International health insurance
Reader question:
We’ve just started making enough money so that we can seriously think about taking vacations every year. We’re planning the first one now (way ahead of time), and we’re trying to make sure that we do everything right, because we want to travel internationally and we’ve never been out of the country before. What should we plan for with international health insurance?
Mike & Susanne
Great question.
Everybody knows that they should have health insurance at home just in case something happens, and it doesn’t make sense that there are people who don’t think the same for international travel health insurance. It’s much easier to get into trouble when you’re in a place that you’re completely unfamiliar with. What if you end up driving in England? Accidents would be more likely while you’re getting used to their different driving styles. Getting a travel health insurance plan is extremely important, even if you will only be gone for a short amount of time. Here are some tips.
- MEDICAL EVACUATION.
This is one of the most important features for your international health insurance plan to have. If you just stuck with your regular health insurance plan, then you might get at most $1k for medical transportation, which is great at home, considering that an ambulance usually costs around five hundred dollars. However, if you travel outside of the country, one thousand dollars won’t life light you home, so you’ll need a much higher cap for a travel plan.
There are so many cases where Americans will go to a country and get injured or sick, only to arrive at an out of the way local hospital where their needs might not be met. These customers will then have to be transported via helicopter to a hospital more up on Western medicine, and those costs can come up to as much as $50,000–just for the flight!
You might think insurance isn’t necessary when you go on a cruise, but it’s the most important time to get it, especially medical evac coverage. If you’re on a ship, it costs more to get a flight, and the distance will most likely be longer since in most cases you will be being transported back to the states.
- Expect the unexpected.
I think it’s wonderful that the two of you are planning your trip so thoroughly, but there may be one aspect of planning that you’re missing: the possibility of cancellation or delay of your vacation. You might have your insurance, have your bags packed, your tickets paid, your hotel room reserved and everything, only to come down extremely sick the night before you leave. No one wants to go on vacation with a fever, so this can throw all the plans down the drain, especially it comes during that short one week vacation that you only get one time a year.
That’s why you need trip cancellation or interruption insurance. If you get this, then if something comes up so that you don’t get to go on your vacation, the insurance company will pay for any of those tickets, reservations, and so on that you can’t get your money back for. Same goes for if you have to end up coming home early.
- Terrorism.
It’s no fun to think about all of this stuff when you’re planning an exciting trip, but terrorism is becoming more and more prevalent, even in what are considered the safest areas. There have been many acts of terrorism even in Switzerland, where the crime rates are incredibly low. So anywhere you go, there is the possibility, just as there is if you stay at home.
Normally you can get your expenses reimbursed if the U.S. State Department hands out a warning about your destination country due to terrorist activity. You can also usually get your money back if an act of terrorism has been perpetrated in your country or city (depending on the insurance company) of destination within thirty days of your trip.
- Have fun!
The most important thing about your trip is to have a good time. Having international health insurance will make this easier, making you more secure while you’re away from home and able to know that your health is in good hands. Getting with a company that has a twenty four hour customer service line is the best way to keep yourself happy and comfortable with your plan while you are enjoying your trip.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Group health insurance in Lexington
Randall Jackson, Sr., of Lexington, Kentucky, owns a small car repair shop with only three workers other than himself. They work well and hard, but Jackson is unable to give them the one thing that he believes is necessary for an employer to provide for his employees–health insurance. He has worked side by side with these good men and see them go through struggles with their health and that of their families, but as not been able to offer a helping hand because the price of health insurance is so high that he, in his small business, cannot afford to provide it. Not even for just three employees.
This situation is a big one concerning Lexington health insurance. It is required by law that companies with more than fifty employees provide health insurance plan options to its employees, but that leaves smaller companies with fewer employees high and dry. These companies are able to slide under the law without insurance, even if they can afford it, but for the most part small companies in Lexington are unable to provide health insurance coverage to their employees because it is too much cost in addition to the payroll. These small businesses already have enough trouble keeping ahead with a proft. Adding health insurance coverage would diminish that profit by quite a bit.
The state of Kentucky has come up with a solution, though, and although they are only trying it out at the moment, it will probably do a lot of good to help small companies and their employees with health insurance in the future. Called ICARE, which stands for Insurance Coverage Affordability and Relief to Employers, this jump start program is intended for providing small businesses with enough money to insure their employees. Passed by the state legislature in early 2007, the program will provide small businesses with forty dollars per employee, which will go towards their health insurance coverage. This forty dollar per person sum is given for each month, and if a certain employee is high risk or has a pre existing condition, then they are provided with extra for him or her.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
How to shop for catastrophic health insurance
So maybe you have decided that you fit into the right kind of group that catastrophic health insurance will benefit best. You’ve considered your options and also considered the high amount of financial responsibility that catastrophic health insurance requires, and you have also considered the limits of its coverage. After understanding all of that, and making sure that you could have enough money to cover higher deductibles in the incidence of a medical emergency, you’re ready to start shopping for catastrophic health insurance. Here’s what to do.
- Ask how much your medical health insurance premium will cost you, both on a monthly and yearly basis. This is very important to know, because obviously the low monthly premium payment is the main draw that catastrophic health insurance holds.
- Ask how much the deductible will be.This is one of the most important things to ask about, because you need to know if you can afford the deductible if you get catastrophic health insurance,. because otherwise there isn’t a point.
- Do you want a lot of coverage or a little coverage? If you need more extensive medical health insurance coverage, then catastrophic health insurance coverage might not be the best for you, and you should definitely consider what your wants and needs are.
- Do you take any prescriptions? If you do need to pay for a lot of prescription drugs, you might do better with a different health insurance plan, because catastrophic health insurance does not cover drugs, and prescriptions cost quite a bit and the amount can add up if you are paying it all by yourself.
- Do you have enough money to pay for things like check ups on your own? If you don’t, then you need a different type of coverage. Doctor’s visits often cost a lot, and I know that when I was pregnant my doctor charged almost two hundred dollars per fifteen minute check up–which came every one to two weeks. That can add up if you’re paying out of pocket.
- Any pre-existing conditions? If you have one of these, you’re out. Catastrophic health insurance plans don’t take on the risk of people who already have a condition.
- Is it easy to get sick for you? Not every sickness can be covered by an emergency room visit, so you’ll probably need coverage that covers a regular doctor.
- How high up does the lifetime maximum go?
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.