What is visitor’s medical insurance?
Visitor medical insurance is a type of short-term travel health insurance policy that visitors to any country purchase to get coverage protection for accidental injury or sickness or illness that occurs during their stay in the host country. Travel medical insurance offers health coverage for relatives or parents visiting USA, or for travel protection to visit any country for any reason, business or personal. This type of private health coverage for visitors is purchased as a short term health plan that provides medical coverage beyond national borders, and only for the duration of travel or stay outside home country.
When should I purchase the insurance?
Medical treatment in the US is very expensive. If there are any pre-existing conditions that require treatment, the full cost of the treatment may become your responsibility. It is advised to purchase the insurance before departing your home country to make sure you will be covered during your travels.
Why buy insurance?
Each year, the United States hosts millions of foreign visitors from all over the world. While the United States healthcare system is recognized as one of the best in the world, potential out-of-pocket expenses that could result from an injury or sickness during your visitor’s visit to the United States could be outrageous. Healthcare costs are different in the United States than any other country around the world. For instance, it cost $42,000 for a four day hospital stay to treat a 12 year-old girl who caught pneumonia on a school trip. The travel insurer also paid for the cost of flying out a member of the family to be with her. This is why foreign national visiting the United States of America require VISITORS medical insurance to protect them and their family!
What types of plans are there?
You can either by limited plans which cover basics and are low-cost or buy comprehensive coverage plans. Comprehensive coverage plans typically offer more benefits than basic plans, and also offer coverage for acute onset of pre-existing conditions.
Choosing the best plan for your visitor
Depending on who is visiting and what activities you’ll be doing, you will need to look at your different options. For example, an elderly person visiting for pleasure trip will need a different cover than a young person visiting for a business conference.
Keep in mind
Many times when buying health insurance, especially for visitors, we tend to look for the cheapest possible option. Your visitors won’t stay in the US that long right, what could possibly go wrong? Or so we tend to think. Keep in mind that the cheapest options will not cover certain procedures or medication. So in the event that a loved one does fall sick, and you would like to upgrade to a wider coverage plan, take note that that new plan will classify the current illness as a pre-existing condition, meaning the insurance will not cover that ailment. It’s therefore better to stick with the initial plan, even if it’s limited.
It is not entirely possible to predict whether a person will fall ill or not, but you can ask the following questions to determine whether it is better they visit or hold off, and you visit them instead. Ask them if they have any pre-existing conditions. Ask if they’ve had a check-up recently and the results of that, and whether or not they are on medication, and how much of it they can bring over with them.
In addition to preexisting conditions, other things not covered by visitors’ insurance is maternity care, childbirth, preventative care (immunizations, regular check-ups, physical exams, etc.), prescription eye exams and glasses, cosmetic procedures, and dental work not related to an accident/emergency.
How do you know which insurance companies are better?
When deciding where to purchase visitors insurance, you should look at things like the Insurance agency’s reputation, their price options, how big their network coverage is, that is which hospitals are supported under the coverage, and customer feedback.
So which insurance companies should I buy from?
There are several companies who offer visitor’s health insurance packages. There are also other plan like Atlas America, Patriot America etc, that does a good job of offering custom plans for foreigners visiting USA. For elderly folks, most plans cover pre-existing conditions, offer emergency services etc. One such plan that goes a really good job of offering a custom plan for elder folks is Choice America Gold.
Atlas America.
Atlas America has a wide option to choose from and covers new immigrants, business travelers, students, short visits, etc. whatever your reason for travel, they have an insurance plan for you. Atlas Travel insurance covers most potential disasters and even offers emergency medical evacuation if the need arises. It covers for lost baggage and has various other packages. They have the largest network of PPO providers and have good admin/customer care support. They also cover partially acute onset of pre-existing condition (only a handful providers cover these). You can choose from a variety of options, on their website at http://www.atlasamericainsurance.com/.
Patriot America
Patriot America provides Visitor medical Insurance for visitors to USA, travelers, tourists, new immigrants, international students, expats. relatives, or parents visiting USA. They have different medical Insurance plans available to meet your specific travel insurance needs and provide up to USD $2,000,000 ($2 million US Dollar) protection benefits of maximum medical coverage limit.
Visit their website for more information at https://www.patriotamericainsurance.net/
Cover America Gold-
This plan was recently launched on December 5th 2017 and has easily become a favorite for the elderly. The reason? It’s gotten rid of all the unnecessary frills that comes with most travel insurance plans and offers just the right features needed for elderly folks. It comes with a great coverage (100% payment after deductible), emergency and urgent care, cheaper co-pay, extensive PPO network, dental and eye urgent care, up to 79 years coverage, acute on-set of pre-existing conditions coverage, amusement park/cruise cover etc. you can look them up at https://www.visitorscoverage.com/coveramerica-gold-insurance/
Choice America
This is short term plan and doesn’t come with unnecessary features that you won’t use. Choice America is a limited coverage travel insurance plan that is primarily built for parents visiting USA. It has features like coverage for common pre-existing conditions even for occurrence during visit.
How much will it cost?
You can expect to spend within the range of $400- $500. Some plans may be way cheaper or more expensive depending on your preferences and the options the company makes available.
