Visitor Medical Insurance queries

[ninakarra]

Hello

I am visiting USA for 22 days between Sept 10th and October 1st. I was contemplating buying a policy from ICICI Lombard but after reading the horror stories on this site, I'd like to explore buying a policy in the US. My questions are:

1. I am a 30 year old woman. At the age of 5 and at the age of 20 I had 2 isolated incidents of seizures. I am continuing medication for the same but have had no episodes ever since the last one and lead a completely normal life. Is this a pre-existing condition? If any such episodes occur in the US, will it be covered?

2. Which is the best policy you would recommend for me taking into account age and number of days of travel?

3. Do I need to take any medical tests?

4. Can my sister buy the policy for me? She lives in New York.

5. What is PPO network? Please explain.

6. Which is better...fixed or comprehensive?

7. What is meant by "deductible"?

Thanks

Nina K.

[insubuy]

1. Most likely, it will be considered as pre-existing condition and not covered.

2. Protection America available at https://www.insubuy.com/patriot-amer...e/brochure.jsp

To understand why, please read https://www.insubuy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25333

3. No.

4. Sure.

5. PPO = Preferred Providers Organization. For all PPO plans, there is a list of providers (doctors, hospitals etc.) that participate in the insurance.

When you go to the providers in that network, they would generally bill the insurance company directly and also charge you the network negotiated fee which is typically lower than their regular fee.

e.g., Protection America participates in First Health PPO which has over 475,000 doctors and over 4,500 hospitals in the network. And that is the largest PPO network among all the visitors medical insurance plans, making it most widely accepted and recognized insurance.

6. Comprehensive.

7. Deductible is the amount you have to pay one time first before insurance company will start paying anything at all.
e.g. if you buy Protection America with $50,000 policy maximum and $250 deductible, if you get sick, first you have to $250. Then insurance company pays 80% for first $5,000 in eligible medical expenses and then they will cover 100% up to $50,000.

[ninakarra]

Thanks for your prompt reply. Some more questions:

1. I went thru Protection America/IMG plan as you suggested. Is ProtectionAmerica the name of the plan? What is Passport Protection Plus?

2. If I ask my sister in the US to apply online, how long would it take for the Insurance card, policy etc to reach her by ordinary mail NOT express mail (it says express mail has an extra charge)

3. If the policy is lying with my sister in US, does it still cover me while I am travelling from India to the US? When should policy coverage start and end - I am departing Sept 10th from India and arrving back in India Oct 1st.

4. Since I am travelling only for 22 days, can i pay Daily Premium * 22 days or do I have to take for 1 month minimum ( in this case, USD 64 premium for Maximum benefit of USD 50,000)

Thanks again

Nina K.

[insubuy]

1. Passport Protection Plus is the official name of the product. It has 2 parts:
Protection America: Non-US citizens traveling abroad.
Protection Internationa: US citizens traveling outside US.

2. 3 to 5 days.

3. You will still be covered from the effective date you mention. You will receive the ePolicy in the email instantly which you can print. It is same as what is sent in the email.

If you would like to cover during the travel time as well, you should put the effective date one day in advance as the insurance is effective as per US time and not India time. i.e., Sep 9.

4. Daily * 22
(Or 23 to cover travel time)

[ninakarra]

Hi,

1. I went thru the application process online but when I tried entering the Effective date as Sept 9th (1 day prior to travel - Sept 10th), I got a message saying that the Effective date could only be on or after the Date of travel. Why?

2. Also - on the Mailing address question - should I put my sisters mailing address in the US? Should i put her name and email address? Or mine?

Thanks for clarifying

Nina K.

[insubuy]

1. Put travel date also as 9th.

2. Put sister's US address. Put her name in the mailing address. You can put yours or her email address.