Short Term Health Insurance

“I'm planning to get off COBRA at the end of December, and go on short-term insurance. I"ll only need it for 6 months. I'm mostly worried about how my current prescriptions will be covered. Anyone have a recommendation of a good company or policy?

Thanks.”

“My insurance lets met order prescriptions in 90 day supplies via mail order. If yours does this then you could order them just before you cancel. That's 3 months... not much help otherwise I admit.”

“Thanks, I'll have to check into that.


When they say pre-existing conditions, they don't mean things like colds and viruses, right? Like if I get another virus which causes some asthma problems again while I'm on the short term insurance, will they cover that?

Aren't there any TTers who are insurnace agents? C'mon!!”

“i'm not an insurance "agent" but i'm in the business and know a thing or three about it...colds, and most viruses are not usually considered pre existing conditions...they are usually explained away on the application...most people are over alarmed by the term "pre-existing" conditions...this DOESN'T usually mean that these conditions WON'T be covered it just means that your premiums will probably be higher...jimmy san has a pretty good idea, if you can afford it you should buy as much of your prescription as you can...don't know your health history but if you're only needing 6 months i'd get the most basic coverage you could get unless you have the money to spend...just enough to cover any major medical that might happen in that time frame”

“Yeah, I'm healthy....and I'm having a physical at the end of December just to make sure I'm good for the next 6 months. I did a bit of research earlier today, and I'm not as nervous about it as I was before. Just want to be sure I'm covered incase I get hurt or end up with some bad illness in the next 6 months. Thanks!”

“Thrifty - similar question. I lose my insurance next year (husband retires and we're going traveling) and want basic coverage in case of serious illness or injury. My concern is how portable it would be. i.e. if I buy a high deductible Blue Cross policy in MD, it needs to cover me if I get in a car accident in Wyoming or get giardia in Alaska - is that likely to be a problem? It isn't for normal insurance - but I don't know about a more restricted policy.”

“i don't know a whole lot about major medical...our company does supplemental health, life, and annuities...that's something you should talk to blue cross about but your car accident example would be covered mainly by auto insurance...your treatment has less to do with what state you're in and more to do with what doctor you see...there's not a whole lot of difference in participatory vs. non-participatory insurance, i.e. employer sponsored vs. nonemployer sponsored...they main difference is the price, deductibles, and limits”

“my cousin is going through a divorce and is having to get private health insurance. she went with the same company , united healthcare, and they are covering her for all pre-exitsing. she has a 1000 deductible and is around 250-300 a month and has prescription drug coverage.”

“Portability will depend on the plan for sure. A PPO will be different from an HMO, for example. Emergency room copayments vary wildly and costs of coverage and specifically compayments have risen at rates that are hard to believe (last year my copayment for an ER visit was $50, now it's $75 ... it costs me an extra $25 to visit the ER, an rate of increase that I can't believe is associated with anything but gouging). Major medical should be pretty good but you should ask the insurance agent before you purchase the plan.

I have had UHC PPO insurance for a long time and am very pleased with it. They do a nice job administering the plan. Before that I had Humana PPO and was very pleased with that. Before that I had Cigna and I was not pleased to say the least. I get UHC through my employer as was the Cigna. I bought Humana PPO when I was self employed and I bought the insurance for all my employees. They were the only people I could find that would cover small groups (like my small business).”

“I used to have CIGNA, i had no complaints but then i rarely used it...now i have an awesome plan called a HRA(don't ask me what it stands for, i don't know)...my employer puts $1000 into a fund and all my medical expenses come out of that fund...i have no co-payments for anything...if/when that $1000 fund is depleted i am responsible for the next $1000, then after that the insurance 100% of the cost...i only pay $25 a month for myself”

“An HRA is a Health Reimbursement Arrangement with your employer. It works like you said, obviously, where you submit expenses against your employers contributions. I have never heard of one that works with insurance like you stated. Sounds like a good deal, especially if you are generally healthy.”

“that's exactly why i took it...other than fertility issues(which aren't covered by insurance anyway) i've been to the doctor like once in the past 3 years...plus you can get routine physicals and checkups and those don't come out of your fund”

“Anybody have any input on a provider or policy that will be the most inexpensive - next to not having any coverage?

I do not need perscription coverage, or anything covered really - just the cheapest monthly rate, and if possible, I only need to be covered for a month or two. This will probably mean the highest deductible - the cheapest local quote I've found is ~$50/month. I don't know what else is out there, any input would be great - let me know.”

“Check Aflac.”

“Simer what is this for? If you are talking "catastrophic" check with some agents in a small business group or look for a higher deductible. I have a friend who pays 50 a month and gets great catastrophic (above $1,000) I think.”

“It's for my NOLS instructor course, they require me to be covered by some type of health insurance - currently I'm not covered, as soon as I begin working for them I will have the option of their group policy, right now I just need a cheap option only to say that I have the coverage.”

“i bought Blue Cross once for about 4 months - similar coverage to what i'd had thru work - it wasn't cheap but it wasn't outrageous either.

You should be able to do allright for worst case scenario type coverage.”

“Simer when I worked for State Farm they wrote a short term policy through Assurant. Was a great policy for the price! Might it up online...you can get a quote that way.

www.statefarm.com”

“Thanks crazygurl!

I also had a quote from a local Assurant Agent, but I got my policy online. For what I needed, Assurant worked wonders. I don't know how the actual coverage is, and I don't plan on making a claim, but I guess it's there if I really need it. But it was the easiest and most inexpensive policy I could find, in all it took me about 15 minutes and I had a policy.”