The Short Term Medical Plan Article #1 of Series Health Plan Options

Health insurance today is a mess. We need it but can we affordit? We have our car insured, why not the family? "I hope nothinghappens to me so I won't need to go to the hospital." These areall notions we have as concerned people and parents. Healthcareis on the rise as well as premiums. COBRA is expensive but ifyou have health conditions it is necessary. Are you a littleoverweight or smoke? All of these are factors for getting or notgetting health insurance. What can you do in the meantime whileyou think about it or lose the weight or quit smoking or maybeyou are even between jobs?The Plan: A little known policy lingers out there you may or maynot be aware of, and that is the Short Term Medical plan. Theplan is self explanatory as it is set for a period of time. Theplans that we service go from anywhere between 30 days all theway up to 360 days of coverage. That means that you can havecoverage for a month or two or even six months up to a year, thechoice is yours. Short term medical plans are temporary plansand are not meant to be permanent. Think about it this way inthat you don't have health insurance doesn't mean you don't orwon't have health problems. The short term plan is a way to getcoverage for a temporary fixed amount of time.Why Short Term Medical? Short term medical can ease the pain ofnot having health insurance for different reasons. A popularreason why people use STM is because they are in-between jobs.The person had coverage here and is now unemployed, theinsurance stays with the job, now they are without coverage.Maybe you are in a waiting period of 30-90 days but do not wantto take the risk of not having any coverage at all. Waitingperiods occur with group coverage and the employer basicallywants to make sure you are worth it to offer medical coverage to.When you have children that are reaching of age to where theycome off your plan. Usually this is when the dependent is goingoff to college or graduating college. You want your dependentsto have health insurance but don't know what is offered in thatstate or maybe the health coverage does not travel well. The STMis a viable option for those in need and it is probably rankednumber 2 in why the STM is used. So many Americans are part time or temporarily employed as wellas laid off and health coverage is not available to them. TheSTM is a way to get coverage fast and not have the burden ofhuge premiums lingering over their head. Remember the STM is fortemporary coverage just like the person is temporarilyunemployed, when you get on a job that offers coverage you justsimply cancel.COBRA is the alternative when you leave a job, get fired etc.but it can be expensive. If you have preexisting healthproblems, COBRA is probably your only alternative as you canroll that condition into an individual policy after 18 months ofcoverage. If you are a healthy individual, you don't need to goon COBRA you could instead while looking for another job pick upa short term plan to get you through till your plan at your newjob is available to you.How it Works: Typically the short term medical plan gives youthe freedom of choosing any doctor or hospital and has adeductible for individual as well as the family. Once thedeductible is met, then the plan kicks in up to a specifiedamount such as 2 million dollars. You will have an option ofcoinsurance benefits as well; this is the 80/20 split or 50/50split. The coinsurance is limited to either the first $5000 or$10000 respectively depending on which plan is offered and withwhich company. After that is met, the plan should pay 100% ofcovered expenses. Pretty simple: you go to the hospital and paythe first $250 then depending on which plan you selected it willpay 80% of the next $5000 in charges which leaves you with $1000and 100% after that. So if you had a whopping bill of $15000 ofcovered expenses your bill would be $1250!Qualifications The qualifications to apply for STM plans arelimited. Typically anyone under 65 years of age and childrenunder 19 or 25 if full time student qualify. There are limitedquestions with the application process, for example 7-9questions to answer. Height and weight is not a factor in mostplans, so if you are struggling with weight problems in themeantime you would qualify for short term medical plan. Beadvised that these plans do not cover preexisting conditions andif one of them says they do, make sure you read it carefully.You can even just get your child covered maybe before they areeligible for your group plan or state plans.To sum it all up the short term medical plan can be asignificant tool for anyone to use. It can cover that gap incoverage for whatever reason is available to you. It is not analternative to major medical coverage as it is only fortemporary use, but when that coverage is not available to youthis is an option for you. Many people do not know of theexistence of these plans or are touted other MiniMed plans whichcan do more harm than good. Gulf Breeze Insurance Inc. a Floridahealth insurance provider, http://www.gulfbreezeinsurance.com ,use this plan all the time to help people get through hard timesand waiting periods. I believe the phrase goes "Something isbetter than nothing" and when you think your options have runout turn to the STM plan.