Medical care is very expensive in USA. We will not be able to bare expenses on our own. That is the reason every one visiting USA should have health insurance. Visitor’s medical insurance is a short term medical insurance which may cover from 0days up to 3years. Plan generally covers all doctor’s visit payments, in and out patient charges, hospital room charges, surgery, any lab work like blood test, x-ray and other medical related expenses, occurred after the date of plan purchased date. Please check the benefits before you purchase any plan. Please note, these insurance plans never cover the pre-existing conditions.
You may think what kind of insurance should we buy, if you are your parents or in-laws visiting USA first time. Some people buy insurance from India itself, which is low cost. I heard its going to cost around Rs. 8,000/- per head for the period of 4 months. Ex: United. Will add Indian insurance company names later. And there are many insurance companies offer health insurance coverage in USA. The main difference between Indian and USA insurance policies is, with Indian insurance company you may need to pay from your pocket and the claim when you back in India where as with USA Insurance policies you will pay minimum (also called deductible or co-pay) and remaining up to agreed amount will be paid by insurance company
Beware that some of the doctors may not accept Indian insurance policy. You may not even able to visit them. This is the reason I prefer buying insurance policy from USA companies to avoid hassles of claiming after I am back in India
What are the types of Insurance coverage in USA:
There are two types of plans in USA. Fixed and Comprehensive
Fixed coverage plan:
Fixed insurance plan is much cheaper than comprehensive coverage plans. In such type of insurance plans, you have to first pay the deductible (can be once per incident or per the period of policy), then insurance company pays a set maximum amount for every procedure such as $55 for doctor's office visit, $1400/day for hospital room charges, $3300 for surgery treatment, and etc… The balance should be paid by you.
$50,000 or $100,000 policy maximum is the overall limit for total of all the scheduled benefits,
Prices are so attractive, than comprehensive plans, but please be sure that your expectations will meet, before you purchase this plan. Very careful before you buy this plan because they pay the fixed amount for each procedure.
There are two well known providers for the fixed coverage plans.
1. IMG (Plan Name: Visitors Care)
2. SRI (Plan Name: INBOUND USA)
Comprehensive coverage plan:
This type of insurance is expensive than fixed plan, almost double the premium, but provides much better coverage than fixed coverage plan. In such type of insurance plans, you have to first pay the deductible (can be once per incident or per the period of policy), then insurance company pays 80% for the first $5000 and you pay remaining 20%. After $5000, insurance will pay 100% up to a policy maximum for eligible medical expenses.
In some plans, you will have to pay 20% of first $5000 once in policy period and in some plans you will have to pay 20% of first $5000 for every incident.
Please read the brochure of each plan carefully for more details. Click here to compare all the plans and read brochures and/or “Schedule of benefits” before you make any purchase.
Recommendations: GO for INBOUND USA for fixed plan and LIAISON for comprehensive plan.
