A short-term plan or even going without insurance in between jobs for 3 months?

I shall leave my current employer on Jun 30 (also the day my coverage ends) and the insurance from my new employer would only kick in on Oct 1. So me and my family will be without health insurance for three months. I've done some research over the internet and it seems that if you really want some serious protection, COBRA or one from the Marketplace on healthcare.gov are the best. However, they both are not cheap.

Just by searching for 'health insurance' on google, I could find some short-term insurances with quite affordable premiums (without any deductibles and which seem to also cover quite a bit). I know that these short-term ones do have loopholes and are not comprehensive, but how reliable are these short-term insurances after all?

I am also aware of the fact that COBRA enrollment is 'retroactive', so that if I found that I had to have COBRA, I could choose to enroll even after serious medical events happened as long as it's within 60 days (that's my understanding). So I wouldn't even need to rely on the short-term plans too much (at least for the first two month), but I am just curious.

I also have another question: If for three months, I didn't have an insurance satisfying 'the minimum requirement by the affordable care act (ACA)' (say, I chose a short-term plan or even went without insurance), what will the impact be on my tax reporting?

Any info is appreciated.

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submitted by /u/waytofall916
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