Expanded Short Term Health - How do expanded Short term plans work?
We're promising a lot here
Everything you wanted to know about short term health insurance.
Especially the new expanded plans affected by Trump's executive order.
Short term coverage has recently been just that...
Up to 3 months of interim coverage.
We'll cover it all.
You can always jump to the quote and plans here:
Otherwise, feel free to jump right to a given section:
Let's jump right into it.
We have lots of other articles to wade into the weeds on specific topics but here's the best place to start.
Let's start!
The use of short term coverage has changed over the last few years and it's about to change again.
Simply put...
It's gap coverage.
Interim coverage!
Basically, until something else starts up is the theory.
That's the original intent of it anyway.
Let's look at an example.
Their old coverage ends June 1st.
2 months of health coverage is needed.
That person can get short term for the 2 month gap.
Of course, they want to compare that option against Cobra and exchange plans but usually it's a cost and convenience issue.
Cobra can be very expensive.
Exchange plans without tax credits can be very expensive.
There are trade offs and we'll cover that in the short term versus Obamacare below.
Very important if you have health issues or pre-existing conditions!
That's the broad outline.
If you have specific questions, feel free to ask us at 800-320-6269 or by email.
There's no cost for our assistance! Zero.
Let's look a little closer at the workings of the expanded short term.
Let's look at more detail on how it works.
Let's say Mike has a gap in coverage or is unable to enroll on exchange plans.
There's no open enrollment for short term so he can enroll right away if eligible.
There's a simple application process with some health history/status questions.
Let's say his coverage starts May 1st.
On May 15th, he tears his ACL while playing basketball.
Outpatient!
As long as the ACL tear wasn't tied to a pre-existing condition, his short term plan would pay according to the benefits selected (deductible + max out of pocket).
$25K that the hospital isn't chasing him down for.
No payment plans for years to repay that $25K.
That's the whole point of short term coverage.
Cover the "big What If".
It's piece of mind.
If you look at the premiums, they're not exactly free.
This means their having to pay out for lots of big issues!
It's not the day to day health stuff we're covering.
Think "Big What If".
This brings up a good question...who's a good candidate for short term?
We'll first look at the old rules and who that works for.
The typical reasons are:
That list is about to get expanded with Trump's short term health plans.
Now, we're going to see much more of this:
We'll touch on the Trump short term expansion below.
When can a person enroll?
That's one of the attractive aspects of short term health plans.
Many people either miss Obamacare Open Enrollment or don't have a Special Enrollment Trigger.
The common triggers are:
Open Enrollment is generally Nov 1st - Jan 31st depending on your State.
Outside those two events, it can be very impossible to enroll.
It usually takes a few days to process and get confirmation but the eff date will still hold if approved.
You can enroll in short term plans right here:
This is where we see an expansion from Trump's executive order.
Obama instituted a 3 month limit on short term plans in 2015.
You can still cancel month to month either way.
You just don't need to re-enroll (and qualify) after 90 days now.
364 days is the new rule for Short term which should be available after Oct 1st at the earliest.
This is the biggest change in the new short term health expansion.
Many people will go this route if they can't afford exchange plans.
What about the penalty for not having Obamacare plans?
In 2018, there is a penalty for not having ACA plans.
You're allowed 1 3-month exemption during that year.
This means that the new expanded short term health plans will not be impacted by the tax penalty in 2019 and beyond.
Get anwers to this and many other short term health questions here.
Please let us know if you have questions on this at 800-320-6269 or by email.
Short term plans are more catastrophic in nature.
They are really there to cover the big bills.
Here's a list of items that they will not cover:
They do not have the ACA 10 Essential Health mandate.
This is also why the can be much less expensive if you don't qualify for a tax credit based on income.
The above list is just the major items.
It's important to read through the exclusions and that's mandated with the new Trump expansion.
What does this all mean?
That's one reason we only quote the legitimate carriers in the market.
There are others that are questionable and have serious limitations (per day
hospital max benefit, etc).
We recommend running from those and they are not on our site!
We don't keep our reputation by doing bad by our clients.
This is a big consideration.
If you can't enroll right now (miss open enrollment or lapsed coverage), it may not be a question.
You'll need the expanded short term plans to get you to Open Enrollment.
If you are eligible to enroll in Obamacare (and can afford it), then we need to consider some important considerations.
A quick breakdown:
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You can also read a more comprehensive comparison of short term and Obamacare here.
Here are the people who should consider going with Obamacare:
Short term is really designed for catastrophic or major medical coverage.
What does that mean?
Essentially, it works well for acute injury or illness.
Things that land you in the hospital in or out-patient.
Broken bones. Heart attacks. ER visits.
In all candor, this is what health insurance was originally designed to address.
It wasn't till the 80's and HMO's that you started to have first dollar coverage for everything.
The ACA or Obamacare law significantly accelerated this approach.
If you get a tax credit, awesome!
If not, it's very expensive to insure this way.
The new short term expansion by Trump is really a response to this approach.
They just can't afford it.
The new expanded short term plans are a back up plan for those people.
If you have questions on short term versus Obamacare, please contact us at 800-320-6269 or by email.
There's no cost for our assistance either way!
Short term plans (old or new Trump expansion) can be cancelled in 30 day blocks.
Month to month essentially.
You just need to notify the carrier that you want to cancel prior to the next term starting.
We can cancel every 30 days.
We just want to submit it prior to next 30 day block.
There are three major changes from the Trump short term plan expansion:
We've written an entire article on the Trump short term health expansion here but let's look at each of these a bit.
This rule expanded the Obama limit of 90 days (3 months of 30 days).
It's effective Oct 1st but the carriers have to get plans approved with the States first.
You can still cancel month to month in 30 day blocks.
The carriers must sufficiently notify people of the differences between ACA plans and the new short term plans.
This is important as short term is not a good fit for everyone.
It does address catastrophic coverage for many people who can't afford ACA or who are not able to enroll at a given time
A person can enroll in an initial block of 364 days and the carrier may allow them to renew for up to 3 years.
These annual renewals will likely be medically underwritten although it's simplified issue.
This means that a simple list of health history/status questions usually
suffices.
You can see the online application and health questions through the quote portal here:
Those are the major changes.
We're happy to help with any questions!
It depends on the State.
Many carriers pulled out of the short term market when Obama capped the duration in 2015.
Many carriers may come back on board with Trump's expansion.
You can quote the major carriers below.
Not every carrier will be available in every State.
Again, we expect more carriers in more States since the short term expansion will likely act like a non-ACA marketplace due to the longer durations.
Quoting is fast, easy, free, and online!
As we get more carriers, we'll add them to the quote page.
Our focus is to make sure we quote real short term health carriers.
We want to avoid the daily hospital caps and other issues we see in less-reputable carriers.
If you have questions on the plans or rates, please reach out to us at 800-320-6269 or by email.
There's no cost for our assistance!
Enrolling is even easier.
You can enroll right through quote here:
There a series of simple health questions.
It generally takes 5 minutes.
The effective date can be as early as midnight following online enrollment.
We're here to help with any questions!
We've covered a lot!
The new expansion to short term health plans will be very popular.
They address both:
There are important differences with ACA or Obamacare plans that people need to understand.
We're happy to address all these issues.
There's no cost for our assistance at 800-320-6269 or by
email.
How can we help!
Again, there is absolutely no cost to you for our services. Call 800-320-6269 Today!
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