What May Be Included in a Short Term Plan?

The following medical benefits are available with any short term plan offered by Golden Rule, but may only be covered after the insured person meets their plan’s deductible and copay or coinsurance requirements.

• Ambulance services
• Dental services necessary due to an injury
• Diabetes equipment, supplies, and services
• Diabetes self-management training and education
• Diagnostic testing
• Durable medical equipment
• Home health care
• Hospital services
• Medical supplies
• Outpatient surgery
• Physician fees
• Prosthetics
• Rehabilitation and extended care facility (ECF)
• Spine and back disorders treatment
• Therapeutic treatments, including radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hemodialysis, processing, and administration of blood or components
• Transplant expense benefit
• Transplant expense benefit

Types of Short-Term Health Insurance Plans from Golden Rule

Other Insurance Plans Offered by Golden Rule:

• Vision Insurance
• Critical Illness Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Disability Income Insurance

Short-Term Health Insurance Plan Details

*For the purpose of this review, we requested a quote from UHOne.com, which is the main consumer-facing shopping website for Golden Rule’s short term insurance plans, for a 30-year-old male non-smoker from Georgia. Golden Rule notes that benefits may vary from state to state. Requesting a quote and viewing the plan brochure is strongly encouraged to see exactly which benefits and exclusions patients may be subject to.

Golden Rule offers several short-term health insurance plans, which are designed to fill in the gaps in coverage a person may have while he or she waits for the next open enrollment period. Patients are able to sign up for a short-term health insurance plan at any time, even outside of the open enrollment period. Patients can go to any doctor in one UnitedHealthcare’s doctor networks, which are available nationwide. Golden Rule short term insurance plans use the UnitedHealthcare Choice and the UnitedHealthcare Choice Plus network of doctors. No referral is needed to visit a specialist, and no primary care physician (PCP) is required. Patients should note that visiting a non-network provider will incur a penalty of 25% of the expense, in addition to other penalties. Therefore, visiting network providers is encouraged.

Terms range from 30 days to less than 3 months. However, starting in October, Golden Rule will be offering short term insurance plans that can run 364 days a year. Patients select their term, deductible, and coinsurance. Once the deductible is met, the patient pays the coinsurance percentage while the insurance covers the remaining portion of the covered expense up to the lifetime maximum benefit.

There are three lifetime maximum benefit options: $250,000; $600,000; and $2 million. Depending on the option selected by the patient, there may be three or four plans available.

Patients may select the deductible type of their choice: Per Cause (deductible applied to each illness or injury) or Per Term (one deductible for the duration of the plan term). Deductible amounts are available between $1,000 and $12,500.

Depending on the plan type and tier, coinsurance options (meaning the amount that the insured person pays for their medical bill) can be as high as 40% or as low as 0%. With a 0% coinsurance, the patient would not pay anything for covered expenses.

Coinsurance out-of-pocket maximums, meaning the maximum amount a patient will pay, after the deductible, before the insurance covers 100% of covered expenses, range between $0 and $10,000.

Some plans establish a fixed copay amount for doctor's visits, while others establish that the amount to be paid is the coinsurance percentage selected after the deductible is met. Other copays apply to urgent care center visits, emergency room care, outpatient procedures, and inpatient hospital services.

Certain plans cover prescription drugs up to $3,000, and patients pay the coinsurance after the deductible is met. Others only provide a discount card which saves patients an average of 20% on prescription drugs.

An additional benefit that may be selected is a Supplemental Accident Benefit, which will help the patient cover their expenses if they suffer an accident-related injury. The benefit amounts range from $1,000 to $12,500.

Summary

Golden Rule’s short-term health insurance plans are a great option for people seeking to fill in gaps in coverage while they wait for the next open enrollment period. For people who are in-between jobs, recently graduated students, or early retirees, this is a great option for protecting their health with customizable plans at affordable prices.