Testimonial

"The first experience I had with Peter was when he helped my brother who was 16 years old and without a guardian, to get health insurance coverage. He found the best coverage at the lowest possible premium at that time for him."

Sheida Azimi
Former Chase Bank Manager
Fort Collins, CO

Full Text

Short Term Insurance

Perfect for Colorado residents needing health insurance for short periods of time—for example, graduating students, people waiting to get on a group plan or those in-between jobs.

Questions? Call us at 800-553-1444 or click an orange "Apply now" button!

Advantages:

Good coverage; low premiums; short application takes 5 minutes to complete; approval usually takes only 1 day.

Disadvantages:

There is no automatic renewal past the initial number of months you signed up for. (Maximum of 6 months.)

Companies We Currently Recommend
Authorized Agent for the following carriers:
	Assurant Health Time Insurance
	Reason to buy: Assurant Health (also marketed under the name "Time Insurance") is widely known for being the biggest and best short-term carrier on the market. Perhaps the biggest advantage they have over competitors is their extension of benefits provision, after the policy runs out. Let's say, for example, that you are hospitalized just before your short-term policy runs out. With other carriers, your coverage for that hospital stay runs out the day the policy ends, since short term policies do not allow automatic renewals. With Assurant, however, your policy will continue to pay your hospital expenses for up to 12 months—at no additional cost! In addition, Assurant has a $1000 extension of benefits beyond the policy period for up to 60 days for a non-disabling condition—at no additional cost.
	Allied Short Term
	Reason to buy: Sometimes people cannot qualify for Assurant Health if they have previously been denied coverage. In that case we might be able to place coverage with Allied as they do not ask about previous declinations! Check with us first.

Buying Considerations:

Short term policies can be bought and paid for one of two ways. The first is for a set period of time, say 60 or 90 days, where you prepay for the exact number of days you are purchasing. This is the least expensive way to go. The second way is to go month- to-month where you can keep the policy going for up to 6 months—all at your discretion. So which way should you go? This can be a surprisingly difficult question to answer, but I usually recommend the month-to-month option, even though it costs more.

Here's why:

Going month-to-month gives you flexibility to keep the policy if you are not sure how long you need it for—or if you do develop a medical problem and need to keep the insurance longer than expected.
The state of Colorado has a bizarre law that says you cannot buy more than two short term policies within a 12 month period—regardless of whether it is for one month or six months. I once had a client who purchased a one month policy in anticipation of going on a group plan, then came back a month later saying that the boss said it would be another month before he could go on the group plan, so he bought another one month policy. A month later he was back saying the job did not work out and he needed another short term policy. I had the unpleasant task of telling him that he was out of luck because I could not write him another short term policy with any company due to our Colorado law (which was new at that time).