What Is Interim Health Insurance?

When you lose your job, you may be at a loss as to what you should do for health insurance. While you could choose to extend your current coverage through the government's COBRA program, you might also be interested in purchasing interim or temporary health insurance coverage.

Short-Term Insurance

• The purpose of short-term insurance is to provide coverage while you are between group plans. When you lose or quit your job, you will still need some kind of health insurance before you get another job. Temporary insurance plans are usually designed to provide you with coverage from as little as one month and can be purchased for as long as six-month increments. You could also get your coverage extended to as long as 36 months if you cannot find work.

Pre-Existing Conditions

• With short-term insurance, you generally cannot get coverage for pre-existing conditions. If short-term insurance companies allowed pre-existing conditions to receive treatment, many people would potentially take advantage of this kind of insurance. The insurance company will generally look back at your records for a certain amount of time before giving you coverage on a condition. This period can be as long as three years, but the rules will vary depending on which insurance company you choose.

Benefits

• One of the primary benefits of this type of health insurance is that it is generally less expensive than traditional health insurance. Since the health insurance company knows that it will only be insuring you for a short time, there is less likelihood that you will have to file a major claim. This type of insurance also typically allows you to go anywhere that you want for medical coverage as long as you get it approved before the treatment.

Drawbacks

• These plans do have a a few drawbacks associated with them, such as not covering pre-existing conditions. They also do not cover pregnancy or childbirth. With this type of plan, you can only renew them for a certain amount of time before you will no longer be covered. You also cannot receive dental or vision benefits with these types of plans. If you get sick while you are on temporary insurance, your coverage might run out before the illness is fully taken care of.