Out of state travel and medical insurance
We have Kaiser and are considering traveling to see family for the first time in 3 years. They are in a state that doesn’t have Kaiser and the nearest hospital is 40 miles away. We are wondering how to navigate if we get Covid during our trip. I think Kaiser wants you to pay out of pocket and then ask for reimbursement and they will only cover emergency care. It would be helpful to hear from people who have dealt with Kaiser while raveling domestically. I was wondering if there is a domestic travel medical insurance — I couldn’t find any. Thank you!
Jul 15, 2022
Parent Replies
We have Kaiser and had to take our infant daughter to Urgent Care in a small Minnesota town when she had croup and needed breathing treatments. I feel like at the time we paid the bill (it was several hundred dollars) and Kaiser reimbursed us. It wasn't a difficult process. https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/content/dam/kporg/acaa/get-care/em…
I am currently out of California and in a state with no Kaiser. A family member tested positive for COVID. We had a virtual appointment with a doctor that same day and they sent a prescription to a local pharmacy, no problem. I am not sure what would happen if we needed to go to an ER, but Kaiser told us to call back if we saw any specific symptoms or signs and I assume would give us directions then?
Hi Su,
I work at Kaiser and the good news is they entered into a partnership with Cigna in the spring so that KP members have access to Cigna doctors for urgent care when traveling/visiting non-Kaiser areas. Essentially, you should be able to go to any urgent or emergency care that takes Cigna and not have to worry about submitting claims or anything like that. Hopefully there’s an urgent care of some sort closer to where you’re staying and I’d expect that take Cigna since it’s such a large insurance ptovider.
Here’s an article on that and you can always call Kaiser’s Member Services to get more detail. https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/kaiser-permanente-cigna-evernorth-d…
Hope that helps!
Kaiser will launch a new feature in August that will give members who are away from home access to Cigna’s national network of physicians and providers. For more detail check out this Kaiser link:
https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/our-story/news/announcements/getting…
Kaiser must cover urgent and emergency care elsewhere. I have not had a problem getting reimbursed promptly for each. I suggest that if you need medical treatment you contact the number on your KP card to alert them in advance. You can also get KP medical advice in advance of seeing someone out of network so it’s “on the record” as well as being possibly helpful. Urgent care can be a swelling worrisome bee sting, UTI, something that needs attention before you are home again. Covid symptoms may qualify especially if someone is quite sick or in a vulnerable category that would benefit from antivirals. CYA and call the KP number if possible. Don’t worry about getting reimbursed. You can appeal to KP if denied and then to the CA Dept of Managed Health Care. Neither I nor my family members have been denied reimbursement from KP for treatment in other states.
They will cover expenses related to emergency care and hospitalization (if needed) should you have a medical event while traveling outside of the KP regions. You do not need prior approval, but you do need to notify them when possible. If you are in a KP region, you can still seek emergency care at the nearest hospital if not KP, but they will ask you to be transferred to a KP facility once medically stable.
I happen to work for Kaiser Permanente and am aware of new information about accessing care while you're traveling through the Cigna health care network. Here is a link to a media announcement with some detail, but you should be able to get more information by calling Member Services: https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/our-story/news/announcements/getting-care-while-traveling-is-about-to-get-a-lot-easier