TRAVEL INSURANCE FOR USA VISITORS

INTODUCTION

If you are travelling to the United States of America, you will need USA travel insurance for visitors. This is not minding the fact that you may not be spending a long time. Similarly, one of the important components of the travelling insurance to the USA travels health insurance. This is because it is not possible to make prediction predict the possibility or otherwise of falling sick or encountering any accidents in the course of the journey. Health insurance for visitors to USA goes a long way to minimize the ever expensive cost of assessing medical care in the USA.

However, if you are embarking on travel to the US not for a long period of time, there is no requirement of the law that you will have health insurance. But due to the high cost health care in the USA, it is highly advisable that visitors to the USA buy travel health insurance plan to cover for eventualities. The cost is high to the extent that only a consultation with a Medic in the USA may cost you hundreds of dollars. This is same with even engaging an ambulance which can cost you thousands of dollars without medical treatment and other hospital bills. Therefore, if you do not have health insurance, you will have to pay for all of the medical expenses out of your own pocket.

Consequently, if you are travelling to the USA and staying for longer periods of time like six months or more, there is need to check the traditional/conventional USA health insurance options.

WHAT TRAVEL HEALTH INSURANCE FOR USA VISITORS COVERS

In most cases, all USA health insurance policy for visitors covers the following; Doctor’s visit, hospital accommodation, costs of drugs and medicine, costs of surgeries, emergency services, such as ambulance services and the ER, bills for laboratory tests as well as X-rays and physical therapies. However, maternity services, dental care, accidental deaths and dismemberments, as well as any pre-existing conditions do not enjoy coverage. It is noteworthy that among the first things all visitors to the USA have to prepare for when planning is travel health insurance and the easiest way to purchase same online. You can make comparison from quotes from insurance companies through Comparison marketplaces such as Insubuy which allows you to readily compare various plans online from the convenience of your home.

How to Purchase USA Travel Insurance for Visitors

The best approach to purchasing USA travel insurance for visitors, you have to do your thorough checks and research so as to find out the plan that best suits your insurance needs. To do this, you have to compare different plans from different insurers and carefully read through the terms of the policy to see the level or amount of coverage.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN BUYING USA TRAVEL HEALTH INSURANCE FOR VISITORS

In making the choice of what your best health insurance plan is, you have to keep in mind the following core factors:

Limit of your health insurance plan (Insurable limit)

As the name suggests, this accounts for the highest sum for which your insurance policy will be able to pay out for a specific medical treatment and or for hospitalization. It decides how much of the medical bill your insurance company will pay and the one you have to pay out of your own pocket. In USA, there are health insurance policies with different levels of coverage which may range from thousands to millions of dollars. It represents the highest amount of money the insurance company will pay for your medical expenses. And usually, these policies with the highest level of coverage come with the highest amount of premiums.

Similarly, it is advisable that you should not buy cheap travel health insurance even if you are healthy. This is because a cheap health insurance package cannot adequately cater for all your medical bills if you dare fall sick while on the trip.

Jurisdiction to buy your health insurance 

This is where you purchase your USA travel health insurance plan for visitors. Although some visitors may want to purchase a health insurance plans from a company in their home country sometimes, however, purchasing your USA travel health insurance in the US is the easier for you. This is because it is easier to process your claims while in the US. On the contrary, if you buy in your home country, you will need to first pay out of your own pocket before you will now apply for reimbursement from your insurance company.

TYPES OF USA TRAVEL HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS FOR VISITORS AVAILABLE

The types of USA health insurance plan for visitors available is had with regards to the level of coverage it provides. To this end, there are two types of USA travel health insurance plans for visitors:

1. Plans with a fixed coverage
2. And plans with comprehensive coverage

PLANS WITH FIXED COVERAGE

With this type of insurance plan, the insurance company pays a fixed amount of money out of your medical bills even if the amount is lesser than the amount of the medical procedure. Here, there is usually a low policy maximum of pay out but much easier to purchase. Also, you will also have to pay a deductible each time you get sick or sustain injury.

PLANS WITH COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE

This is the type of plan where the insurance company undertakes to pay a certain percentage of the cost f your medical expenses up to a certain amount as per the terms of the insurance policy. This type is more expensive, deductible is payable once and they have a higher policy maximum.  For avoidance of doubt, the deductible here is the amount of money you will to pay out of your own pocket for your medical bill before the health insurance company steps in to provide coverage. For instance, if your deductible $1,000 you will have to pay it before your insurer comes in.

In a similar vein, the policy maximum represents the highest amount of money that the travel health insurance company will pay for your medical services or expenses. The type of plan you purchase will determine the policy maximum. And the higher the policy maximum, the higher the premiums payable.

DETERMINANTS FOR THE COST

The price of a USA travel health insurance plan will depend on these three main factors;

The type and amount of coverage you want.

Comprehensive coverage plans are usually more expensive than the fixed coverage. Also, there are plans which cover more medical procedures and/or emergencies with some even taking effect from the very first day you get to the USA while others provide you with coverage while you are travelling. It therefore suffices to say that the more the coverage you desire, the more the cost you will have to pay for it.

The duration of the plan

This means the level of time the plan is to endure.  The cost price of health insurance will change depending on the duration the coverage will last. Therefore, a month coverage period will be cheaper than two months coverage duration.

The age of the policyholder

The price of all travel health insurance plans for a younger person will surely not be same with a senior citizen. The Late will have to pay more for the same amount of coverage than a younger person.