Limited Insurance Plans for Unemployed

In addition to the loss of income, unemployment often means the additional loss of insurance benefits if the employer paid some or even the entire monthly premium. When faced with unemployment, some have opted to purchase limited insurance plans. While these plans are not as comprehensive as group major medical, they are less expensive and do offer some coverage, which decreases the financial loss during an illness or injury.

Major Medical

• Individual insurance, much like group insurance offers many options. When looking to save money on monthly premiums, the unemployed can customize an individual major medical plan opting for a more limited coverage versus comprehensive. Some options include waiving immediate coverage for doctor visits, prescriptions, lab work and X-rays, making these services subject to deductible. Another option to minimize cost is a high deductible plan in which monthly premiums are low, but in the event of accident or illness you could be responsible for upwards of $10,000 before the insurance begins to cover expenses. These types of high-deductible plans are often referred to as catastrophic coverage. The upside of limited major medical is that there is no lifetime limit on coverage, a result of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits lifetime limits on policies issued or renewed on or after Sept. 23, 2010.

Temporary Insurance

• Designed to cover you for a short period of time, temporary insurance is an option when looking for insurance while between jobs. Because it is temporary, you can choose coverage for one month and up to one year. These policies are not renewable, are specifically designed to cover unexpected injury and illness, and usually only cover major hospital and surgical expenses. They do have a lifetime maximum, which, depending on the company, is usually around $2 million.

Limited Benefit/Guaranteed Issue

• Limited benefit plans offer insurance coverage without the extensive underwriting required for major medical insurance. Limited benefit plans may have a small amount of underwriting excluding people who have suffered from serious conditions such as a stroke or heart attack, while guaranteed issue insurance will cover anyone with no medical questions asked. These plans do have restrictions and while significantly cheaper than major medical, the coverage is also considerably less. Depending on the plan, you may have coverage for a certain number of doctor visits per year, prescription coverage and wellness and preventative care treatment. The main downfall is the limited coverage for hospitalization. These plans put a daily maximum on the amount paid per day for hospitalization, which can vary between $300 and $2,000 per day. Additional perks may include term life, disability insurance and on-call doctors.

Supplemental Insurance

• Supplemental insurance is not meant to stand alone as a primary insurance; however, some have been forced to go with the bare minimum due to finances. With an array of policies to choose from, options include hospitalization, intensive care, cancer, critical illness and accident plans. While these plans are meant to help cover co-pays and deductibles that exist in major medical plans, a supplemental plan is better than no coverage at all.