Best Short-Term Health Insurance Companies Of 2024 (2024)

Here are Forbes Advisor’s picks for the best short-term health insurance companies of 2024:

• UnitedHealthcare, Copay Select Max – Best for Prescription Drug Benefits
• Pivot Health, Epic Base – Best for 0% Coinsurance Option
• Everest, Flex Term Health Insurance – Best for Low Out-of-Pocket Costs
• UnitedHealthcare, Hospital & Surgical – Best for Provider Network
• UnitedHealthcare, TriTerm Value – Best for Coverage Maximum
• Pivot Health, Pivot Health Choice – Best for Low Deductible Option
• Pivot Health, Pivot Health – Economy – Best for Low Premiums

Company	Company - Logo	Forbes Advisor Rating	Forbes Advisor Rating	Policy name	Average monthly premium	Maximum annual coverage options	Learn More CTA text	Learn more CTA below text	LEARN MORE
UnitedHealthcare		5.0		Copay Select Max	$234	$2 million lifetime	Learn More	On UnitedHealthcare's Website
Pivot Health		5.0		Epic Base	$120	$500,000 or $1 million	Learn More	On Pivot Health's Website
Everest		5.0		Flex Term Health Insurance	$150	$250,000, $750,000, $1 million, $1.5 million	View More
UnitedHealthcare		4.5		Hospital & Surgical	$162	$2 million lifetime	Learn More	On UnitedHealthcare's Website
UnitedHealthcare		4.5		TriTerm Value	$198	$2 million lifetime	Learn More	On UnitedHealthcare's Website
Pivot Health		4.0		Pivot Health Choice	$118	$100,000, $250,000, $500,000 or $1 million	Learn More	On Pivot Health's Website
Pivot Health		4.0		Pivot Health Economy	$107	$100,000, $250,000, $500,000 or $1 million	Learn More	On Pivot Health's Website

Premiums reflect the average for a 30-year-old woman who is a nonsmoker for the three lowest quotes in these cities: Orlando, Florida, Phoenix and El Paso, Texas.

Short-term health insurance offers limited coverage for up to 12 months in most states, with the chance to extend the plan for another two years. Some states don’t allow short-term plans or restrict the length of coverage.

The Biden administration announced in July 2023 that it plans to restrict short-term health insurance to only three months with the option to expand coverage for a fourth month.

Short-term health insurance plans aren’t regulated by the Affordable Care Act (ACA), so they can deny policies to people based on pre-existing conditions and they don’t have to cover the minimum “essential health benefits” mandated by the law. ACA benefits that are standard in regular and best health insurance include inpatient and outpatient care, mental health services, prescription drug coverage and maternity care. Since short-term plans don’t have to offer this coverage you may have trouble finding a short-term health plan that does.

Short-term health insurance plans also generally have caps on how much the insurer will pay for certain services or in total.

The federal government currently allows insurance companies to offer short-term health insurance for 12 months with the option to increase coverage for 36 months, but some states ban short-term coverage or limit coverage to shorter periods.

Short-term health insurance plans don’t have to follow ACA rules, which means there can be a significant difference between what one short-term plan may cover compared to another short-term plan.

Short-term health insurance plans may cover:

• Preventive care
• Urgent care
• Emergency care
• Doctor visits

While standard health insurance covers maternity maternity, mental health and substance use care, short-term plans often exclude those coverages.

Another issue is prescription drug benefits. These benefits are standard in a regular health insurance plan, but short-term health insurance companies can decide whether to cover prescription drugs. Short-term plans that don’t offer prescription drug benefits may provide a discount card. In those cases, the insurer doesn’t help pay for medications, but you might be able to get a lower drug price than if you didn’t have the discount card.

You’ll want to check the short-term health policy details to understand what’s covered and the coverage maximums, restrictions and exclusions.

Advocates trumpet short-term health insurance as an affordable option, but detractors call the plans junk health insurance because they lack many coverages found in regular health insurance. There are also potentially high costs if you need care. Understand the pros and cons before buying short-term insurance.

Pros

• Low cost.
• You can apply for a short-term plan at any time and don’t have to wait for open enrollment.
• If approved, you can get coverage quickly, as soon as the next day.
• You may have more flexibility to decide on your out-of-pocket costs compared to a standard health insurance plan.

Cons:

• Typically doesn’t include coverage that is in standard health insurance plans.
• Plans come with coverage caps.
• Generally doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions.
• You can be denied a policy.
• You can have a short-term health plan only for a limited time.

Who Can Benefit From Short-term Health Insurance?

A short-term health insurance plan might make sense if:

• You can’t find affordable health insurance anywhere else.
• You will soon have health insurance, such as starting a new job, but want an emergency stopgap until then.
• You were recently laid off and can’t afford COBRA insurance. COBRA lets you extend your previous group health insurance but without financial help from your former employer, leading to expensive coverage.
• You don’t expect to have many, if any, health care needs in the coming months, including no prescriptions or doctor visits, such as physicals, tests and mental health care.
• You aged out of your parent’s health plan, want inexpensive coverage and don’t qualify or can’t afford catastrophic health insurance through the ACA marketplace. Catastrophic health insurance, available only to people under age 30 or facing severe financial issues, has low costs and large, initial out-of-pocket costs, similar to short-term plans. One major difference is that catastrophic plans offer comprehensive coverage, just like ACA plans.

