The pitch lands in your inbox right after you lose a job or age off a parent's plan: coverage for a fraction of what a marketplace policy costs.
Short-term health insurance can look like a life raft.
In most states it now lasts up to 12 months, and some policies renew for three years.
Here is what that low premium often leaves out.
These plans are not required to cover the ten essential health benefits that Affordable Care Act plans must include.
Prescription drugs, maternity care, and mental health treatment are frequently missing or capped.
The biggest trap is pre-existing conditions.
Insurers in most states can reject you outright or charge more for anything in your medical history.
They can also investigate your past records after you file a claim and rescind the policy if they find something you did not disclose.
Even when a plan pays, the fine print decides how much.
A deductible might run $10,000 or more, and that deductible can apply separately to each condition rather than once per year.
A broken ankle could trigger one deductible, a separate illness another.
The numbers explain why this market has grown so fast.
Annual premiums for short-term plans average roughly $1,500 to $3,000, compared with about $7,600 for an unsubsidized ACA plan, according to industry and KFF data.
But most people buying these policies qualify for marketplace subsidies that shrink that gap dramatically.
A 40-year-old earning $45,000 might pay $150 to $250 a month for a subsidized bronze plan with a $9,000 deductible, out-of-pocket caps, and guaranteed coverage of pre-existing conditions.
The same person could pay $180 for a short-term plan that covers far less and can drop them at renewal.
A Texas man bought a short-term policy, then faced a $180,000 hospital bill after the insurer said his diverticulitis was an undisclosed pre-existing condition.
A Georgia woman's plan refused to pay for a biopsy, calling it diagnostic rather than preventive.
These cases are documented in state insurance department filings and news investigations.
The math gets worse when you do need care.
ACA plans cap annual out-of-pocket spending, usually between $9,200 and $9,450 for a single person in 2025.
Many short-term plans have no annual cap at all, which means a serious diagnosis can follow you for years.
If you are between jobs, the better move is usually a marketplace plan with subsidies, COBRA, or a spouse's coverage.
If you buy short-term anyway, read the exclusions page before the premium page, and check whether your state restricts these plans, since about a dozen do. **Our take:** Short-term plans are a gap filler, not health insurance in any real sense, and treating them as equivalent is how families end up bankrupt.
If you are healthy and need two months of bridge coverage, they can work.
Final Thoughts
If you have any ongoing condition, run the numbers on a subsidized marketplace plan first, because the cheap premium is rarely the cheap outcome.