Short Term Medical is a temporary health plan designed for people who are between permanent health plans. If you think you'll need coverage for more than six months, you may want to look at a more permanent health insurance option.

Short Term Health Insurance Quotes

Coverage can be purchased for a few days or as long as a 12 months, depending on carrier and state.

Eligibility and Underwriting:

Healthy individuals between the ages of 15 days and age 64 and 11 months, who have a temporary insurance need.

Dependent children through age 20 (age 24 if full-time student) may be covered as dependents on parents' plan.

Foreign residents living in the U.S. for at least one year with proof of Alien Registration Receipt Card, Green Card, Visa or other appropriate documentation.

Underwriting is easier than regular health plans since preexisting conditions will never be covered.

Important Facts About Short Term Insurance .

Short Term Medical does not cover preexisting conditions. It is designed to protect against the unforeseen. If preexisting conditions were covered under Short Term Medical policies, people could just wait until they were diagnosed with an illness or suffered an injury, buy a policy to cover the treatment, then drop it. The cost of such policies would be prohibitive. Because Short Term Medical is designed to cover the unexpected, it also does not include coverage for preventive care, physicals, immunizations, dental or eye care.

The definition of a preexisting condition varies by state, but in general, Short Term Medical excludes conditions that have been diagnosed or treated within the previous 5 years. If you have an existing medical condition, you may want to see if extending your current insurance to fill a gap in coverage is an option. Employer-sponsored insurance can be extended under a government-regulated option called COBRA.