If you’re looking to purchase a visitor health insurance plan for yourself or for relatives overseas, you may be overwhelmed with the multitude of options available. The key to choosing the best visitor insurance plan is to consider desired coverage, benefits, and other factors such as the traveler’s age, trip destination, and length of stay. Once you decide upon exactly what you want in a plan, finding the right visitor insurance policy will become easier.
What Are Visitor Health Insurance Plans?
A U.S. visitor medical insurance policy will offer coverage in the event that the policyholder needs to seek necessary medical care for an unforeseen injury or illness that occurs during one’s travels. Visitor health insurance plans are short-term policies designed to protect foreigners from incurring major medical expenses while visiting the U.S.
Paying a smaller fee upfront for comprehensive medical coverage can save you from facing thousands of dollars in medical bills if you're injured or become ill unexpectedly. Travel medical insurance, or visitors insurance, is especially important when visiting a country like the United States where medical care costs are very expensive.
Is Visitors Insurance a Good Investment?
When you purchase a visitor insurance plan, of course you are hoping that you won’t have to use it - if you do, this means you become ill or injured during your travels, which is not a desired scenario. However, in the event that you do have to seek medical care on your trip, you can have peace of mind knowing that you invested in visitor insurance and will be covered for eligible expenses, preventing a huge financial burden.
Visitors insurance offers protection in the event of the unexpected. While all travelers expect that their trip will go smoothly, having a safety net just in case is worth the money, especially considering the potential hundreds or thousands of dollars in medical bills you could be faced with if you receive care uninsured while abroad.
How to Find the Right Visitors Insurance Plan
While there is no such thing as the perfect travel insurance plan, with the right knowledge, you can select a policy that best fits your individual needs. Additionally, there are often options for additional waivers or add-on benefits to plans that can help tailor policies more specifically to your travels.
Here are some helpful tips on how to find the right visitors insurance plan.
Think About Your Budget
As you begin to make a decision on a visitor insurance plan, consider your budget. This will be important when it comes to choosing a plan, as prices will vary depending on a number of factors including coverage, policy maximums, deductibles, the traveler’s age, and length of your trip. While it may be tempting to go for the cheapest visitor insurance plan, these plans can be riskier as they are usually limited coverage plans that offer very limited predefined coverage per treatment. A higher investment usually means you’ll be better protected.
Age and Health of Traveler
A person who is older may be more limited in available visitor insurance plans, so be sure to check age eligibility when selecting a plan. Additionally, those who are in poor health or are concerned about pre-existing conditions may want to consider a plan that offers limited pre-existing condition coverage or coverage for the acute onset of pre-existing conditions.
Policy Maximums and Deductibles
When choosing a plan, you’ll also have to consider policy maximums and deductibles. A higher policy maximum may mean a higher premium, however, you’ll be very securely covered. Deductibles are important too, because the lower deductible, the higher your premium may be. However, you’ll pay less out-of-pocket costs when receiving medical care.
Look for Desired Benefits
If there is a specific benefit that you are looking for, such as coverage for pre-existing conditions or emergency medical evacuation, this should also be considered when selecting a plan as each policy’s benefits offered will vary.
Best Medical Insurance for Visitors to USA
The best medical insurance plan for visitors to the USA will ultimately depend upon the policyholder, the destination country, and the travel plans, amongst other factors. However, there are a few plans below that we recommend for visitors to the USA that offer adequate medical coverage and desired benefits when traveling abroad.
Purchase From a Reputable Source
Finally, you'll want to purchase your visitors travel insurance from an insurance company or travel insurance comparison site you can trust.
At VisitorsCoverage, we only offer top-rated travel insurance plans from reputable insurance companies. We give travelers like you a way to easily research, compare and purchase travel insurance online. If you have any questions or need help deciding on a plan, our customer success team is happy to help.
