Medical insurance is one of the most important things that you can purchase for yourself or for your family. We have come to depend on medical insurance every time that we have to see the doctor or go to the hospital. If you have kids, then you know that without medical insurance you would probably be in the poor house. If you were to lose your medical insurance for some reason, then you might find yourself in a tremendous amount of debt in no time.

Gaps in medical insurance coverage can occur for many different reasons. When students graduate from college, when people change jobs, or when you are waiting for group coverage to start, are just some of the reasons that gaps can occur in your medical insurance. The best way to assure that you and your family will still have coverage during these gaps is to get short term medical insurance coverage.

Short term medical insurance can be purchased to help while you are waiting for your regular medical insurance coverage to start again. Short term medical insurance will only cover you for one month to one year. If you need coverage longer than that, then you can usually transition into a regular medical insurance plan if the company you bought your short term coverage from offers it.

Usually short term medical insurance plans will only cover accidents and unforeseen illnesses. If you have any type of preexisting illness, then you will not be eligible for short term medical insurance coverage. However there is another type of short term medical insurance called COBRA that may be available to you. This is a government-regulated option that can help to extend your employer-sponsored medical insurance until new medical insurance is obtained. COBRA is a great choice if you do not want to purchase another short term medical insurance plan.