Short term health insurance for diabetic
originally posted: 11/22/2006 reposted: 2/18/2011 This post has not been recently reviewed or revised by the author and may be out of date. If in doubt, please send a new question or ask for an update.
Q: I currently have Aetna Insurance and will be leaving my current company to join a new company that also has Aetna Insurance. The coverage appears to be very similar for both. I will not get enrolled in my new company's Group Plan for three months. I also have had a Pre-Existing Condition (Type I Diabetes) for 38 years that has made it difficult for me to easily get short term coverage (3 Months) to maintain continuous coverage. I've been looking at COBRA as the last resort.
A: Diabetics who are not dependant on insulin are eligible for several short term health insurance policies listed under the product names "Secure STM", "Secure Lite STM", Secure STM 12 x 3", "Simple STM" and "American Health Shield". Any of these policies will provide a Certificate of Creditable Coverage to ensure that you will have immediate coverage of pre-existing medical conditions under the new employer-provided group insurance plan. All of the details, pricing and online enrollment are available at FreedomBenefits.net. This is a reputable high quality comprehensive nationwide coverage and is available in all states that allow short term health insurance coverage. Compare the cost of this short term health insurance plus your out-of-pocket costs for any current treatment (diabetes or other pre-existing conditions) to the cost of the more expensive COBRA coverage. In most cases, it pays to use the short term health insurance. If you are using insulin or reside in a state that does not use short term health insurance, then stick with the current health insurance through COBRA. It is more expensive, but this is the only remaining option. Also, consider adding ValueHealth, ValueMed and Basic Health Insurance in addition to your group coverage to supplement your insurance over the long term.
Summary
More resources:
article: "A Review of Secure STM" article: "Health Insurance for Diabetics" "Affordable health Insurance for diabetics"
FreedomBenefits.net