Medical Insurance Abroad

I'm going to Australia again. Yes again! This time for just a week.

As I'm making travel arrangements I've decided it might be a good idea to get medical insurance for abroad. (Keeping in mind I said medical and not travel). The first time I went insurance was mandatory (though in retrospect I didn't even look into the details of the plan,; I just bought it because I had to). The second time around it didn't even cross my mind. But because recently (as in a year ago) I had to cancel travel plans due to a broken hip I thought it would be a good idea to invest in some insurance. Unfortunately I didn't proactively begin searching for it until way after I bought my airlines ticket. It was then I discovered most (as in all) travel insurance requires purchase of the insurance within a certain time frame IF you want pre-existing condition covered. This means, if you want the insurance to cover you at all pretty much (because I'm sure when you file a claim they will try to find a way why your illness abroad is related to your pre-existing condition), you have to buy the insurance before or quite quickly after you've purchased your most expensive travel expense (i.e. plane ticket or hotel). By the time I began looking into plans the window had passed. I called many places and looked at many travel insurance websites and they all said the same thing, "No." But I am a persistent kind of person. I don't take 'no' for an answer. I am a strong believer in "Where there is a will there is a way." And therefore I continue spending hours searching online for hope.

Eventually I began just looking at resources for those with disabilities who want to travel. I stumbled across this article from MIUSA: http://www.miusa.org/ncde/tipsheets/insurance. I followed that link to: https://www.insuremytrip.com/index.html

There I did a search of prices and plans. I found a plan with HM Life Insurance Company and the plan is called TravelGap Excursion. If you are anything like me, I was very skeptical. It sounded too good to be true given that all other plans said, "no." This insurance plan will cover you when you are abroad IF you already have insurance in the USA. It will cover you if you have pre-existing condition as long as it is not pregnancy or a mental illness (or elective medical assistance). It will ONLY cover medical. Therefore, if I do need to cancel my trip, for any reason, I will not receive refunds on airline tickets or hotel. As much as that sucks, I was much more concern about possible health issues abroad and not wanting to pay thousands of dollars in medical bills.

So my advice to you, buy travel insurance before airline and/or hotel or other travel expenses. Then you don't have to worry like I did. BUT if you have already purchased travel expenses and your concern is medical abroad, check out TravelGap Excursion plan. The other plans listed at insuremytrip.com were like the other plans I had saw about pre-existing conditions. You can call insuremytrip.com and speak to someone to get your questions answered. I began reading the policy and got confused. I was able to speak to a representative with insuremytrip.com and she answered all my questions. She was patient and not annoyed that I asked her the same question multiple times. It was the skeptic in me who couldn't believe it would only cost $15. The HM Life Insurance company and insuremytrip.com are both BBB certified. I read reviews from BBB on insuremytrip.com and there were two complaints filed with BBB on them but there was also one customer review which was very positive. It reflected my experience with insuremytrip.com thus far.

However, the skeptic in me is still hesitant. I plan on reading through the 17 pages on the plan. I'll report back if I see red flags. AND hopefully I don't have to test out how good the insurance is when I'm aboard!

I hope you find this information useful. As always, please feel free to contact me via email if you have questions amanda.parkman@gmail.com and I will try to answer your questions as best as I can.

Updated: I read through the 17 pages of the 'Certificate of Coverage' and everything seems to be on the up and up. I was a bit confused about the use of "0 months" under pre-existing clause but I called the Customer Service number for HTH Worldwide Insurance Services and spoke to a representative and he assured me, that there was no pre-existing conditions limitations what-so-ever on the plan.

One red flag though: Those with Medicare might run into some issues. I would recommend talking to a representative about their exception in the 'Certificate of Coverage' about those with Medicare.

Important points about the insurance:

1. Its medical not travel

2. You need to have insurance in the US

3. Will not cover mental or pregnancy medical treatment (unless the pregnancy medical treatment needed is unexpected/emergency).

And as already stated if traveling abroad and you have a pre-existing condition (and even those who don't!) I strongly recommend getting insurance and purchasing it before your travel expenses i.e. airline tickets, hotel, etc.