Getting Parents from India

[kalichar]

This is where I stand:

Father: Diabetic, had a by-pass surgery a year ago
Mom: Diabetic. No current known problems.

I need an insurance policy that will cover their expenses should they ever need to get into surgery or equivalent.

It should not be a problem from me to pay upto $10000.00 for medical expenses. However amounts more than that is more than my current financial status would allow.

There is nothing to suggest that my dad needs a second by-pass surgery etc. However, should that be needed would it be covered?

Please suggest a plan etc based of your experiences.

[insubuy]

There is no insurance plan from any company that would cover anything related to heart disease or diabetes for your father, anything related to diabetes for your mother.

Anything related to that will be considered as pre-existing conditions and not covered.


Jagruti
INSUBUY
https://www.insubuy.com
1-866-INSU-BUY x111

[inessiki]

I would not agree

Today's medical insurances are more flexible than just "pre-exisiting condition exclusion".

[insubuy]

We are referring specifically to non-US citizen visitors coming to United States for a short period.

In other words, we are referring to 'Visitors Medical Insurance' plans.

There is no such insurance plan that would cover pre-existing conditions for visitors to US. We are insurance broker and work with most of the companies that provide visitor medical insurance in US. And there is no company that would cover any pre-existing conditions.

If you are aware of any (which I don't think so), please post it here for the benefit of everyone.


Jagruti
INSUBUY
https://www.insubuy.com
1-866-INSU-BUY x111

[mk1980]

Jagruthi, I have a basic question. I know none of the insurance companies cover pre existing conditions. My question here is related to the heart. When I spoke with a couple of insurance companies, they also mentioned that heart related stuff is not covered.

My question: Heart-attack could happen to any body, at any time, of any age. For example, my parent is perfectly healthy and never had any serious medical problem ever. What if she suddenly gets a chest pain and the doctor says it is heart-attack and put her in hospital for 4 days. Will these expenses be covered by the 'comprehensive plans'?

I am not familiar with the heart terminology, but if the doctor suggests a surgery (ex: angioplasty or by-pass surgery or sth else), will they be covered by the 'comprehensive plans'?

Briefly, I would like to know 1) if the emergency room and hospital charges be covered 2) any emergency procedures and surgeries (including by-pass surgery) be covered by the 'comprehensive' plans?

Your reply would be very helpful. Thanks.

[insubuy]

Visitor medical insurance companies do not cover any medical expenses for diseases that manifested, you had symptoms for or were treated in last x number of years. (x may be 3 years, 2 years, 5 years depending upon the company.)

No one can say for sure guaranteed whether some specific thing will be covered or not until the claim is filed. It will be determined by insurance company's claims department based on the exact circumstances, based on the test reports and attending physician report whether something was pre-existing condition or not.

It is possible that the person had high blood pressure and that caused heart attack. High blood pressure would be pre-existing as it is ongoing basis and not sudden after buying insurance.
It is possible that the person got heart attack becuase arteries got blocked because of cholesterol. Now, blocking of arteries due to cholesterol occurs many years and not after buying the policy.
It is possible that the person got heart attack because some other reason.
It is possible that the person got heart attack which is completely new and not related to any pre-existing conditon.

Even most companies have doctors have on staff in claims department who know what they talking about.

Therefore, it can't be determined until the claim is submitted alongwith all the papers.

If the cause is because of pre-existing condition, it will not be paid.

Otherwise, it will be paid according to the policy. In comprehensive coverage
plan, after you pay the deductible, insurance company pays 80% for first $5,000 expense, you pay 20%. After $5,000, it pays 100% up to policy maximum. And those charges will include emergency medical hospitalization, surgery etc.

Another example would be kidney stones. Kidney stones do not get formed overnight or within few weeks. May be the person never had any pain before buying insurance, but let's say, 2 weeks after the insurance is effective, person gets abdomen pain and it is diagnosed that this person has kidney stones and need surgery. Now, obviously, the kidney stones did not form in 2 weeks.

I hope you are getting I am trying to explain.

And by the way, we represent most companies in US that offer visitor medical insurance to visitors. And almost all the plans work like this. And in our experience, all the companies that we work make pretty fair judgement regarding this pre-existing conditions.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to post them here or call us at 1-866-INSU-BUY


Jagruti
INSUBUY
https://www.insubuy.com
1-866-INSU-BUY x111

[mk1980]

Jagruthi,

Thanks for the detailed response. The kidney example you provided is really helpful. I never thought about it. Though it is not really an 'obviously pre-exisiting' condition (which is not visible to human eyes or to the stethscope), it is scary to hear that we will be held responsible for the doctor bills.

