Health Insurance While Traveling

2 parent questions ▼
Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Parent Q&A

Select any title to view the full question and replies.

  • Out of state travel and medical insurance

    –
    Jul 15, 2022

    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

    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…

    Jul 20, 2022

    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?

    Jul 20, 2022

    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! 

    Jul 20, 2022

    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…

    Jul 20, 2022

    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. 

    Jul 20, 2022

    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. 

    Jul 20, 2022

    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

    Jul 20, 2022

  • Health Insurance when travelling

    –
    Aug 8, 2018

    Now that I'm getting to be a senior citizen, I'm curious as to what folks do about health insurance when they travel outside the US. I know Kaiser will cover any emergency and perhaps urgent care situation, but what is the best way to be 100% covered in case something bad were to happen? Do you purchase short-term insurance? What are good policies? Are there companies you can recommend? Are there any brokers you would recommend? How much coverage is enough? Do you opt for something that also includes med-evac in case you are seriously injured or ill and want to be treated at home? 

    I also have a child who will be aging off my plan in a year. However, she is also married and living abroad. As a US citizen does she still need to have a health care plan? Would having one protect her from being disqualified at a later date for a pre-existing condition if she were to have a lapse in coverage? Would it be a good idea to have double coverage (in the US as well as her home country) so that when she travels home she is protected in case of an emergency? 

    I would love to hear what others have to say on this complex topic.

    Thanks.

    Aug 8, 2018

    Getting travel insurance is cheap and easy and definitely worth the peace of mind. If you just want the health coverage, Allianz has a plan that is very inexpensive (like $50 or so) and gives you $250k of emergency transportation and $50k of health expenses, as well as other benefits: https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/find-a-plan/onetrip-emergency-me…

    I've used their other plans where they cover trip interruption, and did have to make a claim and they were very responsive and quick about paying out for my delayed luggage and the costs I incurred as a result (i.e. buying new clothes to work in!).

    Aug 15, 2018

    This is what travel insurance is for... but you want to make sure the policy provides primary coverage. If it only has secondary coverage, you'll have to submit first to Kaiser, then send any "rejection of claims" to the company providing the travel insurance. A good company that I have used extensively is Travelex. It provides primary coverage while overseas. Just purchase a policy with at least $1 per person of cancellation protection (but might as well make it $500 per person, as the premium would be exactly the same). A Travelex Select policy provides $50,000 per person in emergency medical expenses, $500 in emergency dental coverage, and $500,000 in medical evacuation to the nearest qualified hospital.

    You would purchase one policy for each trip you take outside the country.

    If you want medical evacuation that will take you to the hospital of your choice, look into MedJet Assist. (Note that MedJet does not include health insurance).

    You can purchase either policy online, or your travel agent can do it for you.

    Aug 15, 2018

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Health insurance while traveling in SE Asia

Jan 2005

Has anyone used supplementary insurance plans while travelling in SouthEast Asia? I am looking into health insurance and also supplementary air evacuation insurance. The latter would be for a sitution where someone is hospitalized and can get appropriate care abroad but would want to be flown back to the U.S. (so as to avoid a family member having to travel there). ''Worried Mom''

Check out Travel Insurance Services http://www.travelinsure.com/index.htm?32701 I started using them for travel to South Asia in the 1980's. They were always responsive and efficient, so I continued to use them, most recently in 2002. Because of how easy it was to set up, I stopped camparison shopping after the first few trips, so I'm not sure how they rank these days by value. More importantly, I never had to file a claim, so I have no idea how they are on that end. lisa

We signed up at http://www.medexassist.com/ppcindividual.cfm when we travelled to Russia. Fortunately we did not need/use it, but I called their customer service for some questions, and they were extremely helpful. Safe travels! Steff

I can heartily recommend Anthony Freeman in Richmond as a reliable and honest health (and other) insurance broker. He may be able to help you with health insurance as he has for me. 510- 235-0353 X17 (at M.A. Hays and Associates). Also, there is a plan for scuba divers, called Diver's Alert, which is an insurance plan that will transport one to decompression chambers as well as home by air if there are scuba and perhaps other travel injuries. It is on the internet and I don't think that you necessarily have to be a scuba diver. The proceeds help to fund decompression chambers and training all over the world as well. Jay