Short Term Medical Insurance: How to Bridge the Gap Between Coverage

You are probably hearing a lot more about health or medical insurance these days, mainly due to the 2008 Presidential election. For the most part, medical insurance isn't the first item on our daily agenda. That is of course, unless you have a need to use it, and even more compelling, you have a need to use it, but unfortunately you don't have it.

At any given time in the year 2007, there were approximately 47.5 million Americans without medical insurance. Included in that number were a group of individuals that I'll refer to as the "temporary uninsured". These are people that worked seasonal jobs, recent college graduates no longer covered on their parents insurance, people who were between jobs, others were waiting for insurance to start, people that recently completed COBRA coverage, or basically anyone that had medical insurance, but was temporarily without it until full medical insurance coverage would resume.

Let's face it. Accidents do happen and the last thing any family wants is to be confronted with an unexpected illness or injury, while transitioning between medical insurance coverage. This is where having short term medical insurance benefits can save the day. It can literally be the difference between, business as usual, or drowning in medical debt and possibly having to file bankruptcy.

If you haven't heard the term you may be wondering, "What is short term medical insurance?" Short-term medical insurance is just that--short term. Plans may vary by insurance company and state regulations, but basically short-term medical insurance also referred to, as temporary insurance is non-renewable. You can obtain coverage for as few as 30 days and up to a full year, depending on the state you reside in.