US visitors Insurance – FAQ

The minimum coverage period varies from plan to plan, however it is usually 5 days. This information is presented in the 'Plans benefits' column in our Insurance compare engine.

The maximum policy coverage duration varies for different plans. For most plans it is 12 months, although a few are available for shorter times. This information is available in the plan brochures. The different plan brochures can be accessed through our compare visitor insurance tool.

The insurance companies are rated by an independent rating company A.M. Best rating. For all the plans, each insurance company's A.M. Best rating is displayed in our Visitor Travel Insurance compare Please note that we only do business with companies that have an "A-" or better score. This score takes into account the strength of the company as well as how well it treats customers and pays benefits.

A.M. Best's Credit Ratings are independent and objective opinions, not statements of fact. A.M. Best is not an Investment Advisor, does not offer investment advice of any kind, nor does the company or its Ratings Analysts offer any form of structuring or financial advice. A.M. Best's credit opinions are not recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities, or to make any other investment decisions.

The deductible in visitors insurance is the amount that the customer should pay for medical expenses before the insurance company pays anything. If your plan has a $50 deductible, you pay the first $50 of expenses and the insurance company picks up the rest. The higher the deductible, the lower the premium cost and vice versa.

Per injury/sickness deductible
You pay the deductible every time you get a new medical ailment (be it sickness or accident related) before the insurance company pays anything. Inbound USA and Inbound Immigrant from Seven Corners have a deductible per incident.

Per policy period deductible
You pay the deductible only once during the entire policy period, irrespective of how many times you get sick or injured during the policy period.

Per visit deductible or co-pay
You pay a certain amount every time you visit a health care provider (doctor, hospital, laboratory etc.). This amount is usually collected at the time services are received. This type of deductible is not common in short term visitor medical insurance policies.

Annual deductible
You pay the deductible only once in a year irrespective of how many times you get sick or injured during the entire year. These are not common in short term medical insurance policies, but are for global health insurance which generally require you to sign up for an entire year.

The deductible is what the customer has to pay before the insurance company pays anything. The intention of the deductible is to make the customer responsible for the initial payments so as to prevent frivolous claims. It is only after the deductible has been used, does the insurance company start paying.

In the case of the example - If you choose a plan that is per injury/sickness then the deductible has to be satisfied for every new sickness/injury. If you choose a per policy period plan, then the deductible amount needs to be satisfied only once for the entire policy period.

Coming to the $5000 expense, in comprehensive plans there is something called co-insurance applicable which is usually 10 or 20%. This is the amount that the customer has to pay after the deductible has been paid for.This is applicable for the first $5000 of expense after which the insurance company pays 100% of the expense after the deductible. Hope this helps!

The Co insurance refers to the amount that the customer should pay for a given medical expense. This amount is due after the deductible amount is paid which is also the customers responsibility. The Co-insurance is typically a percentage of the bill.

A common type of co-insurance is 80/20 for the first $5000.00 This means the customer has to pay 20% of the bill for the first $5000.00 . The insurance plan will pay the entire amount after $5000.00.

Patriot America is a Comprehensive plan and is a per policy period plan. In this the deductible is paid only once by you for whatever amount you have chosen as the deductible.

There is a 10% co insurance applicable after the deductible to you which needs to be fulfilled during an expense until it reaches the limit of $5000. After this limit the insurance company pays 100% of the expense after the deductible. If you within the PPO network the coinsurance is waived.

Yes. You will have to pay the rest of the deductible during your next expense.

The Beneficiary is the person who receives the Accidental Death & Dismemberment benefit if the Insured dies in an accident or has a limb dismembered while insured under the policy. Typical examples of beneficiaries are the spouse, children or parents of the insured person.

A policy period represents the amount of time you have purchased insurance. In visitor medical insurance, policy periods is a maximum of 12 months long. At the end of the policy period your benefits and deductible will re-set.

UC&R (or Usual, Customary & Reasonable) Charges represent the average or most common amount charged by providers for a particular service, treatment, or supply in the same geographic area. Typically information on rates for procedures is compiled into a data bank and updated periodically.

So when a claim is submitted for a plan with UC&R benefits, the insurance company before making the claim payment reviews the UC&R rate and double checks that hospitals and doctors are not billing excessively for the particular service or procedure. Most well respected plans from Blue Cross, Aetna, Lloyds, Unicare etc. follow the UC&R schedule.

Travelling abroad always involves some risks and one is not sure when one may fall sick or meet with an accident. Since the traveler is in a foreign land, one is unfamiliar with the lay of the land and hence not aware of the location of the nearest health care facility where you are traveling. If there is a medical emergency and one needs to travel out of the current location to a safer location it is called “Evacuation”. There are different types of evacuation namely:

• Medical Evacuation
• Emergency Evacuation
• Political Evacuation
• Emergency Reunion
• Repatriation

• Medical Evacuation: As the name suggests, medical evacuation is when one falls sick or meets with an accident and needs immediate medical treatment that is not available in current location of the traveler. This location could be in an isolated area and the closest medical facility many miles away. As part of Medical evacuation benefit, the travel health insurance plan will cover expenses involved in transporting the traveler to the nearest available medical facility to receive medical care.
• Emergency Evacuation/Natural Disaster: In this category, the travel health insurance plan will cover expenses involved in moving to a safer location when in the event of a natural disaster or environmental hazard. This evacuation may not necessarily cover the medical treatment for sickness or injury and may only evacuate you to the closest place of safety.
• Political Evacuation: In this coverage, if the traveler's life is at risk due to political disputes in a foreign country, then the travel insurance will cover the expenses involved in moving the traveler to a location where the life of the traveler is not in danger.
• Emergency reunion: This type of coverage will handle the cost of accommodation of the family member who will travel with the insured while moving the insured during a medical emergency.
• Repatriation of Remains: In case of death during one’s travel to a foreign country, the mortal remains needs to be sent to the travelers home country. The repatriation of remains benefit will cover the expenses incurred for transporting the remains to the travelers home country.

These are some general terms of coverage offered by most travel health insurance plans. Please refer to specific insurance plan brochures for actual terms and definitions of coverage.

Yes. The plans suggested to you are from the US based Insurance Companies.