When You Need Short Term Health Insurance : Health insurance review 2008

When You Need Short Term Health Insurance
by Earl Cronin

Do you know how valuable health insurance can be? Are you aware of how much trouble you will be saving yourself from if you get an insurance plan today? Having health insurance means that your insurance company will be helping you pay for some of the expenses you may incur when you require medical attention. Some insurance plans take care of your hospitalization, your treatments, and also the medicines you will need.
Other health insurance plans cover for a certain amount, so you can go for regular doctor visits and checkups. If you will require tests as instructed by your doctor, health insurance should help you out. One of the benefits that working individuals receive from their employers is insurance. Most companies include their employees under a group health insurance plan.
What if you are unemployed, or if you recently resigned from your company? Will you still be insured? Unfortunately, you will not be included under the group health insurance plan as mentioned before. Of course, you will still need to be insured, because you can never tell when you might be in need of medical help. Then it is about time that you get short term health insurance for yourself.
Also, if you were a student, and you have been under a student health insurance plan during your four years in college or in the university, you will also need short term health insurance. When is this required of students? Some student insurance policies only cover the amount of time they spend in the academic institution, or a short period after they graduate. When this student graduates, and he or she is still looking for a job, he or she might not be covered under student insurance anymore. He will then need short term health insurance as well.
Short term health insurance is a very flexible policy to apply for, because you can determine the terms of your plan, may it be for a few months up to a year. Employees who are on strike from their company might also need short term health insurance, aside from graduated students or resigned employees.
Short term health plans are often geared toward the more healthy, and with a higher deductible you might find it useful in providing piece of mind during times when you're between employer sponsored health plans. People not on the top end of the healthy spectrum might find it more difficult to find coverage, or to afford it if a carrier is willing to offer a policy.
Many people find short term health insurance to be a less expensive alternative to COBRA when they are between jobs. It is always a great idea to do comparison shopping and do a side-by-side evaluation of your COBRA policy with a short term health policy. One of the more noticeable differences in the coverage is the deductible, which is often significantly higher for the short term health plan, so people between jobs often consider the short term policy as a means to save money but still be covered in case of a major medical event.