Short-term health insurance plans should never be used in place of a comprehensive, permanent health insurance plan. Short-term health insurance plans are intended for those who fully expect to be receiving comprehensive, permanent health insurance in the near future. In general, you can expect a short-term health insurance plan to provide coverage for between 1-6 months.
Due to the temporary nature of short-term health insurance plans and the relatively inexpensive costs of the short-term health insurance premium, the medical benefits extended under short-term health insurance plans normally only include coverage of hospital expenses related to unexpected illness or accidental injury. In other words, short-term health insurance plans may not provide coverage for routine health care, preventive health care and immunizations or dental and eye care. Moreover, short-term health insurance plans provide health insurance coverage for a limited time frame and once that period has passed, it may be difficult to purchase additional, permanent health insurance plans depending on the condition of your health.