Arizona Short Term Health Insurance

UnitedHealthCare Choice Network Advantages

UnitedHealthcare plans use a large PPO network of doctors, hospitals, and other providers that offer you quality health care.  Receive quality care at reduced costs because the network providers have agreed to lower fees for covered expenses. The large network of doctors and hospitals offer choices across the nation, so even when you’re traveling, you’re likely to find in-network care. You must use a network doctor or hospital unless it is an emergency.

Find A Doctor to search for UnitedHealthcare Choice network providers.

• The enrollment fee is refundable should you cancel your plan within the free look period
• The definition of preexisting condition is replaced with: “Preexisting condition” means a condition for which the covered person received medical advice or treatment within the 12 months immediately preceding the date he or she became insured under the policy.

Find A Doctor to search for UnitedHealthcare Choice PPO network providers.

Ambulance Services

Ground ambulance service to a hospital for necessary emergency care.

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Outpatient applied behavior analysis limited to $50,000 per policy term, per covered person.

Dental Services

Dental expenses for an injury to natural teeth suffered after the coverage effective date. Expenses must be incurred within 6 months of the accident. No benefits payable for injuries due to chewing as limited in the policy.

Diabetes

• Diabetes equipment, supplies, and services.
• Diabetes self-management training when medically necessary as determined by a physician, prescribed by a physician, and provided by an appropriately licensed health care professional limited to:
  • One diabetes self-management training program per covered person, per lifetime.
  • Additional diabetes self-management training prescribed by a physician as medically necessary due to a significant change in the covered person’s symptoms or condition.

Diagnostic Testing

Durable Medical Equipment

Rental of wheelchair, hospital bed, and other durable medical equipment.

Home Health Care

Home health care prescribed and supervised by a doctor and provided by a licensed home health care agency. Covered expenses for home health aide services will be limited to 7 visits per week and a lifetime maximum of 365 visits. Benefits for home health care will not extend beyond the term of your plan. Each 8-hour period of home health aide services will be counted as one visit. Private duty registered nurse services will be limited to a lifetime maximum of 1,000 hours. Intermittent private duty registered nurse visits are not to exceed 4 hours each and are limited to $75 per visit (2 hours per visit are applied toward the lifetime maximum of registered nursing). No benefits payable for respite care, custodial care, or educational care.

Hospital Services

Daily hospital room and board at most common semiprivate rate; eligible expenses for an intensive care unit; inpatient use of an operating, treatment, or recovery room; outpatient use of an operating, treatment, or recovery room for surgery; services and supplies, including drugs and medicines, which are routinely provided in the hospital to persons for use only while they are inpatients; emergency treatment of an injury or illness. Covered expenses for use of the emergency room are subject to a copayment of $250 for each emergency room visit. Hospital does not include a nursing or convalescent home or an extended care facility.

Medical Supplies

Dressings and other necessary medical supplies. Cost and administration of an anesthetic or oxygen.

Newborn Care

• Routine in-hospital care of a newborn for the first five days or until the mother is released which ever occurs first.
• Pregnancy not covered, except for complications.

Outpatient Surgery Physician Fees

• Professional fees of doctors, medical practitioners, and surgeons.
• Assistant surgeon fee for a doctor, limited to 20% of eligible expenses of the procedure, and 14% of eligible expenses of the procedure for another medical professional acting as an assistant surgeon.

Preventive Care

• Children’s preventive health services for covered children as defined in the certificate.
• Colorectal cancer examinations, prostate-specific antigen testing, and other preventive care as required by your state and specified in the certificate.

Rehabilitation and Extended Care Facility (ECF)

Must begin within 14 days of a 3-day or longer hospital stay for the same illness or injury. Limited to 60 days per policy term for both rehabilitation and ECF expenses. Spine and Back Disorders Benefits for treatment of spine and back disorders limited to $250 per person, per policy term.

Spine and Back Disorders

Benefits for treatment of spine and back disorders limited to $250 per person, per policy term.

Company Information

Pivot Health is not an insurance company. It is a product development and marketing organization — launched in 2016 and now part of Healthcare.com — that designs short term medical plans and has them underwritten by three A-rated carriers: Companion Life Insurance Company, The North River Insurance Company (a Crum & Forster company), and Pan-American Life Insurance Company. Claims and member services are handled by Insurance Benefit Administrators (IBA), formerly Allied National.

That structure is why we put Pivot Health in front of most Arizona short term shoppers. One application gives you access to five different plan families across three carriers, so you are not stuck with a single insurer's idea of what a short term plan should look like.

