Travelers Health insurance

[Bobgrove]

Hello Does anyone know of any Health Insurance company that will give you coverage while traveling?
Any Help will be appreciated.

[Crasher]

Medicare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield do a great job for us.

[spuds]

Insurance is regulated at the state level. You have to purchase health insurance in the state you are domiciled in, and even then it depends on county.

What someone else might have in a different state and county from you is irrelevant. There is no nationwide health insurance pre-Medicare age.

[Souljourner]

I have purchased insurance when traveling from here:
https://www.insuremytrip.com/

You’ll be given many different carriers to choose from and a rate and coverage comparison, as well as reviews from past customers.


I’ve purchased both trip insurance and travel health insurance through this site when my own medical coverage didn’t cover me while traveling. Never used the medical portion but did use the trip coverage when I encountered an airline strike while traveling overseas. The support I received was seamless.

[TechWriter]

Originally Posted by Bobgrove

Hello Does anyone know of any Health Insurance company that will give you coverage while traveling?

If you are just traveling out of your state once in a while, your current health insurance should cover you. Nevertheless, check with your carrier.

However, if you plan on traveling around permanently (i.e., full timing), then things are different:

• If you are over 65, then you're probably on Medicare. If that's the case, Medicare covers you no matter where you are in the US.
• If you are under 65, then you'll probably have to purchase your own health insurance. The ACA (aka Obamacare) is most likely your best bet because you may get a subsidy to offset your insurance premium cost.

Originally Posted by spuds

Insurance is regulated at the state level. You have to purchase health insurance in the state you are domiciled in, and even then it depends on county.

Not really. For example, the ACA wants you to select health insurance in the place (or places) you most often actually reside.

Originally Posted by spuds

There is no nationwide health insurance pre-Medicare age.

Not true at all. Blue Cross/Blue Shield nationwide ACA plans are available in AK, AL, AR, CA, FL, ND, and WY.

[Gary RVRoamer]

The state vs nationwide thing is a bit confusing. Insurance is approved to be offered/sold at the state level, so a nationwide insurer usually has to tweak the plans they sell a bit in each state to conform to their regs. Blue Cross/BlueShield is a good example of that, with nearly identical policies tailored to each state. But if you resided in New Jersey and bought your healthcare policy there, it can still cover your medical care in PA or TX or CO if the plan offers that. There is nothing in any state insurance regs that prohibits you from getting care while visiting from another state and for your out-of-state insurer paying your medical costs.


The key is the the coverage stated in the policy. Most policies are regional, maybe even down to the city or county level. They nearly all provide for emergency coverage away from the region, but only for a limited time until you can get back "home". But there are policies that provide for coverage anywhere in the USA, typically what is called a nationwide PPO plan. We used a plan like that from United Health Care for years until we turned 65 and changed over to Medicare. Medicare itself is nationwide, but if you add a supplement or substitute a Medicare Advantage plan, then you still need to make sure the coverage for that is not limited to a small region. PPO policies with broad regional or nationwide coverage typically cost more, though.


The same thing applies to your US car insurance. The sale of the policy and its terms of coverage are regulated at the state level, but once the policy is issued it is good for coverage in any state. Most also include any Canadian province, but exclude Mexico.

[glwinger]

Contact the carrier. Most have policies that include travel coverage.
Some are for emergency coverage only, some include total coverage for out of network, some are limited coverage for out of network.

Different copay's and deductibles may apply.

[NXR]

In northern Ohio, Obamacare is horrid. No plan covers you out of the area where you live (all are HMOs and none nationwide or even statewide).

When COVID hit the travel insurance industry got whacked hard so at least one, Allianz, who sells airline plans, came out with travel insurance for health coverage only in the USA. So when we go south for the winter my wife gets one of their plans.

Five months coverage is barely $700 total which is less than one month of Obamacare. It is primary insurance and also covers dental, something Obamacare does not. I think the coverage limit is like $50,000. It does not cover routine stuff like cleanings or physicals, just unexpected stuff, which is all we need.

https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/find-a-plan

Ray

[oatmeal]

Originally Posted by TechWriter

If you are over 65, then you're probably on Medicare. Medicare covers you no matter where you are in the US.

Traditional Medicare covers its enrollees all over the United States. Medicare Advantage plans might or might not; it depends on the particular Medicare Advantage plan.

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer

Medicare itself is nationwide, but if you add a supplement or substitute a Medicare Advantage plan, then you still need to make sure the coverage for that is not limited to a small region.

That's true for a Medicare Advantage plan, but not for a supplement to Traditional Medicare (a/k/a a Medigap policy).

Traditional Medicare pays 80% of provider charges, and the remaining 20% is the enrollee's responsibility. An enrollee can buy a supplement to cover the enrollee's 20% coinsurance. The supplement has no discretion whatsoever regarding paying the 20%: If Medicare approves the charge and pays its 80%, the supplement is automatically on the hook for its 20%; if Medicare doesn't approve the charge and therefore doesn't pay its 80%, the supplement doesn't pay anything, either.

And that's one reason people argue that the amount that Medigap policies are required to spend on claims as opposed to administrative costs should be higher than what is currently mandated: the supplements don't have any employees whose job it is to review claims, which is a BIG part of pre-age-65 health insurance and even Medicare Advantage plans. A supplement's administrative costs should actually be quite low: If Medicare says pay, the supplement cuts the check. Period.

Originally Posted by NXR

In northern Ohio, Obamacare is horrid. No plan covers you out of the area where you live (all are HMOs and none nationwide or even statewide).

Just to clarify, that's not Obamacare's fault. Insurance companies can offer Obamacare policies that aren't HMOs, and they can offer policies that provide nationwide coverage. Apparently the insurance companies who offer policies on the Obamacare Exchange choose not to do so in northern Ohio, but they do on the Exchange in other areas.

[Gary RVRoamer]

Originally Posted by oatmeal

That's true for a Medicare Advantage plan, but not for a supplement to Traditional Medicare (a/k/a a Medigap policy).

Sorry - poor choice of words. You are 100% right and I did not intend my remark to apply to Medigap supplements. I used supplement in a broader sense, e.g. any additional coverage, such as drug (even including Part D Medicare), vision or dental. Any of those can be limited to certain providers, either by region or brand name, and may or may not offer "out-of-network" coverage.


The point of all this is that travelers need to be very careful about possible coverage restrictions, especially if a policy seems to offer lower rates than competitors.

[UTTransplant]

My husband turned 65 when we lived in Utah, and he has a traditional BC/BS Plan H (I think, not really offered anymore) based in Utah. When I turned 65, we lived in Iowa, and I got a Plan G from BC/BS. There are definitely minor differences between the plans, but both cover us nationwide and even Canada, though the Canadian coverage is limited to $50,000. When I got my coverage, the advisor ran the numbers to see if Kevin should change to an Iowa plan, but the plan was cheaper by a few dollars a month in Utah. We also had a pharmacy plan. The entire thing, Medicare and supplements with great coverage, is still much less than the company-sponsored retiree insurance we had before. And we were the lucky ones who at least had retiree insurance as an option!