Choosing the best travel medical
insurance policy
2 November 2007
Unless they've been living on another planet, travelers over
65 know that Medicare does not cover them while they're traveling
outside the U.S., and Medicare Supplement plans C through
J do provide a limited foreign-travel benefit. Clearly, travelers
who have only Medicare supplement A or B, and those with
no supplement at all, should make sure they have special
travel medical insurance before they leave the U.S.
Moreover, even travelers who do have a supplement plan
C through J—or their own health insurance—often
buy additional travel coverage, for one of several reasons:
They've been forced to pay up front for medical services,
to be recovered only later; they're afraid that the modest
Medicare Supplement benefit (80 percent of emergency medical
treatment costs after a $250 deductible) is insufficient;
or they're concerned because the supplements do not cover
emergency transportation, dental emergencies, and other
health-related contingencies. Whatever the reasons, many
senior travelers are looking to buy medical coverage either
along with other travel insurance or as the main benefit.
Here are my suggestions to those travelers:
Make sure you get a policy that provides primary medical
coverage, not secondary. Primary insurance pays the bills
without regard to any other insurance you might have. Most
primary policies also provide for up-front payments to hospitals,
so you don't have to front the bill and claim reimbursement
later. Secondary policies, on the other hand, pay only what
you can't first recover from other insurance you may already
have.
Get a policy that covers a reasonable amount of emergency
evacuation or repatriation expenses, if necessary, and dental
as well as purely medical events. Many policies I've examined
automatically bundle a good mix of medical, dental, and emergency
transport as a single package, so you don't have to buy those
coverages separately.
Get a policy that covers pre-existing medical conditions.
Many policies, including supplement programs, do not pay
for treatment for conditions you suffered before leaving
home on your trip, even though the conditions were under
control through medication, diet, or other regimen. In my
experience, disputes over pre-existing conditions are one
of the top two complaints people have about travel
insurance.
Rather than face future arguments, it's much easier to get
a policy that waives the exclusion for pre-existing conditions.
Normally, that means you have to buy the policy within a
few days after you make your down payment for the trip, so
it's important for you to start looking for insurance as
soon as you firm up your plans.
If you do have to submit a claim while outside the country,
follow the insurance program's procedures diligently. The
other big problem travelers have is with their insurance
company's refusal to pay for treatment or transportation
they arranged on their own, rather than according to company
procedures. For most cases other than immediate emergencies,
insurance companies require that they preauthorize any treatment
or transport—and they may specify where you should
go to such services. Failure to follow the fine print could
result in a huge bill.
If you need other sorts of travel insurance—notably
trip-cancellation/trip-interruption—your best bet is
to buy it in a bundled policy, combined with the medical.
Buy only as much insurance as you need, and go for the least-expensive,
bare-bones policy, rather than a gold-plated policy with
lots of unimportant extras.
Source : http://www.smartertravel.com |