Up to Three Years of Coverage in Arizona

Arizona is one of the states where Pivot Health can issue a 364-day policy that renews twice, for up to three years (3 x 364 days) of continuous short term coverage. You complete one enrollment and pay one enrollment fee, and from there:

• No new underwriting questions for the second and third coverage periods
• No new pre-existing condition look-back period
• No new enrollment fees
• No gap in coverage — the next policy period starts the day the last one ends
• Core, Classic, Quantum and SureCare plans carry a rate lock across all three periods

Three-year duration is possible because CMS announced on August 7, 2025 that it would not enforce the 2024 federal four-month limit on short term plans, and the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions followed with Regulatory Bulletin 2025-12. Rules like these move around, so call us at 855.847.7020 to confirm what can actually be issued the week you apply.

Pivot Health offers 5 short term plan families, each built for a different situation:

Core “Lite”

Our Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Underwritten by Companion Life. The budget option. You still get preventive and wellness benefits, doctor office copays and a prescription benefit, but hospitalization coverage is capped, which is what keeps the premium low. Uses the First Health Network.
Best for: Price-sensitive shoppers, college students and adults under 25 who mainly need everyday care and a backstop.

Classic

Our Rating: ★★★★☆
Underwritten by Companion Life. The workhorse, and the one most Arizona clients end up in. Four designs — Economy, Choice, Standard and Deluxe — let you dial premium against deductible, and there is open access with no provider network. Preventive and wellness benefits are included, with doctor office copays and prescription drug coverage available depending on the design you pick.
Best for: Most healthy individuals and families without pre-existing conditions who want to choose their own trade-off between price and benefits.

Epic (Base and PPO)

Our Rating: ★★★★☆
Underwritten by The North River Insurance Company. Pays 100% coinsurance once the deductible is met, and the family deductible is only twice the individual — a meaningful difference for a household. Epic Base includes an office visit copay with open access; Epic PPO adds the Cigna network. An accident rider and a prescription copay are available as options.
Best for: Ages 34–50 and families who want the most predictable exposure after the deductible.

SureCare

Our Rating: ★★★★☆
Underwritten by Pan-American Life. The wellness-forward plan. Unlimited $30 doctor and urgent care copays for sickness or injury, a $50 adult wellness exam copay, childhood immunizations covered at 80%, and women's annual OBGYN and mammography screening plus men's prostate cancer screening not subject to the deductible. Open access, no network, and a prescription discount card is included. Carries a rate lock on the 3 x 364.
Best for: Families, women 40 and over, and anyone who actually uses routine and preventive care.

Quantum

Our Rating: ★★★★★
Underwritten by Companion Life. The richest design Pivot sells — the “Cadillac” plan. Cigna PPO network, 100% coinsurance options, preventive and wellness benefits for routine care, and a supplemental accident benefit built in rather than bolted on. Available in copay or high-deductible versions.
Best for: Established self-employed people and early retirees who want the coverage to feel like a real major medical plan.

Plan Comparison

PLAN FAMILY	CORE “LITE”	CLASSIC	EPIC	SURECARE	QUANTUM
Underwritten by	Companion Life	Companion Life	North River	Pan-American Life	Companion Life
Network	First Health Network	Open access — no network	Base: open access PPO: Cigna	Open access — no network	Cigna PPO
Doctor office copay	Yes	Available by design	Yes on Epic Base	Unlimited $30 office and urgent care	Copay or high-deductible versions
Preventive & wellness	Included	Included	Included	Included — $50 adult wellness exam, immunizations at 80%, OBGYN, mammography and PSA screening	Included
Hospitalization	Limited — capped benefits	Subject to deductible and coinsurance	100% coinsurance after deductible	Subject to deductible and coinsurance	100% coinsurance options
Prescription drugs	Rx benefit included	Rx coverage available by design	Optional Rx copay	Prescription discount card	Available by design
Accident benefit	—	—	Optional rider	—	Supplemental accident included
3 x 364 rate lock	Yes	Yes	—	Yes	Yes
Pre-existing conditions	Not covered on any short term plan. See the eligibility section below.

Deductible, coinsurance and coverage period maximum options vary by plan family, by age and by how long you want the policy to run. Run a quote or call 855.847.7020 and we will price the specific combinations that are available to you in Arizona today. Every plan also includes free, unlimited virtual urgent care through Clever Health.

Short term medical is not required to comply with certain federal market requirements for health insurance, principally those in the Affordable Care Act, and it is not minimum essential coverage. Exclusions and limitations apply and vary by carrier and by state. Refer to the plan brochure and certificate for the full outline of benefits.

Open Access — no network restrictions. Most Pivot Health plans have no provider network at all. You choose the doctor or hospital that fits your needs, and there is one benefit level for every provider — no separate in-network and out-of-network math the way a PPO works.

