Short-term health insurance is having a moment.
With Obamacare premiums climbing and open enrollment limited to a few weeks a year, these cheap, temporary plans are being pitched hard on social media, in search ads, and through telemarketing calls that start with "your health coverage may be expiring." The pitch sounds great.
Monthly premiums can run $80 to $200 for a single adult, compared with $400 or more for a marketplace plan.
Approval often takes minutes, and you can sign up any month of the year.
For a healthy 28-year-old between jobs, that gap coverage can feel like a no-brainer.
The catch is in what these plans don't cover.
Short-term policies are not required to follow the Affordable Care Act's rules.
That means they can reject you for a pre-existing condition, charge women more than men, cap how much they'll pay out per year, and skip entire categories of care.
The bigger trap is the fine print on what counts as "pre-existing." Some insurers look back five years or more at your medical records.
If you saw a doctor for back pain in 2021 and then file a claim for a back injury in 2025, the company can deny the claim and refund your premiums instead.
You paid for months of coverage that turned out to cover nothing.
A three-day stay for something like a gallbladder attack can run $30,000 to $60,000 before insurance.
A short-term plan with a $10,000 annual cap might pay a slice and leave you owing the rest.
Consumer reports and state insurance departments have logged thousands of complaints from people who bought these plans believing they had real coverage.
There's a place for short-term insurance.
If you're healthy, between jobs for 60 to 90 days, and mainly want protection against a random accident, it can bridge a gap at a fraction of the cost.
But it is not a substitute for major medical coverage, and it was never designed to be.
If you're shopping right now, here's what to do before you type in a card number.
Check whether the plan covers prescriptions, hospital stays, and lab work, and ask for the actual policy document, not the brochure.
Look up the insurer's complaint history with your state's department of insurance.
And price a marketplace plan at HealthCare.gov first — after subsidies, many households find the real coverage costs less than they assumed, especially if income is modest.
Legitimate plans don't call you out of the blue warning that your coverage is about to be canceled.
If a caller asks for your Social Security number or a payment over the phone in the first five minutes, hang up.
The bottom line: cheap premiums are only cheap until you need the coverage.
Read the exclusions page before the benefits page — that's where the real story lives.
Final Thoughts
A plan that costs $150 a month and pays nothing when you're hospitalized is the most expensive insurance you'll ever buy.