Saturday, September 13, 2008

Visitor Insurance for Health

By C. Ray Sondeo


Visitor health insurance or visitor medical insurance is a pre-requisite to starting your trip. You need to think about your health first which is under peril in today's world.

It becomes impossible for you to predict anything dangerous happening to you once you are out of the house, let alone knowing that will take place in another country or city.

Visitor medical insurance is a short-term health insurance policy that covers you for any illness or accident during travel or during your visit overseas.

The lack of coverage on foreign land can leave physically and financially vulnerable in the event of a medical emergency. The experience can at once be traumatizing and agonizing.

Traveling with a visitor health insurance is a smart thing to do. Be a knowledgeable traveler so that you can better protect yourself as well as your family by means of proper insurance coverage.

Most Visitor health insurance plans are designed for individuals and families who are currently residing in the particular country and seek comprehensive major medical coverage.

Visitor insurance policy maximum limits can go up to $ 8 million and the coverage options may include prescriptions drugs, dental, vision, pregnancy and child birth benefits.

If one wants to reside in a particular country for more than a year and would want to avail the same benefits of health protection as the residents of that country, this plan offers the desired benefits.

These plans are available for the native resident citizens, H1, H4, F1, F2 visas and Green Card holders. Various policies are offered by companies like Fortis Assurant, Blue Cross and Blue Shield etc.

There are various types of US visitor medical insurance plans available including HMO (Health Management Organization) & PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) plans. US visitor insurance plans can offer coverage for pre-existing conditions if you have records of prior laudable coverage. Preceding respectable coverage incluedes employer's group plan or another individual plan.

The health care facilities in some of the countries in many parts of the world are either poor or non-existent. The advantages of taking up a type of visitors insurance plan are as follows.

* Because you are a client, you can enjoy optimum savings because of such an agreement that is done between insurance company or insurance agency and the extensive network of hospitals and doctors. The fees of doctors are reduced which visitor insurance is then passed on to the insured.

* Individuals also enjoy tax cuts because of premiums to the agencies are deducted as source to the account of the agency hence, reducing their taxable income.

* The health care subscriber usually finds out that his own primary health care provider is a member of a similar network.

Some disadvantages of taking up visitor insurance are:

* Although a visitors insurance subscriber can use the services of any physician of his choice, he still is liable to pay a larger portion of the bill if he chooses to visit a doctor of his choice who is not a member of the visitor health insurance plan.

* Insurance companies create inefficiencies in the health care system.

* There is a great room for mistakes and delays in the health care delivery as several steps are involved in insurance payment process.

Even though there are so many pros and cons to insurance, it is still lucrative to subscribe to the visitors insurance plan.

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