Claims on those plans are paid using reference-based pricing: up to 125% of the Medicare allowable amount for professional services and supplies, and up to 150% of the Medicare allowable amount for facilities. Pivot reports an average discount of about 69%, which is generally better than a negotiated network rate.

Balance bill protection is included on covered services. If a provider sends you an unexpected charge you are not liable for, the plan's claim administrator is authorized to resolve it on your behalf. You do have to tell them about it, so send any surprise bill straight to the number on your ID card.

Network plans are available if you would rather have one:

• Cigna PPO — Quantum plans and Epic PPO plans
• First Health Network — Core “Lite” plans

Members also get care navigation and provider location help through Insurance Benefit Administrators (IBA), the plan administrator, at the number printed on the back of the member ID card.

Pivot Health short term medical is available from age 6 months through 64 years and 11 months. Child-only policies can be written down to 6 months of age. Each applicant has to qualify on the plan's eligibility questions.

Underwriting is simplified and you get an accept or decline decision on the spot. There are no rate-ups, no Social Security number required (you do need to have lived in the U.S. continuously for the 4 months before you apply), no tobacco question, and no height requirement — weight only, under 300 lbs for men and under 250 lbs for women.

Short term plans do not cover pre-existing conditions. If you have been diagnosed with or treated for a significant condition, a short term plan is probably the wrong tool — call us at 855.847.7020 and we will look at ACA options with you instead.

Company Information

National General’s Short Term Medical insurance gives you a plan to face those unpredictable moments in life with confidence. It provides the financial protection you need from unexpected medical bills and other health care expenses, including:

• Doctor visits and some preventive care
• Emergency room and ambulance coverage
• Urgent care benefits, and more

National General Health Insurance Feature Highlights

• Coverage Period Maximum of $250,000 and $1,000,000
• Deductible options of $1,000, $2,500, or $5,000
• Coinsurance Percentage of In-Network plan 100/0, 80/20 and 50/50
• Doctor Office Visit and Urgent Care Co-pay of $50
• Access to Aetna's National Open Access PPO Network

Standard Issue Plans

Deductible*	Coinsurance	Out-Of-Pocket Max	Coverage Period Max
$1,000	50% / 50%	$2,500	$250,000
	80% / 20%	$1,500	$1,000,000
$2,500	50% / 50%	$2,500	$250,000
	80% / 20%	$1,500	$1,000,000
	100%	$0	$1,000,000
$5,000	50% / 50%	$3,750	$250,000
	80% / 20%	$2,000	$1,000,000
	100%	$0	$1,000,000
$10,000	100%	$0	$1,000,000
$25,000	100%	$0	$1,000,000

* Per-person deductible and out-of-pocket amounts are capped at 3x the individual amounts for a family greater than three. This means that when three insured family members satisfy their individual deductibles and out-of-pocket amounts, the remaining individual deductibles and out-of-pocket amounts will be deemed as satisfied for the remainder of the coverage term. Short Term Medical plans do not cover costs associated with pre-existing conditions.

Choose Your Provider

National General’s Short Term Medical insurance gives you access to the Aetna Open Choice PPO network, one of the largest networks in the country with no referral required.

Aetna PPO Provider Finder

How Short Term Coverage Compares on Networks and Price

Networks. Arizona's ACA plans lean heavily on narrow HMO networks, and many pay nothing at all outside them. Short term plans generally go the other way. National General's plans run on the Aetna Open Choice PPO, and most of the Pivot Health plans above are open access with no network whatsoever — one benefit level for every provider, and no separate out-of-network math. Either way, check that your own doctors and hospital work with the plan before you enroll, because a broad network is not the same as every provider.

Price. Short term premiums are usually well below the unsubsidized cost of an ACA plan, and the gap is widest for younger applicants in good health. That comparison only holds if you do not qualify for a premium subsidy. Subsidies can pull an ACA premium below any short term plan, and sometimes to nothing at all, so find out where you land before you decide. Call us at 855.847.7020 and we will price both sides for your household rather than guess.

The real trade-off is pre-existing conditions. Short term plans do not cover them. Carriers look back over a set period before your effective date — often several years — and exclude anything diagnosed or treated in that window, sometimes for the entire first policy period. The exact look-back and exclusion language differs by carrier, so read the certificate. If you have a condition you need covered now, an ACA plan is the right answer, and we will help you find one.

Affordable Care Act plans typically have broader benefits than found in Short Term health insurance and, without the premium subsidies available to some qualified purchasers, cost much more than Short Term plans.

All health plans that fit in the Affordable Care Act must have "10 Essential Health Benefits." Short Term health insurance plans, in comparison, do not have a standardized set of benefits. Short Term plans usually offer what would be described as "major medical coverage" that covers healthcare costs in the event of serious medical issues. Most Short Term plans also cover normal doctor visits for routine illnesses and injuries.

