Short-term medical: Who's the prospect?

Now that the PPACA insurance rules are taking effect and the PPACA exchange program has had a rocky start, PPACA may be making short-term medical even more attractive to young, healthy adults and relatively young, healthy COBRA candidates than it used to be.

In the past, Ryan Kennelly of Illinois Health Agents Inc. was selling one or two short-term medical policies per week. In the fourth quarter of 2013, as the public exchanges jolted to life, sales increased sharply. "I probably sold more short-term policies than I ever have before," Kennelly said.

The new PPACA tax credit subsidy can slash the amount of premium a low-income consumer must pay for coverage. But in many states, for consumers with relatively high incomes, PPACA rules have led to dramatic increases in the list price of both exchange and non-exchange individual coverage.

For an older worker, Kennelly said, an exchange plan may be a better deal than a short-term medical policy. But Kennelly said he recently served a young worker who would have had to pay $300 per month for ordinary major medical coverage and ended up paying just $60 per month for a short-term medical policy.

See also:

• Exchange launch helps short-term medical seller
• Affordable Health Insurance and Discounted Medical Programs
• Approaching Recent Graduates with Short-Term Medical