You can't afford to be without health insurance even for a short time.
UnitedHealthOne is the brand name used for many different health care services. It consists of Golden Rule Insurance, American Medical Security Life Insurance, Dental Benefit Providers Inc., Spectera Inc. PacifiCare Life and Health Insurance, Oxford Health Plans and United HealthCare Insurance. The merger made a variety of plans available, including short-term health care provided by Golden Rule Insurance and offered at the United HealthCare site.
Function
Short-term insurance plans are for people between permanent plans. Often people who purchase a long-term plan purchase a short-term one at the same time. This gives them coverage while they await the approval of their permanent plan. Early retirees use it to cover the gap before they begin Medicare. College students often drop off their parent's insurance, but as graduation approaches, they know they'll have a permanent plan through work, so they opt for short-term health insurance, as do workers changing jobs. The cost of the temporary coverage is often far more inexpensive than that of permanent health insurance, so often people use it instead of COBRA.
Types
United HealthCare offers two plans for short-term health insurance, Short Term Medical Plus and Short Term Medical Value. The Short Term Medical Plus policy is more expensive but has more benefits than the Short Term Medical Value Policy.
Short Term Medical Value
The deductibles on this plan range from $250 to $10,000. The plan costs less than the Medical Plus plan because you pay a deductible for each cause, not once per term. After the deductible, you pay 80/20 coinsurance with a maximum out of pocket of $4,000 per cause for in-network health care providers. 80/20 coinsurance means you pay 20 percent of the bill and the company pays 80 percent. The plan offers a prescription discount card with savings between 20 to 25 percent.
Short Term Medical Plus
This policy also has a $250 to $10,000 deductible, but it's for the policy term, not per incident. That means if you have an appendix attack and go to the hospital followed by a hospital visit for another disease, you'd only pay one deductible, not two as in the Value Plan. Coinsurance is 80/20 to $2,000 rather than $4,000 as in the value plan. You receive a prescription drug card where you pay the lowest price available and then submit the claim to the company.
Time Frame
The amount of time for coverage on the policies varies from state to state. While the period may be as short as one month in some states, the policy may run as long as a year in other states.