Considering the prevalence of ACA insurance plans with narrow networks, consumers should heavily research plans before enrolling to ensure that they are not putting themselves at risk for high out-of-network costs.

For those needing broad provider access, short term insurance can be a good option. Most of the short term plans we sell are open access, meaning there is no network at all and one benefit level for every provider, so you are not exposed to separate out-of-network cost sharing. Plans built on the Cigna or First Health networks are available if you would rather have a negotiated network.

The chart below details some of the major benefit differences between Short Term health insurance plans and Affordable Care Act plans. It is important to note that Affordable Care Act plans do not deny care for pre-existing conditions nor do they reject applicants based on health problems.

	Short Term Health Insurance Plans	Affordable Care Act Plans
Coverage availability	Apply any time and get coverage as early as the next day	Apply only during Open Enrollment (or Special Enrollment due to a qualifying event) and get coverage in 2-6 weeks
Coverage duration	Varies by state. In Arizona a policy can currently be written for up to 364 days and renewed twice, for up to 36 months of continuous coverage. Most plans can be cancelled at any time, usually with a prorated refund.	As long as the plan is available. You can change plans during Open Enrollment (or Special Enrollment with a qualifying event)
Prescription drug coverage	Depends on the plan. Some short term plans include only a prescription discount card, while others — including several Pivot Health designs — offer real generic and brand copays, sometimes behind a separate prescription drug deductible. Specialty drugs, and drugs tied to a pre-existing condition, are typically not covered.	Minimum of 1 drug per class must be covered but the minimum number of drugs per class is often more due to the benchmark chosen for each particular state.
Maternity and newborn care	Complications of maternity are covered but not standard childbirth services.	Full coverage. Applicants cannot be denied based on pregnancy as a precondition.
Mental health services	Coverage is included only when mandated at state level.	Coverage included, but states vary on their definition of “mental health” services, so while some do include learning disabilities or conditions like Autism, other states do not.
Substance use disorder services	Coverage is included only when mandated at state level.	All ACA plans have full coverage.
Rehabilitative and habilitative services	Coverage is included only when mandated at state level.	All ACA plans have full coverage.
Preventive care	Varies widely by carrier. Older short term plans excluded preventive care almost entirely. Current Pivot Health plans include preventive and wellness benefits on every plan design, though which screenings are covered, and at what level, differs by plan.	Preventative services must be provided without cost-sharing (cf.https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-benefits)
Pediatric services - oral and dental care	Coverage is included only when mandated at state level.	All ACA plans have full coverage.
Healthcare provider networks	Short Term plans typically have broad acceptance among healthcare providers. Some have a preferred network with negotiated pricing for healthcare services and a larger non-preferred network where the plans pay 'usual and customary' fees for covered healthcare.	These plans have been noted for a significant use of "narrow networks" to increase the ratio of enrollees to healthcare providers.
Coverage of pre-existing conditions	These plans evaluate health status and pre-existing conditions when processing an insurance application and determine whether the applicant is approved or rejected for coverage.	These plans do not consider health status or pre-existing conditions when processing an insurance application.

No. Short-term health insurance is a streamlined insurance plan. While it includes many benefits, it does not cover all 10 of the essential health benefits that the Affordable Care Act plans are required to cover. For example, in most cases, short-term health insurance will not include maternity care, and where mental health or substance use benefits are offered at all they are capped at a set dollar amount and a set number of visits.

In addition, short-term health insurance involves an application. Depending on your health status, your application may be declined or your pre-existing condition may be excluded. Obamacare guarantees that all applicants and their pre-existing conditions will be covered, no matter what your health status.

You can apply at any time. There is no fixed open enrollment period. On arizonahealthagents.com, you can submit your application and, if approved, your insurance can be effective within as little as 24 hours.

Within the first ten days of the effective date of your plan, you can cancel and will receive a full refund. For cancellation beyond the ten days, you simply email or call the insurance company with your reason for cancelling. If you cancel before your policy period is over, in most cases you will be given a prorated refund based on the unused benefit.

Within the last 5 years if you have been diagnosed, treated, or taken medication for any of the following conditions, short term health insurance cannot be issued: Cancer or tumor, stroke, heart disease including heart attack, chest pain or had heart surgery, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) or emphysema, Crohn's disease, liver disorder, degenerative disc disease, rheumatoid arthritis, kidney disorder, diabetes, degenerative joint disease of the knee, alcohol abuse or chemical dependency, or any neurological disorder; HIV or AIDS; or if you are now pregnant or in the process of adoption.

If you are looking for insurance to cover your pre-existing conditions, we can refer you to an agent who can help you find a health insurance plan that to cover these conditions:

 

• For ACA/Obamacare Plans: 855.847.7020