When Australian travelers plan a trip to the USA, securing comprehensive travel insurance is crucial, especially when dealing with pre-existing medical conditions. Pre-existing condition coverage ensures that individuals with ongoing health issues - such as heart conditions, diabetes, or respiratory problems are financially protected in case of an emergency during their trip. However, standard travel insurance policies typically do not cover pre-existing conditions by default. Instead, travelers must declare these conditions to the insurer, and many insurance providers offer specialized coverage or add-ons for these situations.
Given the high cost of healthcare in the USA, having insurance that includes pre-existing condition coverage can prevent travelers from facing significant medical expenses if they require treatment while abroad.
When selecting visitor insurance for Australians with pre-existing conditions traveling to the USA, consider the following key factors:
A comprehensive travel insurance plans provide exhaustive coverage for health expenses up to the policy medical maximum amount. In contrast to fixed benefit plans there are no limits for each benefit.
Insurance Plans | Plan Maximum | Deductible | Provider Network | Cost # |
---|---|---|---|---|
Patriot America Plus IMG | $50K - $1M | $0 - $2K | United HealthCare | $96 - $177 |
Safe Travels USA Comprehensive Trawick International | $50K - $1M | $0 - $5K | First Health Network | $96 - $176 |
Diplomat America Global Underwriters | $50K - $1M | $0 - $5K | No PPO | $155 - $266 |
Patriot Platinum America IMG | $2M - $8M | $0 - $25K | United HealthCare | $214 - $360 |
Safe Travels USA Cost Saver Trawick International | $50 - $1M | $0 - $5K | First Health Network | $92 - $154 |
Visit USA Standard Travel | $75K - $150K | $0- $1K | United HealthCare | $93 - $115 |
# The average cost of travel insurance plans for USA is based on quotes for a 40-year-old with a duration of one month.
A fixed benefit travel insurance plan is the cheapest travel insurance because it has a fixed limit of coverage for different medical benefits.
Insurance Plans | Plan Maximum | Deductible | Provider Network | Cost # |
---|---|---|---|---|
Safe Travels Advantage Trawick International | $25,000 | $0 | First Healthcare | $20 |
Safe Travels Elite Trawick International | $25K - $175K | $0 | First Health Network | $24 - $68 |
Visitors Care IMG | $25K - $100K | $0 - $100 | United HealthCare | $25 - $54 |
# The average cost of travel insurance plans for USA is based on quotes for a 40-year-old with a duration of one month.
Simply put, a pre-existing condition is a disease or condition a person is already diagnosed with, being treated for, or has, with reasonable certainty before the start of the insurance policy. Companies use a "look back" period to determine if a condition will be considered pre-existing or not.
Fixed plans tend to have shorter look back periods of only 6 to three months. Comprehensive plans have longer ones, usually 3 years. Of course, if a person is diagnosed with a chronic illness, they always have it (unfortunately) and it would always be considered a pre-existing condition. However, if someone had a surgery, for a broken bone, more than 3 years ago, no policy would consider this a pre-existing condition.
Example:
Different companies define it a little differently, but here is one version from HCC which is representative:
A Pre-existing Condition is any.
No, there are no medical tests required for purchasing visitor insurance.
Any pre-existing medical condition is something that the traveler has before or when he/she buys the travel insurance plan. The pre-existing condition can be an illness or any injury. Some other examples of pre-existing conditions are cancer, diabetes or asthma/respiratory issues.
US short term travel insurance plans are bought online by filling out the travel insurance application form provided by the insurance company. In the insurance company application form, there are no specific questions about the pre-existing condition the customer might have.
However, on American Visitor Insurance on the form to travel insurance quotes, we ask the customer to fill in the requirement details including if coverage for pre-existing conditions is needed. This helps us display the plans with the best coverage for pre-existing conditions or for acute onset of pre-existing conditions. The available travel insurance plans can also be filtered depending on the pre-existing condition coverage requirement.
This way it is easier for the customer to view the plans that provide good pre-existing condition coverage. In conclusion, the customer does not have a way to disclose what pre-existing condition they have in the application form. Again only INF insurance offers coverage for pre-existing conditions while other providers only offer acute onset of pre-existing condition coverage, and they will not be covered for the pre-existing condition unless the incident is reported by the doctor as a acute onset of a pre-existing condition.