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Are You Prepared for an Emergency While Travelling Abroad?

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As you plan your next trip abroad make sure you know your health insurance coverage. You’ll need to do some research on your health plan if you don’t already know how it works. Fidelity Investments gives you a head start on what you need to know:

Call your health insurance company

The first step is to contact your health insurance company to verify whether your emergency medical coverage extends outside the U.S. Contact the customer service department and ask these kinds of questions:

  • If I get sick or injured abroad, will my policy cover me?
  • Does my insurance cover pre-existing conditions abroad?
  • Will I have to pay health expenses abroad out-of-pocket and then file a claim for reimbursement?

“In most cases, you’ll get some coverage for care needed to treat an emergency, but you’ll have to pay out-of-pocket and then submit for reimbursement after you return home,” says Lisa Zamosky, author of “Healthcare, Insurance, and You: The Savvy Consumer’s Guide.”

Zamosky says insurers can and do define things differently from one another and health plans offered by the same insurer often include different benefits. You always want to make sure you understand the specifics of what your particular health plan covers, including exclusions and the definition of emergency — because it may be different than your own.

“Generally speaking, insurers define a medical emergency as one in which a reasonable layperson believes their health would be in real jeopardy without immediate medical attention — think heart attack or a serious accident,” Zamosky says.

And while most big private insurance companies do offer some type of coverage abroad, coinsurance, deductibles and other plan requirements would still apply.

Original Medicare won’t help you

Those with Original Medicare only will generally not be covered outside the U.S., although additional coverage is available. (One exception: in some cases, Medicare will cover necessary care if you are on board a ship within the territorial waters of the U.S.)

“That’s a reason why they want to get a Medigap plan. In some cases, a Medicare Advantage plan [which is different from Medigap plans] may cover urgent or emergency care outside the U.S. Medigap plans C, D, F, G, M and N will cover 80% of the cost of care outside the U.S. during the first two months of a trip,” says Lindsay Engle, a marketing specialist with Elite Insurance Partners, an insurance broker that specializes in Medicare.

What if you need to be evacuated?

Travelers should also consider emergency evacuation insurance. Such a policy prevents you from getting stuck with a whopping bill if you suffer a heart attack abroad, for instance, and need to be transported home or to another hospital. These types of evacuations are expensive and can run $100,000 or more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Although many health insurance companies will pay “customary and reasonable” hospital costs abroad, very few will pay for your medical evacuation back to the U.S., according to the U.S. State Department.

Read more here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com