Angela Rose 
Comments
July 28, 2020 
Did you recently drop your Obamacare-compliant insurance coverage because your costs had skyrocketed? If so, you’re not alone. Healthcare insurance premiums went up by as much as 50 percent in many states for 2018, and about 400,000 fewer Americans signed up through Healthcare.gov during the last enrollment period than had done so in the prior.
Fortunately, the decision to forgo traditional health insurance doesn’t have to mean going unprotected from financial devastation should accident or illness strike. There are alternatives available, and you’ll find them at AgileHealthInsurance.
The Largest Online Source of Insurance Alternatives
“AgileHealthInsurance was founded by Bruce Telkamp and Dr. Sheldon Wang, both formerly with eHealth,” Shaun Green, the company’s senior vice president and general manager, told RewardExpert. “They launched it in 2016 with the vision to provide a resource for people who were looking for Obamacare alternatives.”
Since the company’s founding, it has become the nation’s largest online source of Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance alternatives, primarily focusing on short-term health insurance and health benefit insurance plans.
While short-term health insurance was originally created as a stop-gap product for professionals between jobs, and AgileHealthInsurance still has many customers in that situation today, Green says the company has seen more people priced out of the Obamacare market over the last few years.
“The short-term health plan was the one major medical health plan that somebody could get and actually enroll in outside of open enrollment windows,” he noted. “It was affordable as well.”
Other AgileHealthInsurance customers include early retirees who are too young to enroll in Medicare as well as people who have ACA plans but want to use a doctor who is not covered.
Short-Term Health Insurance
Short-term health insurance is a form of major medical insurance. Unlike most insurance plans, which cover you the entire year, a short-term health insurance plan offers less than three months of coverage. Treatment for pre-existing conditions is not covered, and because the policy is underwritten, your health status will be evaluated when determining eligibility and premiums.
Prescription drugs and certain other benefits (such as maternity) are usually not covered. That said, short-term health insurance typically costs half as much as an Obamacare insurance plan and offers deductibles as low as $250. You can also enroll year-round and choose any doctor and hospital for your care.
“Unlike an Obamacare plan, short-term health insurance doesn’t include preventative care,” Green said. “That’s one of the things that makes Obamacare plans more expensive: the built-in annual physicals, tests, and things for which the consumer doesn’t pay a cost share. While there are a few short-term plans that do include some wellness visits, generally speaking, a short-term plan is intended to cover you in the case of an accident or illness.”
Health Benefit Insurance
Health benefit insurance is a form of indemnity medical insurance. Like short-term health insurance, a health benefit insurance plan typically costs half as much as an ACA-compliant insurance plan, offers year-round enrollment, and allows you to choose any doctor and hospital for your care.
However, unlike short-term health insurance, there are no co-pays or deductibles. If a covered medical event occurs, such as a hospital stay, the plan will pay you a fixed cash benefit.
“With a plan like this, if you get hurt and go to the hospital, it pays you a fixed amount, say $1,000 or $1,500, for every day that you’re there,” Green explained. “It also has some allowances for doctor visits and things like that. But it’s not major medical. While health benefit insurance can cover a lot of what might occur for a person health wise, it’s not designed for treating cancer or another major disease.”
Green said that health benefit insurance is a good alternative for people who don’t quality for short-term health insurance because of pre-existing or chronic conditions. “All of the plans we share for health benefit insurance are guaranteed issue with no underwriting,” he added.
For additional protection, some people choose to add one or more supplemental insurance plans to their coverage portfolio. “We have some packages where we’ve taken a health benefit insurance plan and a couple supplemental insurance plans, like critical illness and accident and medical, and bundled them together,” Green said. “The result is pretty comprehensive, though again, it doesn’t go the distance of a major medical plan.”
To learn more about short-term and health benefit insurance, get an instant price quote, or complete a simple insurance application, visit www.agilehealthinsurance.com.
