If you have recently left college then you may find that you are no longer covered under your family health insurance plan and will have to arrange some sort of cover until you get a job and qualify for an employer’s health care scheme. In the same way, if you have only just begun a new job, you may find that you need to work for a few weeks or months before being eligible for membership of his health care scheme. These are merely two of the many reasons which lead to a need for short term health care insurance.

So just what is short term health insurance coverage?

Well, as its name suggests, it is simply health insurance coverage which provides health cover for a short period of time in order to allow you to keep cover while you are moving from one permanent health insurance plan to the next. Cover is normally issued for anywhere from a month to a year, although many companies nowadays restrict short term plans to no more than six months. In many cases companies also understand that it can be difficult to know precisely how long you are going to require short term cover and so are normally flexible about permitting you to extend cover beyond the original expiry date when necessary.

Short term health insurance policies usually provide similar cover to that seen on permanent plans but there are some extremely important differences.

Plans are normally indemnity policies and will not provide cover for preventative treatments, like check-ups, and will also exclude things like optical and dental treatment. Pre-existing medical conditions and work-related illness or injury are also normally excluded.

Your temporary policy will normally cover you for emergency medical treatment, prescription drugs, hospital and intensive care treatment, laboratory and x-ray work, ambulance services and, in some cases, in-home medical treatment.

So, how can you get temporary health coverage?

You must begin by calculating how many weeks or months you require cover for and precisely when you need it to commence. You should then find an agent who specializes in arranging temporary health cover.

Examine any plans offered with care and pay close attention to the exclusion clauses and do not be afraid to ask questions about anything which concerns you. Go over your application and make sure that all of your personal information is correct before signing anything. In addition, do not forget to keep a copy of all the paperwork for your own files.

The cost of short term health cover will vary with the type of coverage which you choose. You can however keep the cost down by opting to have a high deductible attached to the plan (the amount of money that you must pay as a contribution to your health care before your plan kicks in). For example, you could pick a 50/50 co-insurance option (the division of the payment for every bill after your deductible has been met) instead of the more normal 80/20 ratio.

Also, remember that there are a few extras which you may wish to think about depending on your personal circumstances. For example, with the high cost of prescription medication, you may be better off buying cover instead of leaving it off.

Without doubt the most important thing is to remember to study any low cost health care insurance plan with care and make sure that you are getting the coverage that you want and that you are going to be paying for.

Filed under: Health Insurance

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