The Fine Print of Short Term Medical Insurance PlansJune 10, 2020
Exerpt from Companies eliminate health insurance to stay afloat, leaving families scrambling in Decaturish.
“Across the country, more than 78 million people lived within families in which someone lost their job between March and May of this year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation Report. Among those families, at least 61 percent, or 47.5 million, were covered by employer-sponsored health insurance.
From the COBRA plans to ACA and short-term indemnity plans, there can be a lot of information to unpack before settling upon the right decision.
Short-Term Insurance Plans are another potential health insurance option for families who lose their health insurance coverage. These plans usually carry lower premiums than COBRA and ACA-regulated plans, and they can be customized based on the type of coverage desired.
Families can choose lower premiums and higher deductibles and they can also choose unlimited doctors’ visits or a certain amount of visits based on their healthcare needs. Here’s the downside: People with pre-existing conditions will not be approved for such plans. Plus, insurers of short-term plans will often challenge benefit claims if they believe it is a result of a pre-existing condition. There are clauses written within the plan known as the “Prudent person language,” said Laura Delavan, partner of Sterling Seacrest Partners in Atlanta, which provides insurance, surety and risk management services to businesses and companies.
“Let’s say you have a condition that you don’t know about,” she said. “Then, you go get this plan, but you don’t know you have a pre-existing condition because you haven’t been diagnosed. Well, the language in the policy says you did have this condition and a prudent person would have gone to seek medical care.”