I am understanding that all these insurances are mainly for: accidents or injuries happened in USA & flu/fever/cold/cough/wounds/cuts happened in USA. I am not seeing that any insurance would pay for 1) sudden chest pain and a visit to emergency room though there is no "obviously pre-existing" condition 2) dizziness/fainting happened due to high/low blood glucose levels 3) asthma attack to asthma patients etc.

I know that follow-up checkups and medicines for pre-existing conditions (like diabetes, asthma etc) will not be covered. But, I originally thought that any emergency, whatsoever, will be covered. When a parent complains of a chest pain (or heart pain), we can't start researching why/how it would have happened. We will right away take him/her to the emergency. But, the doctor might as well say it as a "false chest pain" and nothing to worry. But, they may charge $1000 to $3000 for the emergency room visit to confirm that it is a 'false pain'. Do the insurance companies not even cover these expenses?

Even if the comprehensive insurance doesn't cover the above things, why not go for a 'fixed coverage'? What do you all think? What is the chance that an accident/injury/wound could happen to a parent during the 4-6months stay with us - may be 1% or less. Then why pay for the comprehensive coverage?

"Innocence is bliss" - I was better off when my mom visited us 4 yrs ago when I did not know about any of these insurance rules. I took a fixed coverage and luckily no emergency situation arised. Now, after reading all these message boards, I am more worried to call our parents.

Jagruti, your input will be very helpful to me and others who read this post. Thanks.

[insubuy]

Even if you can't see with eyes or feel with stethoscope, pre-existing condition is pre-existing condition.

Any emergency because of pre-existing conditions is not covered.

I (or anyone else) can't really comment just based on the information supplied by users on this forum whether something would be considered pre-existing condition or not. It would take insurance company's claims department much more than to actually determine it.

Insurance is for future protection. And once you need that, how much you are covered is different in comprehensive vs. fixed.

Agreed that probability of something happening totally new is quite low. That is exactly how insurance company can afford to give you $50,000 or more for such low premium. If probability is high and everyone starts claiming, insurance company can't pay anything. After all, they are paying from the money they collect in terms of premiums, as well as keeping in mind their expenses, commissions, and profits.

And unfortunately, that is the best option any visitor to US has available. And anyone has to choose only from options available.

Jagruti
INSUBUY
https://www.insubuy.com
1-866-INSU-BUY x111

[kalichar]

My mother in law is visiting in February and I have not yet purchased insurance.

My biggest dilemma is the working of this pre-existing condition problem. If a person is diabetic, many diseases can be connected to it and work as a pre-existing condition, one way or another. In this case what really is the use of the insurance as everything will somehow be attributed to diabetes?

If finally all the insurance will cover is thing like "Broken hand", "Flu", "Knife cut" etc, it might be worth taking a risk by avoiding insurance totally. Odds of it happing might be rare, and if it did, $10000 just might be affordable in my case.

I am not worried about the preminum that is required. However, I cannot gurantee that my MIL will not have a heart attack tomorrow due cholestrol blockage that started sometime ago. If the company will not cover cases like this, what is the point in purchasing the same?

In short what is exactly covered and what does not fall under pre-existing condition is what I am looking for. Any help on this would be greately appreciated. I need to be convinced that I need to get insurance for my MIL. Please assist.

[insubuy]

It is possible that many things can be linked to diabetes. And that is a proven medical fact. It is difficult to decide in advance what exactly is going to happen. Claim adjuster needs to look at everything in order to determine whether it is pre-existing condition or not.

Insurance is for future protection. And insurance company will pay for any new sickness, disease, accident or injury that may occur after insurance is effective.

When you are listing those things, you have omitted accidents. In a severe accident, expenses can be several hundred thousand dollars.
Also, it still possible to get new sicknesses and get covered for that.

If someone gets a heart attack because of the conditions that manifested long back before insurance was effective, that may be excluded as well. But all this really depends and is unique case for everyone. No one can for sure until the claim is actually submitted.

This is the best option any visitor has to purchase insurance. There is no other better option.

If you have any other questions, please post them here or call us at 1-866-INSU-BUY and we would be glad to help you.


Jagruti
INSUBUY
https://www.insubuy.com
1-866-INSU-BUY x111