Ron Johnson R-Wis. These plans offer consumers a variety of health benefits and are another option for health coverage, but a recent regulation decreased the maximum policy length of short-term plans from days to just 90 days. As a result of this regulation, providers that once offered short-term plans may exit the market, leaving consumers in some locations with even fewer options for health insurance. Reversing this regulation will provide consumers with an important option for health coverage.
Senators John Barrasso R-Wyo. As the Trump Administration continues to work on repairing the damage caused by the Affordable Care Act ACA , we must consider solutions that will increase consumer choice in the health care markets and, ultimately, decrease health care costs.
These plans have offered great value to people, real protection, and broad provider networks. In fact, despite the tax penalty, thousands of consumers still purchased these short-term plans.
Presumably these plans would be even more popular if they qualified for an exception to the individual mandate tax penalty. These plans are particularly attractive to people in between jobs, people who have missed Open Enrollment, and people who want to pay less for health insurance. According to eHealth, an online marketplace for health insurance, a consumer who has short-term coverage pays, on average, about one-third of what a consumer with major medical coverage pays per month.
STLD plans remained a viable health coverage option for consumers until an HHS regulation went into effect on April 1, that greatly restricted the use of these policies. The regulation decreased the maximum policy length of STLD plans from days to 90 days. According to estimates, prior to April 1, at any given point, the market for short-term plans likely consisted of , to , enrollees with the average coverage duration lasting five to six months.
