Short-term health insurance, also known as temporary health insurance, is a type of health coverage designed to provide temporary medical insurance for a limited duration, typically ranging from a few months to a year. While short-term health insurance may not be suitable for everyone, it does offer certain benefits for specific situations.
When people label Short Term health as “ JUNK” it is clear they do not understand that many people still need short term health insurance coverage.
The ACA solved many problems when it comes to access to coverage, but first problem is the COBRA prohibition which specifically disallows ACA tax credits for people who can get on COBRA. In other words, you lose your employer coverage and want to go to the ACA Marketplace and get coverage. Great. Except that if your employer offers you COBRA you are not permitted to get a tax credit (subsidy) to help you pay for your ACA health insurance plan. Even though with COBRA you can pay 100-100 to 105% of the FULL health insurance Premium. Where before your insurance was paid for in part by your employer and others who were uninsured can get a tax subsidy to pay most if not all of the ACA health premium, YOU cannot get the financial help. Keep in mind that your former employer is likely mandated BY LAW to offer you the COBRA coverage. So one law dictates that you have to be offered it and another law says if you are offered it you cannot get help in the form or a premium subsidy!
But you CAN often get a plan through short term insurance to continue covering you and your family at least until the next open enrollment period or you get new employer coverage.
So, when you lose your job and need the help the most you are specifically disallowed to get it! This can include a partner who is covered by an employer plan who loses that coverage!
For many who work with employer coverage, when their employer finds themselves in a financial hardship situation the coverage can be cancelled retroactively when an employer fails to pay their premiums in a timely manner. Often employees do not even know their coverage has been cancelled until they go to a provider for care only to find out their coverage was cancelled retroactively and because of that they have missed the 63-day special election period window. This leaves them outside of the open enrollment period as well and unable to enroll on an ACA plan through their marketplace.
There are other situations where one may find themselves without coverage through no fault of their own and cannot get on an ACA plan. For example, spouses and children in a contentious divorce can be left without coverage when a working partner simply removes the family from an employer plan with little to no notice!
Next for many ACA coverage includes benefits some do not want or need, for example maternity whereas a short-term health insurance plan can provide other comprehensive benefits without paying for coverage you do not want.
Others prefer to access alternative care or concierge care simply do not want to pay for the additional benefits provided by ACA plans. Yet they still get coverage that provides a comprehensive schedule of benefits from a “short term” plan. The same can be true for people who find ACA plans unaffordable but still need to protect themselves against a catastrophic medical predicament.
When faced with a situation like these the best thing to do is get advice from a health insurance expert, preferably your own independent broker like the ones at Total Benefit Solutions, Inc. We can be reached at (215)355-2121 or online at http://www.totalbenefits.netww.totalbenefits.net