Visitor Medical Insurance – See You in USA!

If you travel on business or you have the vacation, still getting medical insurance for visitors is highly recommended.
Planning the trip to USA is very interesting and of course, the heart of the tourist will be filled with positive emotions. It is of no importance, if you travel on business or you have the vacation, still getting medical insurance for visitors is highly recommended.

Is Medical Insurance for Visitors Obligatory?

Tourists, when they buy the tickets to USA and prepare documents, get the offers from local insurance companies to get the medical policy from them. Sometimes they tell to the future clients, that it is obligatory to have medical insurance in USA. The truth is that it is not obligatory, if you are not the resident of USA and just visit this country for a certain period of time. But it is recommended to be insured as unexpected health problems can happen even to a young healthy person. The uninsured visitor of USA will pay huge bills for medical service from his pocket.

Where to purchase the visitor medical insurance – at home or abroad? If you plan to use it on the territory of America, it is better to get it there too. This kind of a deal will be covered faster.

What option to include in my policy? The details of your trip are important to make the best choice. Do you go to United States for long or plan a short vacation? Are you younger than 50? Do you have any severe chronic illness? When you respond all these questions, you can make the final choice.

Types of Medical Insurance for US Visitors

Every foreigner feels lost, when he comes to USA. Everyone becomes shocked, when everything around becomes new for him. Medical insurance is not exclusion. You may discover that it is much different from that one you have had in your native country. It is advisable to sort out every point of your deal before you sign it and pay for it.

There are two main plans for foreigners in USA. They are fixed coverage plan and comprehensive coverage plan.

1. Fixed Coverage Plan

This insurance plan is much cheaper. But the selection of services that is offered by this plan is not wide.

Many visitors of America choose this plan for its small price. They pay a small deductible once for the whole period the policy is valid. Then they pay a certain small amount monthly or pay for the whole policy in one time – various insurance companies offer different kinds of this deal. Then you are given the insurance card and if you get ill, you visit the doctor and give this card to him.

But you should know that not all the medical bills are covered by this policy. The sum of coverage is defined in advance. Thus you can get $50 for the doctor’s consultation, $300 for medication, $500 for one week stay in a hospital. This sum is not enough to cover the bills, the rest is paid by you. It is very hard to calculate, what percent of a medical bill is paid by the insurer, and what is paid by the policyholder. But this insurance plan is not enough in most cases – it is the opinion of many tourists, who have bought it and got ill on the territory of United States.

2. Comprehensive Coverage Plan

Getting this plan is more expensive, than the previous one, but it is much more recommended. Like in the previous case, the terms of this deal depend on the insurance company, which you have selected. There’s a slight difference in some options, but the main idea of the plan is the following. The visitor purchases the policy for a year (or a shorter period of time). Then he pays the set sum of the deductible. After that he makes monthly payments – or pays the whole sum once – and gets the card.

If the guest of the country becomes sick, he visits the doctor. He can choose the health care provider himself or visit the certain specialist, which is defined by insurance company. Then he gets the bill. If the amount there is less than $5,000, the insurance company pays 80% of this bill and you pay the rest. If the sum is higher, you will be compensated 100% of it.

Of course, different insurers have some variations and that’s why that border amount, after which 100% of the medical bill is covered, can be different. But the main idea is clear.

As usual, in the insurance plans for visitors of USA emergency evacuation is included. It is good, if you care in advance about the injury coverage – as no one is guaranteed from traumas.

The period of validity of the insurance deal plays the main part as the price of the policy depends on it. If you don’t know exactly, how long you will stay in USA, you should get the policy that can be extended. If the expiry date of your policy is close, and you plan to stay in America more, you should prolong the validity period of your policy.

If you hesitate, what insurance plan to choose, we recommend you to buy the second one. The coverage of the first plan is so low, that you can go bust, paying those huge medical bills.

How to Purchase?

So, you have made up your mind to get the insurance plan from some American insurer. But how can you do it?
It is possible to contact any insurance company, when you have already come to USA. But we advise you to do it online. Visit different sites, which offer free insurance quotes, and compare the insurance companies, that offer policies for visitors. When you have chosen the insurance dealer, you have to contact them online and discuss your deal. Most of reliable insurance companies have online support 24/7. After you have discussed the deal and have made up your final decision, you should make the payment. It is possible to do it online with your debit card. The insurance policy becomes valid the next day after your first premium. So the visitors, who have thought in advance about their insurance policy, are protected by their insurance service provider from the first steps in USA.

Getting medical insurance is highly recommended for the visitors of USA, but it is not compulsory. It is very fast to make the deal of this kind, as not many documents are necessary. But still your name, your date of birth and your passport or driving license are demanded.

Even if you are a healthy person and never get ill on vacation, the long trip to another country is not an easy thing. The climate in USA, its cuisine and cultural stress – even positive one – that foreigners usually face to, when they travel far from their native country, can cause various health problems. It is a good idea to get some extra protection and get health insurance for visitors.