The average cost for short-term health insurance is $171 a month, according to Forbes Advisor’s analysis of eight policies.

Our analysis found costs as low as about $100 a month for barebones coverage to over $200 a month for coverage with prescription drug coverage. Short-term health insurers may promote coverage for under $100 a month, but you want to carefully read the print to understand what is and isn’t covered by cheaper short-term plans.

Average Monthly Short-Term Health Insurance Costs by Plan

Source: Forbes Advisor research. Rates reflect the average for a 30-year-old woman who is a nonsmoker for the three lowest quotes in these cities: Orlando, Florida, Phoenix and El Paso, Texas.

Health insurance costs are a major reason people may be interested in a short-term plan. Short-term health plans are generally much cheaper than ACA plans, also called Obamacare. Our analysis found that a 30-year-old pays an average of $412 a month for an ACA plan, which is more than twice the average cost for a short-term health insurance plan.

Obamacare costs are influenced by multiple factors, including the plan’s metal tier. The ACA’s metal tiers (bronze, silver, gold and platinum) are divided by costs. The lowest cost ACA plan (bronze) is $356 a month, on average, for a 30-year-old. That’s much higher than a short-term plan average, but ACA plan members may be eligible for premium tax credits based on household income. Those tax credits can result in much lower health insurance costs, depending on your household income and size.

Catastrophic health insurance may be an option if you’re under age 30 or are going through severe financial issues, such as bankruptcy. Catastrophic health insurance costs an average of $267 a month for a 30-year-old.

Short-Term Health Insurance Costs Compared to Other Possible Options

Source: Forbes Advisor research. ACA plans costs are the averages for non-subsidized plans. Most ACA plan members are eligible for premium tax credits that reduce the monthly premiums.

Anyone who lives in a state that allows short-term health insurance plans can apply for coverage, but unlike standard health insurance, you could be denied coverage.

Short-term health insurance plans use medical underwriting during the application process to gauge your risk. That process can include asking you to answer yes/no questions about medical conditions. Your answers affect whether you’re approved or not.

Once you have coverage, short-term health plans review your claims to check if your health care services are connected to a pre-existing condition. If they find a pre-existing condition is causing health problems, they could reject the claim or even drop your coverage at any time.

How Do You Qualify?

You can apply for a policy at any time of year if your state allows short-term insurance. You don’t have to wait until open enrollment, which is the case in the ACA marketplace or if you get health insurance through an employer.

If you’re considering short-term health insurance, be aware that if you have a qualifying life event, such as losing your job, you’re eligible to enroll in an ACA plan through the health insurance marketplace at healthcare.gov, so you may have options beyond a short-term plan.

If you decide short-term health insurance is right for you, there are several factors to consider to ensure you’re choosing the best plan for your needs. Ask yourself these questions:

• Does the plan have a provider network? You may save money by staying within a plan’s network.
• How much is the deductible, and does the plan provide any coverage before the deductible is met? If not, consider whether you can cover the cost of the deductible yourself if needed. Deductibles vary considerably from one plan to another. (ACA-compliant plans are required to cap out-of-pocket costs at $9,100 annually, but these rules don’t apply to short-term plans.) Check the plan’s copay and make sure it fits into your budget.
• Does the plan cover prescriptions? If the answer is no, ask yourself if you have enough income or savings to pay for your medications out of pocket.
• How long will the plan last and is it renewable? Short-term insurers can choose to make plans renewable and can set shorter policy terms beyond what’s allowed by state or federal law.

If you lose health insurance coverage through an employer, you can enroll in COBRA. The COBRA law requires insurers to provide a temporary continuation of your same health insurance.

You can maintain the same medical, dental and vision benefits you had with your employer-provided coverage. There is a major drawback, though. Your previous employer will likely no longer cover part of the monthly premium. You instead have to pay the full premium, plus an administrative fee.

COBRA is more expensive than short-term health insurance but it’s a good option if you want to maintain your coverage and can afford the higher premium.

To identify the best short-term health insurance companies, we evaluated companies based on average monthly cost, coverage and out-of-pocket costs:

Short-term health insurance rates (25% of score): We compared quotes for a 30-year-old woman who is a nonsmoker for three cities: Orlando, Florida, Phoenix and El Paso, Texas. We took the three lowest quotes for each plan in each city and came up with an average.

Coverage maximum (25% of score): Unlike standard health insurance, a short-term health insurance plan has maximum coverage, either lifetime or annual, which is the most the company will pay for an individual’s care.

Deductible (20% of score): Short-term health insurance companies often offer multiple health insurance deductible levels. Plans with more options got more points in our analysis.

Coinsurance (15% of score): Coinsurance is the percentage you pay for health care services after you reach your plan’s deductible. The insurer picks up the rest of the bill until you reach the coverage limit. Lower coinsurance levels mean less money out of pocket, so we gave those plans more points.

Prescription drug coverage (15% of score): Many short-term health insurance plans don’t offer prescription drug benefits or only give a discount card for members. We analyzed which short-term plans offer prescription drugs, which ones do not and which have exclusions that only cover prescription drugs for specific reasons, such as only during hospitalizations.

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