There are still contracts that you need to sign when buying private health policies. The contracts contain the agreements between you and the insurance company, and the provisions of the policy. But it is usually not required to finish the duration of such policies. You can easily cancel or terminate them even if you only used a month or a few months of the agreed duration of healthcare coverage. People often buy private health policies if they are in-between jobs. Once they start on their new job, people often terminate their coverage when they become qualified for their company health plans. Be careful, however, because insurance companies are also strict when it comes to paying for medical services during the duration of your private health policy. There are instances when people just buy health insurance to cover the cost of epected and epensive medical procedures. After the insurance company pays for this procedure, the policy holder cancels or terminates the plan. In such cases, you may be required to provide medical records to the insurer. The insurer then cross checks these records with the medical history you stated in your application. If they found out you lied, they might invalidate your private health policy. You may eventually end up paying for the epensive medical procedure in the end. In the same manner, if you are not truthful about your medical history, or any other information in your application, then you might be reported to the Medical Information Bureau (MIB). You might end up not being covered by any other health policy in the future. It might be best if you buy health policies before you need them, rather than buying them just to pay for specific medical procedures. Consider also if the payment for the procedure is cheaper if you pay for it yourself rather than having an insurance company cover it. Answer by DrMarkC -- June 16, 2009 @3:36 pm