New Rule Loosens Current Restrictions

Effective October 2, 2018, a new rule will allow individuals to purchase short-term, limited-duration health insurance coverage for a period of less than 12 months, and renew such coverage for up to 36 months. Under current law, the maximum coverage period for short-term, limited-duration health insurance is less than 3 months, and these policies cannot be renewed.

Notably, short-term, limited-duration health insurance is:

• Not required to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s ban on pre-existing condition exclusions and lifetime and annual dollar limits.
• Not required to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s essential health benefits requirement, which requires individual health insurance policies to cover, among other things, hospitalizations, emergency services, and maternity care.
• Not “minimum essential coverage,” meaning that policyholders may remain liable for an individual mandate penalty for any month in 2018.

Click here to read the new rule. A fact sheet is also available.