Short-Term Health Plans Are Not Sold in California

The Rule in California

Senate Bill 910 added section 10123.61 to the California Insurance Code. Since January 1, 2019, short-term limited duration health insurance cannot be issued, amended, sold, renewed, or offered in California. A short-term policy is one that expires less than 12 months after it takes effect.

What to Use Instead

If you need coverage, or have a gap to fill, these are the options in California:

• Open enrollment: Anyone can enroll in a Covered California plan during open enrollment, with no qualifying life event.
• Special Enrollment Period: A qualifying life event, such as losing coverage, getting married, moving, or having a baby, lets you enroll outside open enrollment.
• Medi-Cal: If your income qualifies, you can enroll any time of year. See the Medi-Cal income limits.
• COBRA: After a job ends, you may be able to continue your employer's coverage for a time.
• Community health centers: They offer care on a sliding fee scale. This isn't insurance, but it can help until your coverage starts. See your options if you missed open enrollment.

Covered California plans must cover pre-existing conditions and all essential health benefits, have a yearly limit on what you pay out of pocket, and are the only way to get federal and state financial help with your premium. See when coverage starts.

Products That Can Look Similar

These products can look like health insurance, or be sold as a cheaper replacement for it. None of them is a replacement for a full health plan:

Plans From Other States

• A seller based in another state does not change the rule. The bar applies to plans issued, sold, or offered in California.
• Be careful with plans sold online or through an association or trust. The California Department of Insurance has ordered companies without authorization to stop selling health coverage here, after people who believed they had full medical coverage found out it was limited and did not pay the bills they expected.
• A short-term plan you bought elsewhere does not count in California. Short-term plans are not minimum essential coverage, so one does not meet California's coverage requirement once you live here.
• A short-term plan ending does not open a Special Enrollment Period by itself. The Special Enrollment Period for losing coverage is for minimum essential coverage. Moving to California can be a qualifying life event of its own.

California's Coverage Requirement

California requires residents to have minimum essential coverage, qualify for an exemption, or pay a penalty on their state tax return. A gap of three consecutive months or fewer may be exempt. See the California tax penalty page for how the penalty works.