What is Short Term Health Insurance?
Short Term Health Insurance is an insurance policy that will cover you anywhere from one month to one year. Some health insurance carriers even provide short term policies that will cover you for a matter of days. A short term policy will cover you in the same way as a traditional health insurance policy will. Many carriers provide options which will allow you to select your deductible and coinsurance. Some short term plans even provide a CoPay option.

Who should look into purchasing Short Term Health Insurance?
Short term insurance is designed to fill in any gaps you may have between major medical health insurance coverage periods. Short term insurance can be ideal for people such as:

• Former students looking for, or about to start, a permanent job
• People in a transition period between jobs where they no longer have coverage under an old employer provided policy
• Part-time or temporary employees who do not have an employer provided health insurance policy
• New employees who have started a new job, but have to wait a predetermined period of time in order to receive the employer provided health insurance

What is the difference between Short Term Health Insurance and typical major medical health insurance?
Short Term Health Insurance does not provide coverage for all of the conditions that a typical major medical policy would cover. Short term plans rarely provide coverage for preventive costs such as blood tests or lab tests. Short term plans also generally do not cover maternity costs. Because short term policies are slightly more restrictive in what they cover, they are also cheaper than the average major medical policy. A short term plan with a deductible of $500 will be considerably cheaper than a major medical policy with a similar deductible.

Why wouldn't I purchase Short Term Health Insurance?
The biggest risk in purchasing a short term policy is any new medical condition that is inflicted or contracted during the time the policy is in effect will be considered a preexisting condition when a new traditional individual policy is purchased. Preexisting conditions are not covered by individual health insurance policies. However, if you have a traditional individual health insurance policy in place at the time of the new medical condition, that policy will continue to cover that condition throughout the duration of the policy.

Short Term Health Insurance Carriers available through HealthPlan Express

• Allied National Health Insurance Company
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina
• The Chesapeake Life Insurance Company
• TIG Life Insurance Company
• World Insurance Company