Although we hope it will never happen, for all too many of us the day could well come when we lose our job and, with it, we lose your health insurance. If you are lucky you can continue to enjoy cover under an employer's scheme for a while until you find a new job and can join a new scheme. For many, however, this is not the case and this is where short term health insurance can come to the rescue.

But just where do you start looking for a short term health insurance plan?

As a starting point, every state has its own particular brand of short term health insurance which is designed to assist you in holding onto your health insurance from your previous employer. In many states this plan will be referred to as a COBRA Plan and state law will require your employer to notify you of your eligibility for COBRA coverage.

Where you are not eligible for COBRA cover, or where cover under this plan expires, then you will need to turn to a commercially available short term health insurance plan. Such plans normally run from one to twelve months, although you will find that many providers limit their plans to six months. In general a short term plan will offer most, but not all, of the benefits which are provided under their long term counterparts. Perhaps the biggest difference lies in the fact that a short term plan is non-renewable and if you wish to keep your coverage once it has expired you will need to purchase a new plan.

Your might well start looking for a suitable plan by using one of the Internet search engines which will provide you with a fairly long list of directories to look through. These directories will themselves provided you with a list of companies offering short term health insurance and you will even find a few companies that will actually tell you just what short term health insurance is. This is important because it is vital to understand just what is meant by short term insurance if you are to get the plan that you need and avoid being scammed.

The sorts of things that short term health insurance will not normally cover are wellness checks and preventative care, as well as dental or optical care. Most plans will also be very strict on denying coverage for pre-existing conditions but will usually offer extended cover for your spouse and children. Most policies will range in price from as low as $25 to as high as $100 per month.

With this firmly in mind you can start to look through the results of your Internet search and look for a plan which will meet your needs.

Don't forget too that another good place to look for short term health insurance is with any existing insurance provider. If you have your own home or car insurance provider then it is likely that they will also provide health insurance and, as an existing customer, you may find that they will offer you a discount.