Understanding Short-Term Health Insurance Plans

Posted on: Dec 5, 2023 | | Written by:

Understanding Short-Term Health Insurance Plans

Publication date: December 1, 2023. EST READ TIME: 3 MIN

Health insurance is a substantial investment that can ease your financial burden during medical emergencies. Therefore, it is essential to buy adequate health insurance at an early age and stay covered at all times. Keeping the importance of health insurance in mind, insurance companies in India also offer short-term insurance plans to their customers. So, if you are between jobs or are looking to cover specific healthcare needs, you can buy short-term health insurance and stay covered. Read on to understand the benefits and coverage of short-term health insurance plans in India.

What is Short-Term Health Insurance?

Short-term health insurance is a healthcare policy that offers coverage to policyholders for a specified period of 30 days to 12 months. The duration of coverage varies between insurers. Such a policy offers immediate coverage to policyholders. It is ideal for employees who are between jobs and are no longer covered under group health insurance or any other healthcare plan. A short-term health plan can also offer coverage when the long-term or regular healthcare policy is under a waiting period.

Benefits of Short-Term Health Insurance Plans

The following are the benefits of short-term health insurance plans —

1. Coverage:

Like a regular or long-term health plan, a short-term healthcare policy offers wide coverage to policyholders. It covers hospitalisation expenses, offers free health check-ups, etc. You can also use a short-term health plan for cashless hospitalisation.

2. Easy to purchase:

Many health insurance companies offer short-term health plans without pre-policy medical check-ups. So, you can easily buy the health plan online from the comfort of your home.

3. Affordable policy premiums:

A short-term health plan is valid for a short duration. Therefore, the policy premium is quite affordable.

4. Fills insurance gap:

A short-term plan is ideal to fill health insurance gaps between jobs. Also, if you miss renewing your long-term health plan, you can take a short-term policy for coverage during the waiting period.

5. Hassle-free switch from one insurer to another:

If you are not happy with the policy coverage or service offered by the insurance provider, you can switch to another one without waiting for the existing plan to expire.

6. No-claim bonus:

You can enjoy a no-claim bonus for every claim-free year on your short-term health plan as well. The same can be in the form of reduced policy premiums or increased sum insured.

7. Tax benefits:

Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act of 1961, you can also claim tax benefits on the premiums paid toward your short-term health insurance policy.

Short-Term Health Insurance – Coverage

A short-term healthcare policy covers the following medical expenses of policyholders:

• Hospital bills and other associated expenses, such as room rent, operation theatre bills, surgery charges, cost of medicines, etc.

• Pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses, such as doctor’s consultation bills, cost of diagnostic tests, etc.

• Daycare procedures or treatments that require less than 24 hours of hospitalisation

• Road ambulance charges up to the amount mentioned in the policy documents

• Organ donor expenses or the cost of surgery for organ donation

Who Should Purchase Short-Term Health Insurance?

A short-term health insurance policy is ideal for the following people:

• Individuals staying in India for a short duration

• Individuals looking to cover health insurance gaps between jobs

• Individuals looking for affordable health coverage for specified healthcare needs, such as pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses prior to and/or after a planned surgical procedure

Differences between Short-Term and Regular Health Insurance Plans

A short-term healthcare plan differs from a regular health policy in the following ways:

Parameters	Short-term health insurance	Long-term health insurance
Policy period	A short-term health plan is valid for less than 12 months. In most cases, the policy tenure is about 3 to 6 months. However, you can also choose a health plan that will cover your medical expenses for up to one year.	A long-term health insurance plan is valid for 1 year or more.
Policy premiums	The premiums of short-term plans are comparatively lower and affordable.	Since the policy tenure of a long-term health plan is 1 year or more, the premiums are higher than short-term plans.
Coverage for pre-existing diseases	This health plan may not cover pre-existing conditions.	A long-term health plan covers pre-existing conditions after a waiting period of about 1 to 4 years.
Add-on covers	Add-on covers are not available with short-term health plans.	You can take add-on covers with a long-term or regular health insurance policy.

Conclusion

To sum up, short-term insurance plans are ideal for temporary healthcare coverage. So, if you are between jobs or are visiting the country for 3 to 6 months, you can buy a short-term health insurance policy and stay covered. A medical emergency can happen anytime, so keeping health insurance handy can save you from mental and financial stress. This health plan offers a host of benefits to policyholders at affordable rates, so buying one will not pinch your pocket. Also, if you are not happy with your short-term health insurance coverage, you can cancel the same at any time without penalties.

Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purposes only. For more details, please refer to the policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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