MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.,
Dec. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The
open enrollment period for Obamacare ended last week, a full six
weeks earlier than last year. Due to the shortened period and
escalating monthly premiums for the unsubsidized, millions of
consumers remain uninsured. For these uninsured consumers, there
are Obamacare alternatives available that do not have restrictive
enrollment windows and often come with a much more affordable
monthly payment.
There are three well-established alternative forms of healthcare
coverage that consumers can apply for year round: short-term health
insurance, healthcare sharing ministry plans, and health benefit
insurance:
- Short-Term Health Insurance is a form of major medical
insurance designed to bridge gaps between other forms of health
coverage, and has been offered by major insurance companies such as
UnitedHealthCare® for over three decades. Like other major medical
health plans, short-term health plans include coverage for doctor
and specialist visits, hospitalization, emergency care, and lab
tests. Healthcare research shows that most consumers can purchase a
short-term plan for $100 a month or
less, which is around half the costs of an Obamacare plan with a
similar deductible level.
- Healthcare Sharing Ministries plans are technically not
insurance but a group of individuals and families who have joined
together to share the cost of healthcare across the group. Members
must agree to live by certain religious codes, such as limited
tobacco and alcohol use. Generally, these plans do not discriminate
based on age, weight, or health history. Members are not limited to
any network and may seek providers both in and out of state.
- Health Benefit Insurance is a form of indemnity medical
insurance and has been offered by insurance companies such as
Aflac® for over six decades. Health benefit insurance plans will
pay a fixed cash benefit to members in the case of a covered
medical event such as a doctor visit or a hospital stay. Health
benefit insurance plans are often combined with supplemental
insurance products such as accident or critical illness insurance,
as well as supplemental non-insurance services such
telemedicine.
Consumers should understand that these three alternatives are
different from Obamacare in scope of benefits. For example, they
generally do not cover pre-existing health conditions and may not
offer all of the ten essential health benefits required by an
Obamacare plan (such as maternity benefits and pediatric dental
care). Additionally, purchasing a short-term health plan or a
health benefit insurance plan alone will not satisfy the Affordable
Care Act insurance mandate, resulting in the potential for a tax
penalty unless the consumer otherwise qualifies for an exception to
the penalty.
AgileHealthInsurance and HealthPocket are the registered
trademarks of HealthPocket, Inc. All rights reserved. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners and are used
herein for identification purposes only; such use does not imply
endorsement.
AgileHealthInsurance.com was created to educate people about the
benefits of short-term health insurance and provide a fast, online
process for purchasing these plans. Short-term health insurance is
a flexible and low-cost major medical insurance for individuals
without expensive pre-existing health conditions. It is not
Obamacare. Short-term health plans offer consumers the flexibility
to choose health plans with the benefits that matter most to them
and combine these benefits with broad provider networks. Additional
information about AgileHealthInsurance can be found at
www.AgileHealthInsurance.com.
On October 12, 2017, President
Trump issued Executive Order Promoting Healthcare Choice and
Competition Across the United States. The order requires the
Secretaries of the Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services
to propose, or revise, regulations to expand the use of short-term
health coverage.
AgileHealthInsurance is a Silicon Valley-based technology
company and independently managed division of Health Insurance
Innovations, Inc. (Nasdaq: HIIQ).
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Forward-looking statements are statements other than
historical fact, and may include statements relating to goals,
plans and projections regarding new markets, products, services,
growth strategies, anticipated trends in our business and
anticipated changes and developments in the United States health insurance system and
laws. Forward-looking statements are based on our current
assumptions, expectations and beliefs are generally identifiable by
use of words "may," "might," "will," "should," "expects," "plans,"
"anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential" or
"continue," or similar expressions and involve significant risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and
business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by
these statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among
other things, our ability to maintain relationships and develop new
relationships with health insurance carriers and distributors, our
ability to retain our members, the demand for our products, the
amount of commissions paid to us or changes in health insurance
plan pricing practices, our ability to integrate our acquisitions,
competition, changes and developments in the United States health insurance system and
laws, and our ability to adapt to them, the ability to maintain and
enhance our name recognition, difficulties arising from
acquisitions or other strategic transactions, and our ability to
build the necessary infrastructure and processes to maintain
effective controls over financial reporting. These and other risk
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements are
discussed in HIIQ's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other
documents that may be filed by HIIQ from time to time with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at
www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this press
release is based only on information currently available to us and
speaks only as of the date on which it is made. You should not rely
on any forward-looking statement as representing our views in the
future. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be
made from time to time, whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise.
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SOURCE AgileHealthInsurance