Health insurance for visitors

by C. Ray Sondeo

Visitor Health insurance or medical insurance is an essential requirement that must be fulfilled before you undertake an international trip. You need to think about your health first, as nowadays travel has become a risky venture.

You cannot predict if anything fatal is going to happen to you once you step out from the house. You can surely not predict what will happen in another country if you plan to travel there.

Visitor medical insurance is a short-term health insurance policy that covers you for any illness or accident during travel or during your visit overseas.

Lack of coverage in a foreign land would leave you in a vulnerable position in the event of a medical emergency, which is financially, emotionally as well as physically agonizing.

Traveling with a visitor health insurance is a smart thing to do. Be a knowledgeable traveler so that you can better protect yourself as well as your family by means of proper insurance coverage.

Most Visitor health insurance plans are designed for individuals and families who are currently residing in the particular country and seek comprehensive major medical coverage.

The coverage options provided by the visitors insurance include dental, prescribed drugs, pregnancy, and vision and child birth benefits. The policies maximum limits can approximately go up to $8 million.

If a person plans on living in a particular country for more than a year then he or she will require the same kind of coverage that the natives require. The health protection taken under such circumstances has the desired benefits that can aid the person in his stay in the country.

Green Card, H1, H4, F1 & F2 visa holders as well US residents can qualify for these plans. Eg. various types of policies offered in the USA - Fortis Assurant, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, etc.

There are various types of US visitor medical insurance plans available including HMO (Health Management Organization) & PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plans. US visitor insurance plans can offer coverage for pre-existing conditions if you have records of prior laudable coverage. Preceding respectable coverage incluedes employer’s group plan or another individual plan.

Health care in many parts of the world is poor or non-existent. The advantages of taking up this type of visitors insurance plan are:

* Being the client of an insurance company enables you to receive greater savings due to the agreements entered between the insurance agency or the insurance company and the wide network of doctors and hospitals. These doctors and hospitals reduce their fees which is then passed on to the insured.

* Individuals also enjoy a tax cut; this is so because the premiums to the agencies are deducted as source to the account of the agency thereby reducing their taxable income.

* The health care subscriber usually finds out that his own primary health care provider is a member of a similar network.

Some disadvantages of taking up visitor insurance are:

* Although the visitors insurance subscriber can use the services of the physician of his or her choice, he or she is still liable to pay the larger portion of the bill if the doctor he visits isn’t a member of the visitor health insurance plan.

* Insurance companies create inefficiencies in the health care system.

* There are a lot of delays and mistakes in the health care delivery due to the several steps involved in the insurance payment process.

Even though there are so many pros and cons to insurance, it is still lucrative to subscribe to the visitors insurance plan.

About the Author:

C. Ray Sondeo is an expert on medical insurance for visitors. Get quotes, read our FAQs, and learn more about visitor health insurance on our website.