During his Major League Baseball career, Larry Burchart neverthrew a knuckleball in a game. But he certainly saw a number ofthem from the bullpen. “If I weren't a pitcher I would have feltsorry for some of those hitters,” he says. “They would get soconfused by the movement on the ball sometimes they'd walk back tothe dugout shaking their heads.”

Temporary medical insurance, often called short-term medical orSTM, likely leaves many insurance producers feeling the same way.Changes to products, carriers exiting the market, and the impact ofthe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have made STM achallenging environment for carriers, distributors and producers.There still is a large and growing need for STM even in light ofthe changes in the marketplace, and producers looking for revenuegrowth would be wise to consider giving STM another look.

A lead source

As part of the federal stimulus, Congress passed the AmericanRecovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in part to subsidize COBRAhealth insurance continuation coverage rates for workersinvoluntarily terminated prior to the end of May 2010. AARA allowedfor a 65 percent COBRA subsidy for up to 15 months, as long as theperson was not eligible under another group health plan orMedicare. As a result of ARRA, many people who may have recentlybeen candidates for STM coverage opted to use COBRA continuationcoverage under their prior employer's health plan instead.

With the ARRA subsidies fading away, those employees, theirspouses and their dependent children facing loss of coverage undertheir employer-sponsored health plan might find the cost of COBRAcontinuation prohibitive. According to the Kaiser Commission onMedicaid and the Uninsured, the average cost for COBRA is $429 permonth for single coverage, which could put it out of range for many people losing their jobs. STM policies, on the otherhand, can cost as little as $60 per month.