USA visitors holiday insurance

BrushlessBob

I was hoping to go to America in October and before booking wanted to make sure I could get holiday health insurance. I am 73 and recently had a bowel blockage, probably brought on by catching Covid. I got quotes from 3 UK companies and they were all upwards of £800 for the single trip. As that would be too expensive I checked to see if I could get USA health insurance as a visitor. What I found was a number of American companies offering similar travel insurance and even including one existing condition. I got a quote for both myself and my wife for just over $200. My wife asked what the catch was as something that appears too good to be true usually is! Has anyone had any experience of the American visitors travel/health insurance? Are they too good to be true or a good money saving prospect?

bagand96

I've never heard of such a policy, but I imagine any health policy purchased in the USA would not include things like cancellation cover for the holiday or repatriation to the UK? 

I guess you could purchase a UK travel insurance policy excluding your pre-existing condition, then purchase the US policy to cover it.

I still think there'd be gaps in your cover though (such as cancellation if your bowel condition caused issues again?) That might be a risk you're prepared to take, but a good read of the T&Cs for both policies would be in order so you understand exactly what you are and are not covered for. 

Brie

Hard to tell from here how legit the companies in the US are or how easy it would be to claim as likely no one on MSE has any experience with them.   Personally I'd want something a little more standard myself.  

sheramber

How much medical cover is provided?  healthcare in US is very expensive. 
 How much do you have to pay towards the costs./Does the policy have a deductIble amount?
Does it have an upper limit?

Apart from cover for the events  before you arrive in US as mentioned above

Will the policy cover one person having to stay on if the other is in hospital/ unable to travel home at the end of the holiday?
Getting you home if medical escort needed, extra seat if one  needed that extra space due to e.g a broken leg?

We heard of a woman who took ill  in US and was diagnosed with Cancer. She was receiving treatment i( had been in hospital for several months) n US paid for by her UK  travel insurance .

Cover to repatriate if a death occurs.

You may think 'that won't happen', but that is what travel insurance is all about.- cover for the unexpected.

BrushlessBob

I found the information on visitorguard.com.
It would be great if someone else has used one of these companies or can shed more light on it.

DullGreyGuy

BrushlessBob said:

I was hoping to go to America in October and before booking wanted to make sure I could get holiday health insurance. I am 73 and recently had a bowel blockage, probably brought on by catching Covid. I got quotes from 3 UK companies and they were all upwards of £800 for the single trip. As that would be too expensive I checked to see if I could get USA health insurance as a visitor. What I found was a number of American companies offering similar travel insurance and even including one existing condition. I got a quote for both myself and my wife for just over $200. My wife asked what the catch was as something that appears too good to be true usually is! Has anyone had any experience of the American visitors travel/health insurance? Are they too good to be true or a good money saving prospect?

You just need to ensure you know exactly what it does and doesn't cover

The ones I saw, just randomly picking a couple from the web, all only cover $50k or $100k which given US costs is very small and most UK Travel policies are offering £5m or higher limits (or unlimited).

Google cost of medical conditions and you get plenty of horror stories... a heart attack costing $164,000. The person in that story had insurance... but was taken to a hospital not covered by their insurer so the insurer only paid $56k leaving the person with a bill for $108,000

Brie

looking at visitorguard there seems to be a upper limit of $250k or $500k which as others suggest may not be enough to pay for everything.  do the UK policies you looked at do better than this??

Archergirl

You need cancellation cover in case you need to cancel and repatriation if the worst happens....
Stay sure is popular with older holiday makers