Short Term Health Insurance Viable Alternative To COBRA Insurance

If you're recently unemployed, you haven't just lost a job; you've probably lost a whole lot of benefits with it, prime among them being medical insurance. In this situation, you do have a solution in the form of short term health insurance, which can be purchased instead of the often costlier COBRA insurance.

COBRA insurance guarantees continuation of medical coverage for up to 18 months after a person loses his/her job. COBRA insurance, however, is more expensive than regular insurance, and the conditions for qualification are stringent. In this tough situation, short-term medical insurance can really help a family by providing much-needed medical coverage.

Short-term medical insurance works as temporary insurance, and covers most unplanned medical conditions. Inpatient and outpatient care, prescriptions, diagnostics, and emergency services are all usually covered under short-term medical insurance. However, temporary plans usually exclude pre-existing conditions and pregnancy.

Short-term medical insurance can be purchased for a month, to a year, in most cases. The policy can usually be renewed quite easily; however, some plans consider each renewed policy as a new one, applying pre-existing conditions and premium clauses accordingly.

It is important to remember that short term insurance cannot be an adequate long-term health insurance plan. It is primarily meant as coverage for temporary periods. Long term health insurance plans offer several critical benefits not often available to the short term health insurance customer: scheduled physician visits and maternity, for instance.

When getting back on a regular long-term health plan, short-term medical insurance can often be counted toward creditable coverage for group plans. Labeling an insurance plan as creditable coverage means that the plan counts as equivalent coverage when determining pre-existing conditions and effective continuous period of coverage. Short-term medical insurance plans are usually not considered creditable coverage for individual plans.

You can easily purchase short term health insurance online. Since the plan is temporary, you are not usually subjected to lengthy underwriting procedures.

For temporary insurance of around six months (or less), short term insurance can work quite well. It can also be a better option than COBRA insurance for many people, but it is important to know that short term insurance is just that short term.

Dan Miller often writes about short term insurance.