When you start researching visitors medical insurance plans for your relatives or friends visiting USA, or any other country, then you encounter many insurance terms that are commonly used by the travel medical insurance industry. For many, there terms may sound very confusing at the onset, but spending a few minutes to better understand these in simple English would help navigate and find the best suited visitors health insurance for them.
Deductible: The plan deductible is the amount you pay upfront towards the medical bills and other included charges before the insurance company pays you back anything. Usually you can get higher deductible to keep premiums lower. Most common deductibles for people purchasing visitors insurance for their parents are $250 or $500, but you also have the option of selecting zero deductible or a high deductible such as $1000 or $2500 also. Make sure you understand the deductible is not the same as co-pay, and it is accumatled over the plan coverage duration before the policy starts reimburseing.
Co-insurance: Most travel medical insurance plans have co-insurance, which is usually in the ratio of 80:20 or 90:10. This co-insurance means that insurance company will pay 80% and you pay 20% for incurred plan costs beyond the deductible. There is usually a maximum ceiling amount for co-insurance, which is usually the first $5K in costs beyond the deuctible. Beyond this, the comprehensive visitor insurance plan usually pays upto the plan maximum.
Pre-existing conditions: Most visitors insurance do not cover pre-existing conditions. Certain visitor insurance plans will cover only Acute onset of pre-existing conditions which means that if there is a sudden reoccurrence of symptoms or disease that you already had and was treated in home country. Remember that you will be covered for a maximum amount that is usually much less than total coverage benefit of the visitors insurance plan, if you buy a policy for $100K coverage, your coverage for Acute onset of pre-existing conditions might be $15K only. Visitor insurance pre-existing conditions is based on the physicians report ordered by the insurance company when the claim is submitted and is got from the doctor who treated the visitor in the host country, so no medical check-up or proof of past medical records is necessary to purchase a visitor insurance policy.