider a Short Term Plan

By this point, you probably have a good idea as to whether a short term plan is right for you, but we want to give you a few instances where this kind of individual health insurance could be advantageous to you. There are times when short term policies will be the best option for you.

Short term plans tend to be cheap health insurance, so if you are looking for something more affordable than what you have currently or than what you are seeing when you look for major medical plans, then you should consider this kind of healthcare plan. You can save a lot of money and pay a lot less each month, and that savings really adds up and makes a difference in your life.

You should also consider a short term plans if you are in between plans or in between jobs. If you are in some transitional phase right now, then you might not be covered like you would want to be. There may not be a major medical plan taking care of you at the present, but that could change shortly. In that interim, you could be covered by a short term plan and be protected well.

A short term healthcare policy could also benefit anyone who is not eligible for whatever plan they really wanted to sign up for. If you would like a Medicare plan or some other major medical plan, but don’t meet the eligibility requirements, then you can use a short term plan to take care of your healthcare needs until you achieve eligibility. This kind of plan allows you to be protected and get coverage like you need for a shorter period of time than a major medical plan would allow.

Because you can sign up for short term health insurance plans at any time, and because you can cancel them when you like and even get specific coverage that you need, they make for great temporary plans. They may not be the permanent healthcare insurance that you need, but they can provide a temporary reprieve from expensive healthcare services and give you peace of mind while they cover you. Check out the plans available in your area, starting here on our site.