when individuals and families are underinsured they may have to take on debt to pay deductibles and medical bills they may postpone needed care avoiding seeing a doctor when they re sick skipping a test or treatment recommended by a doctor not seeing a specialist or not filling a prescription because of the cost 
a person is considered underinsured if their out of pocket healthcare expenses are equal to or exceed 10 of their annual income 5 is they are considered low income or if their health plan deductible is more than 5 of their annual income according to the commonwealth fund roughly one quarter of americans with employer sponsored health insurance were underinsured in 2020 6choosing a health insurance plan often involves striking a balance between lower monthly premium levels which often mean higher deductibles and higher co pays and more comprehensive coverage this applies to choices in healthcare plans offered by an employer plans selected at healthcare gov and medicaid gov medicare supplement medigap policies and medicare part d prescription drug coverage in a lower premium bronze plan at healthcare gov for example you are responsible for 40 of your covered healthcare costs and the insurer pays about 60 in the highest premium platinum plans you pay 10 and the insurer pays 90 of your covered healthcare costs 7short term health plans were traditionally marketed to people who experience temporary gaps in coverage these plans are less costly than the lowest level plans at healthcare gov and can deny or restrict coverage for preexisting conditions in 2017 the trump administration changed the regulations so that anyone can sign up for a short term plan and expanded the length of time that these plans could be renewed 8short term health plans are not required to cover the package of 10 essential health benefits found in the aca 9 many of these plans don t cover maternity care or in many cases substance abuse treatment outpatient prescription drugs or mental health services people in short term healthcare plans are more likely to have coverage gaps when services are covered cost sharing may be very high for example a may 2020 study by the commonwealth fund calculated out of pocket costs for covid 19 patients who had short term plans in georgia louisiana and ohio for patients with a moderate case of the virus patient costs ranged from 14 600 to 17 750 for a severe case of covid patient costs ranged from 28 600 to 35 000 10