For most people, there are three major categories of health insurance: group plans at work, conventional individual or family medical insurance, and individual or family short term health coverage. Each of these categories of health coverage have company-to-company differences within them. They also can have similarities between them. So, what makes short term health insurance different? The clue is in the name, "term".

In this discussion, when I use "term", I mean time period. Group plans and conventional health insurance share a characteristic. They are perpetual; that is, they remain in force until the insured person or family decides the coverage should end.

In contrast, short term medical insurance is temporary; that is, a policy lasts no longer than a specified time. At the end of that time (typically six months or twelve months) the coverage is over - whether the insured person would like it to continue or not. It is this characteristic of the short term policy that contributes most to the much lower rates that are usual with this kind of medical coverage.

Most insurers allow a covered person to request another short term policy and the new policy can usually begin on the same day as the old policy expired.

Short term insurance can serve a real need. There are more details at http://www.wavehelp.com/temporary-medical-features.htm

Labels: short term medical insurance