Eligibility for buying visitor health insurance after arriving in the US

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Can you purchase travel medical insurance after arriving in the USA? One of the more crucial requirements for international travel is visitor medical insurance since medical expenses in a foreign country can be crippling in countries like the US where cost of healthcare is very expensive. Having sufficient insurance makes your international travel an enjoyable experience taking care of your hard earned money in the event of any unexpected injury or sickness.

While buying visitor health insurance it is important to understand that it has to be bought before arriving in the foreign country. There are many insurance companies who have excellent plans for covering unexpected sickness and injury but they stress that the customers purchase the policy before they arrive in their international destination.

Buying travel insurance early is important to ensure that the travel health insurance is used legitimately for incidents that occur after the insurance has been purchased as opposed to buying travel insurance after one has a specific need of a medical treatment. However there are legitimate instances where travellers are compelled to buy the travel insurance after reaching the destination country. Some of these reasons include the inability to renew an existing travel insurance plan purchased from their home country, or students who finish their school work and are not eligible to buy student insurance, but need health coverage for the Optional Practical Training (OPT) status. It is very important to understand that even without an eligibility timeframe, you cannot buy the insurance after having an medical ailment which needs treatment. Any existing medical ailment before you buy the insurance will be considered as a pre-existing condition, and the coverage will be considered under the Pre-existing condition visitor insurance coverage criterion.

Different insurance providers have different eligibility time limits after reaching the destination country for travellers to buy their travel insurance products. Listed below are the criteria for some popular insurance providers.

The International Medical Group (IMG) offers popular fixed and comprehensive visitor insurance plans for all budgets. They have an eligibility criteria which is inbuilt in their online application. Customers will not be allowed to buy their plan once they have exceeded the eligibility time frame of being in the destination country.

Some of the other companies that do not have arrival time restriction in the US are highlighted below:
TokioMarine HCC (formerly HCCMIS) travel insurance does not have any eligibility time limits to buy their visitor travel insurance plans.

Trawick International is another company that has plans for visitors and they do not have any arrival time restrictions as well. Their comprehensive plans have very good coverage for acute onset of pre-existing condition for even people who are above 70 which makes these plans unique from other comprehensive plans.

Travel Insurance Services has excellent comprehensive plans for Green Card holders and visitors. Their Visit USA Healthcare plan has good sports coverage as well. Their student plans are quite popular as well for their benefits. The plans from this company have a unique advantage where they do not have state restriction in the US where, purchasing of plans while located physically in some states is prohibited although the coverage is still available when purchased in a different unrestricted state in the US.

Global Underwriters is another popular provider and their Diplomat America plan is suitable for visitors as well as US citizens visiting US for brief time. They provide a year coverage with the plan for US citizens visiting US.