Short Term Health Insurance
The Good, The Bad and The Holes
Likely you've heard about short term health insurance on the news and it wasn't in a good way. Sure, short term health has different limitations and exclusions but the fact is, it looks eerily similar to health insurance prior to ACA guidelines in most cases.
Short term health insurance is great for someone between jobs, waiting for their new benefits to kick in. Or for young healthy folks who don't qualify for subsidies on the Marketplace but still need some kind of health insurance. And at roughly half the cost of ACA plans, it certainly helps with the budget.
Short Term Health Insurance plans are typically sold in 3 or 6 month benefit periods. You can often stack these plans to make them last closer to a year but keep in mind that your deductible starts over with each benefit period. New plans introduced for 2021 can last for almost three years when looking at 3 consecutive terms. There are maximums per benefit period and you can be declined due to pre-existing conditions or an undesirable height/weight ratio. Preventative screenings and prescription meds are sometimes not covered. If they aren't, you can pretty easily get a limited med program to cover those and still save money.
Certainly not the answer for everyone but Short Term Health Plans definitely have their place in the market.