Usefulness of short-term health insurance

August 12, 2008 1:17 AM

[New Grad Filter] Is it worth it to pay for one month of interim health insurance?

I'm a 22-year-old healthy female in California transitioning from student health insurance to the plan provided by my First Real Job.

As such, I will be without medical insurance for 15 days. Neither the school's insurance plan nor the job's is flexible as to start/end dates.

I've looked around and read many previous askmefi posts about short-term health insurance and seen Assurant in particular cited as a less-than-useful investment. (The company avoids paying claims, etc.) Are all short-term policies this shady?

Do you have any direct experience with purchasing a short-term health insurance policy?

And, because I'm super-clueless, do you even think it's worth it? (Minimal coverage runs around $90/month.) I'm young and healthy, so maybe it's a waste of money to pay for 15 days of coverage. However, I will be moving during the 15 days, which does increase the likelihood of incurring some kind of an injury.

Thanks!

posted by samthemander to health & fitness (9 comments total)

Ask your current HR department about "COBRA". The program allows you to pay whatever your current school pays for the exact same insurance on a month-to-month basis to help you between jobs.
posted by fatllama at 2:47 AM on August 12, 2008

You really must fill in the gaps between insurance policies, because it often prevents an insurance company from precluding pre-existing conditions (even if you don't have one now, they might later argue that you had one before signing up and didn't tell them, even if you claim you did not know it, to avoid paying for some future treatment). It also ensures that you are covered by HIPAA.

Insuremytrip.com has been a useful source to me for short-term insurance in the past. Also, your school's health insurance office should provide you with some short-term options.
posted by laconic titan at 3:35 AM on August 12, 2008

"And, because I'm super-clueless, do you even think it's worth it? (Minimal coverage runs around $90/month.) I'm young and healthy, so maybe it's a waste of money to pay for 15 days of coverage. However, I will be moving during the 15 days, which does increase the likelihood of incurring some kind of an injury."

Although you probably have no assets is it really worth the risk of having to declare bankruptcy because you fell down a flight of stairs and broke both legs over a measly $90?
posted by Mitheral at 5:30 AM on August 12, 2008

Buy it. If you get sick, there is a chance that you could be denied coverage because of company stating that the illness started during that uninsured window. It's only $90. The system is wretched, but we have to live with it for now.
posted by objdoc at 5:43 AM on August 12, 2008

Lookup "GradMed" health insurance. Cheap, short term insurance, renewable too!
posted by limited slip at 6:05 AM on August 12, 2008

Ask your current HR department about "COBRA". The program allows you to pay whatever your current school pays for the exact same insurance on a month-to-month basis to help you between jobs.

If she was not covered as an employee, COBRA probably doesn't apply. Were you covered by your parents' plan when you were a college student?

You really must fill in the gaps between insurance policies, because it often prevents an insurance company from precluding pre-existing conditions

If you get sick, there is a chance that you could be denied coverage because of company stating that the illness started during that uninsured window.

Actually, if the new plan is subject to HIPAA, the new plan can only pre-ex her if she is without coverage for more than 63 days, and can only do it for conditions for which she sought medical treatment during the "look back" period of six months leading up to her new enrollment date.

That said, if it were me, I would try to get short-term coverage, even if it's just catastrophic coverage.
posted by Pax at 6:12 AM on August 12, 2008

We had a gap of less than 3 months between graduating college and starting grad school/new job. During that time, my perfectly healthy husband came down with appendicitis on our honeymoon. Fortunately my father had bought a gap policy on both of us with a $1000 deductible so we didn't start married life with a humongous hospital bill.
posted by metahawk at 7:51 AM on August 12, 2008

I have used Blue Cross short-term health insurance. It was for emergencies only so it was cheap - about $120 for three months, as I recall. I never needed to use it, but I got it because it's critical to maintain coverage if you have ANY pre-existing conditions, no matter how minor. Even under the change in rules that Pax mentioned, getting into a multi-month fight with a corporations is no fun.
posted by ilyanassa at 12:56 PM on August 12, 2008

I bought self-covered insurance while waiting for my new job's insurance to kick in... and discovered there was a 60-day (30-day? 90? whatever...) no-penalty cancellation clause.

Check if this is available (it should be), and use this clause! If not, buck up for the VERY IMPORTANT COVERAGE!!! (Wanna know how much an appendectomy costs out-of-pocket? Wanna figure out how I know?)
posted by IAmBroom at 12:30 PM on August 13, 2008