Friday, February 27, 2009

Understanding Temporary or Short-term Health Insurance

There are a variety of reasons that you may find yourself in the market for temporary or short-term health insurance. You may have graduated from college and can no longer be covered on your parent's policy, but don't have a job yet that will provide coverage. You may have lost or left your job and now need health insurance coverage until you find a new one. Or you may have started a new job and have to wait a period of several months before you are covered under their plan. Whatever the reason, going without health insurance coverage, even for a few months, can be a costly gamble. If you find yourself in this predicament, temporary health insurance coverage may just be the key to solving your dilemma. 

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What Is Temporary Health Insurance Coverage?

It's basically just what the name suggests. Temporary health insurance coverage offers you the opportunity to continue to be covered under a health plan for a limited amount of time, usually one to six months, although there are plans out there that will cover longer periods of time. If you find you will need to be covered for more time than you originally thought, some temporary policies can be extended past their expiration date, but you may want to consider getting a more traditional health insurance plan instead. 

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What Do These Plans Cover?

We do not mean to show some implication that health insurance have to rule the world or something like that. We only mean to let you know the actual meaning of health insurance!

Temporary health insurance plans cover most of the same types of medical occurrences that permanent policies do, but there are some very important differences.

For one, these plans are usually strictly indemnity plans. Preventative treatments like check-ups, as well as dental and optical coverage are generally not covered. Pre-existing medical conditions and work-related injuries or illnesses are also not covered.

Your temporary health insurance policy will generally cover any emergency medical care you may need, prescription drugs, hospital and intensive care needs, lab and x-ray needs, ambulance care, and even some in-home medical care. 

How Do I Get It?

Your first step should be to find an agent that specializes in temporary health insurance. Decide in advance how many days or months you need the coverage and when you want it to start. Pay attention to the 'exclusion' clauses in the policy and ask questions about any concerns you may have. Review the application and make sure all your personal information is correct before you sign anything. Also, remember to get a copy of all paperwork for your files. 

The cost of the temporary health insurance plan will depend on the type of coverage you pick. To keep the cost down, you can choose to have a higher deductible with a 50/50 co-insurance option rather than the more common 80/20 ratios. There are some extras that you may want to consider, though. With the high cost of prescription medicines, you may be better off buying the coverage rather than leaving it off. 

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The important thing is to read through the temporary health insurance policy carefully and make sure you are being offered the coverage you think you are paying for.

To view our recommended sources for health insurance, or to read more articles about health insurance, visit: http://www.insurance-quote-puppy.com/health-insurance
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Temporary Health Insurance to Cover Those In-between Times

When you mention health insurance most people picture traditional group or individual health insurance, designed to cover you in the long term and allowing for routine visits to the doctor and such things as prescription drug coverage. However, for many people, such as those who are between jobs or in part-time or temporary agency employment, traditional health insurance is not always readily available. In these and similar circumstances you may therefore decide to turn to short term or temporary health insurance to protect you in the event of accident or illness.

As its name suggests, temporary health insurance is designed to cover a short term gap in normal health insurance coverage for any number of different reasons and is issued in the expectation that it will be your intention to resume normal health insurance coverage in due course. Accordingly, it is designed essentially for accidents and injury and provides cover for emergency treatment and medical expenses such as ambulance fees, intensive care treatment and limited hospital expenses, including such things as x-rays. Temporary health insurance does not however normally cover routine medical treatment, including regular visits to a physician, and generally also excludes any pre-existing conditions. This said, as with health insurance plans in general, short term health insurance plans do vary quite considerably and some provide greater coverage than others.

Temporary plans also vary considerably in terms of cost and typically range from a monthly premium of $25 up to $100, with a deductible of anywhere from about $200 to $5,000. Plans today do however generally have quite reasonable maximum payouts of generally between about $1 million and $2 million. Plans can normally be taken out for anywhere from 30 days to 6 months and, in some cases, as much as one year. It is rare however for a short term plan to run for more than 12 months.

Temporary health insurance is very widely available today and a simple search on your favorite Internet search engine will produce a long list of companies providing temporary health insurance plans. The Internet also provides the ideal place to compare different plans.

Remember however when you are looking for short term cover to check out not only the plan (including such things as the cover provided, plan exclusions, monthly premium and deductible) but also the company providing the plan to ensure that you not only get the cover you require, but also the service you need when it comes to making a claim.

MedicalHealthInsuranceToday.com provides advice on purchasing affordable health insurance and also provides further details on short term health insurance cover.