MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.,
Feb. 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today
the Trump administration proposed a new regulation for the
short-term health insurance market that allows plans to last up to
364 days and reverses the three-month coverage restriction imposed
by the outgoing Obama administration. Given the criticism and
highly politicized commentary this reversal will attract,
AgileHealthInsurance.com has published a report that examines five
myths about short-term health insurance against actual data on
short-term plan enrollees. Below is a condensed overview of the
findings.
Myth #1: Only The "Young and Healthy" Qualify For Short-Term
Coverage - The average age of a short-term insurance buyer was
36.3 years old at the time of application. This means the average
age of a short-term health insurance buyer was roughly the same as
the average age of an American (37.9 years old). With respect to
older enrollees within the sample (people ages 55 through 64), they
accounted for 13 percent of buyers. This is a slightly higher
representation of this older age group than is found in the U.S.
(12 percent) as a whole.
Myth #2: Eligibility For Short-Term Insurance Is Narrow &
Lacks Transparency - The typical short-term health insurance
application includes five to seven eligibility questions depending
on the insurance company. The purpose of the questions is to ensure
applicants do not have expensive chronic health conditions that are
ill suited for a temporary insurance product whose enrollees pay
premiums for less than a single year. A 2016 study by eHealth, Inc.
found only 13 percent of applicants were rejected for short-term
coverage.
Myth #3: Short-Term Health Plans Are Not As Cheap As People
Think - Short-term plans are designed to serve populations with
an immediate need for low-cost coverage, the most common reason
being job loss. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the
ensuing unemployment period averages 6 months. Consequently,
the cost of short-term coverage needs to be low given the income
loss during this period. For a 30 year-old in 2017, the average
short-term premium was $79 a month.
In comparison, the average premium nationwide for bronze plan
coverage was $311 for a 30-year-old
without subsidies. For a 50 year-old, the average short-term
premium was $198 a month while the
average unsubsidized premium for a bronze plan was $489.
Myth #4: Short-Term Plans Are "Junk Insurance" That Provide
Inadequate Coverage - While it is true that short-term plans
cover fewer benefits than ACA plans and exclude health conditions
that began prior to purchasing the insurance, these plans do
include all major benefit categories including coverage of doctor
and specialist visits, emergency care, x-rays, lab tests, and
hospitalization. Drug coverage is included in some but not all
plans. Additionally, when comparing the average deductibles
associated with the use of health benefits, the average deductible
for short-term insurance averages at $3,434, which was $2,658 less than the average deductible for an
entry-level bronze plan ($6,092).
Myth #5: Most Consumers Are Using Short-Term Plans As
Long-Term Primary Coverage, Continuously Re-Applying For Years
- When analyzing a random sample of consumers enrolled in
short-term plans prior to the three-month restriction, the average
effective term of a short-term policy was 201 days (6.7 months).
Moreover, only 9 percent maintained short-term coverage beyond the
statutory maximum of one year for a single policy. These customers
did so by reapplying for a new short-term plan with an effective
date that started after the expiration of their existing plan,
either from the same or a different insurance company.
The full report, "Five Myths About Short-Term Health Insurance,"
will be released on AgileHealthInsurance.com later today.
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.
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.
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/agilehealthinsurance-report-five-myths-about-short-term-health-insurance-300601287.html
SOURCE AgileHealthInsurance