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1
WILL YOUR
HEALTH
INSURANCE GO
WITH YOUR
WHEN YOU
TRAVEL THIS
SUMMER?
BY BETSY D. CHANDLER
WWW.MICINSURANCE.COM
PRO F ESSI O NA LI SM | EXPERTI SE| PERSO N A L SERVI CE
The answer to this question is completely dependent on what health insurance you have. For those of you under age 65
covered by an employer sponsored plan, keep in mind that H.M.O’s do not have out of network coverage, but may offer
emergency care benefits when traveling. PPO plans offer more options by providing access to in network and out of network providers. Some plans still have a combined deductible between in and out of network services, but more and
more we are seeing separate deductibles. If you have an out of network deductible of $5,000 for example, and see an
out of network provider while traveling, chances are pretty good you will be paying the whole bill yourself even though
you have coverage. Do call your carrier to check on the coverage under your specific plan, for the area you will be visiting.
If you are on Medicare, keep in mind that Medicare will cover you no matter where you are inside the United States. If
you have a Medicare Supplement, it will also cover any expense no matter where the service was received while you were
inside the United States, and received care by a Medicare Provider. If you travel outside the United States, Medicare will
not pay any expenses. If you have a Medicare Supplement, depending on which plan you have, you may have $50,000
lifetime benefits for emergency care outside the US.
For those of you who have elected a Medicare Advantage plan in lieu of traditional Medicare, do check with your specific
plan. Most offer emergency care benefits, but these plans are geographically tied. If you are visiting relatives in a different state and simply need non-emergency medical care you may have trouble getting the claim paid, or simply have no
coverage. Some Medicare Advantage plans offer a “guest pass” if you will be staying in another location where that plan
has coverage. Aetna, for example, has the Travel Advantage Program whereby you can receive the same benefits as at
home, when you travel to any plan approved service area and use a doctor or hospital in the Aetna Medicare network.
Be sure to call the carrier before leaving town, to determine how the coverage will work and if you need to register for
this benefit while away.
Should you determine that your health insurance will not cover you when you go traveling this summer, there are options. First, check with your credit card if you carry a high end credit card. Some offer travel insurance as a value added
benefit. If yours does, check the limitations and caps. Our office has seen policies with benefits limited to $50 a day or
extensive as $200,000 per trip. Be sure any trip insurance you are receiving as a value added service provides both trip
cancellation insurance and medical coverage while traveling.
2
WILL YOUR
HEALTH
INSURANCE GO
WITH YOUR
WHEN YOU
TRAVEL THIS
SUMMER?
BY BETSY D. CHANDLER
WWW.MICINSURANCE.COM
PRO F ESSI O NA LI SM | EXPERTI SE| PERSO N A L SERVI CE
If your credit card does not offer travel insurance, and your medical plan may leave you at the state border, consider
travel insurance. Travel insurance is relatively inexpensive inasmuch as it is designed to cover you for that specific trip.
The premiums are calculated by a number of factors, including age, how long you will be away, and the cost of the trip for
the trip cancelation portion of the protection. With many of us under age 65 now having high deductible health insurance plans, or H.S.A plans that require a family deductible to be satisfied before benefits are payable, a few bucks into a
travel insurance plan could well protect against thousands of dollars in deductible.
For example, Travel Guard offers a MedEvac Per Trip Plan, that provides $50,000 in medical coverage, $1,000 for baggage
and personal effects loss, and $100,000 for Security Evacuation. Let’s not even think about that last benefit! One of our
client families would have benefited from this plan on their summer vacation last year. The Mom took a spill off a bicycle
that required a trip to the emergency room. Their H.M.O. plan did cover the emergency room visit as it was deemed
emergency care. However, given that their employer sponsored plan is combined with an H.S.A. (Health Savings Account)
they had to meet the family deductible of $5,000 before any benefits were payable. The emergency room, x-ray, and
physicians bills came to just over $4,000 for this minor spill which resulted in a shoulder injury. For about $35.00 in premium for the Travel Guard plan, these monies, which went towards the deductible on their medical plan, would have
been reimbursed under the Travel Insurance plan. Certainly paying $35 in premium to safe guard against $5,000 in medical deductible would have been a wise investment.
When researching travel insurance, do be sure to consider if you need trip cancellation insurance or just medical coverage. Did you plunk down $50,000 on a high end cruise for example, that you don’t want to lose if you have to cancel the
trip. Or are you driving to your brother in laws cabin in the woods and just need medical protection or medical evacuation? Be sure to read the fine print or ask questions about pre-existing conditions or what is an acceptable reason for
trip cancellation. If you have put down a significant amount of money on airline tickets and renting villa in Tuscany, and 2
days before your departure find you are unable to go, the reason you cannot go will determine whether or not the trip
cancellation insurance will cover these non-refundable expenses. Landing in a hospital with a heart attack may preclude
you from going and trigger benefits. But what if you had planned a destination celebration for Grandpa’s 80th birthday
and Grandpa suddenly can’t go? That doesn’t mean the 6 children and 36 grandchildren who you had paid for couldn’t
go, although they may not want to and it would defeat the point of the trip, benefits would not likely be triggered. Some
plans offer as an additional rider trip cancellation for any reason benefits.
2
WILL YOUR
HEALTH
INSURANCE GO
WITH YOUR
WHEN YOU
TRAVEL THIS
SUMMER?
BY BETSY D. CHANDLER
WWW.MICINSURANCE.COM
PRO F ESSI O NA LI SM | EXPERTI SE| PERSO N A L SERVI CE
Determining what level of coverage your health insurance will offer you while traveling should be part of your preparation. Preferably shortly after you decide where you will be going and not immediately before you hand your luggage to
the airline check-in attendant. For more information on travel insurance see www.travelguard.com or
www.americanexpress.com – then click on travel, and then travel insurance.
Betsy Chandler is a licensed insurance professionals with MIC Insurance Services, a health insurance services company. If you have questions relative
to this column or other related topics , we invite you to call us at (973)-492-2828.