I got insurance for my parents last year in July. I think I paid around $1500 for the insurance. They were here for close to 5 months.
I had to take my mom to a doctor. A piece of bone in her knee chipped off because of arthiritis. I had to send a document to IMG with all the details. The total bill was $561 (including the deductible so minus $250).
I got a mail from the hospital for the entire amount. When I called them they said insurance rejected the claim saying it was a pre-existing condition.
I called IMG, and they wouldn't connect me to claims. They asked me to send an email and that I would get a reply immediately.
I emailed them with all the details and scanned copy of the x-ray. I haven't got any response.
it is very sad that we have to keep waiting for them to get back to us. I have one month before the hospital will charge a fine.
I dont know how to reach them and re-open the claim. I dont think I will buy this insurance next time my parents are here and will nto recommend it to anyone.
-Dilip

Last month Sep ’09 I applied for Bajaj Allianz Travel Insurance for my parents. One of the sales officers from Delhi (Abhishek Saini , Mobile No. 9873656302) collected required documents alongwith
cheque and cash for Travel Insurance. The Cheque No. is 660001 and amount is 7,248/- (bank branch: UBI, C.R.Park, New Delhi-19) and cash amount was 2,762/- . After a week we were informed that due to bad health conditions of my parents, bajaj allianz declined the applications. They informed us within 2 weeks we will get the refund amount 10,010/-

But still we haven’t yet received the amount. After every 2-3 days I am following up with an agent (Allan Fernandes, Web Sasles Officer) who contacted me for Travel Insurance. But every time he gives me excuses that he has already completed the process for refunding and I will get the amount within next 2-3 days. Allan gave me 2 reference numbers related to refund process. They are 107254 and 107256. Both are 17/09/2009 dated.
The Delhi Sales Officer, Abhishek is not picking my phone these days.
I feel that I have been cheated by Bajaj Allianz. Bajaj Allianz hasn’t published any phone number where we can register complaint regarding this issue. I tried all Bajaj Allianz numbers (1800225858, 02066026666, 02030512376), but they don’t take complaints related to Travel Insurance.
It’s my suggestions to everyone never go for Bajaj Allianz Travel Insurance for senior citizens (above 60 yrs).
Thanks,
Biswajit

I have had a bad experience working with ICICI Lombard insurance. Issues i had with ICICI

1) They do not have any rates negotiated with US hospitals. I have seen when your insurance does not have a negotiated rate, an emergency room can cost upto $5000 vs a negotiated rate of $1000 (based on real experience). But there is a cap on how much ICICI will pay for each kind of service which means my out of pocket would have been quite a bit.

2) ICICI will not pay directly to the hospital. You will have to pay the bills directly to hospitals in the US. Take the bills to India where it will be further evaluated. You could potetially sit with thousands of dollars paid and in limbo. I do not have that kind of money to shell and wait

3) For pre-existing conditions, they will only consider paying for any emergency situation. Once the patient is stabilized, the insurance does not cover for any cure of the pre-existance condition.

So my experience with indian insurance has been bad. I have not bought any insurance yet from US for my parents. But i am more inclined towards buying insurance in US even if i have to pay a little bit more.

I want to let everyone know about the scam(s) being run by most of the Medical Insurance Company's especially for parents holding Visitor Visa's.

My parents visited US 3 months back and I have done good amount of research and after inquiring about various plan details got medical insurance from ICICI.
My parents paid around $1400.00 for 6 months.

The policy's name it self mentions Cash Less claim policy meaning
no payments/approvals required at the time of service and their US tie up United Health Care would take care of all the charges.

Unfortunately, my father had developed Heart Symptoms and on the advise of a family Doctor living remotely had to contact ICICI for finding out about any specific group to be visited.

We were told that, I need to pay the consultation charges and if it is more than deductible of $100.00, need to file for Claim.
I was ready for that but asked about any diagnostic tests prescribed, they had suggested the same pay and claim policy.
I argued with them about policy details and the ICICI representative was suggesting the same.
Later, I was told to visit a Doctor and send them Prescription for tests so that they would pre-approval.
At this point , I was pretty sure nothing is going to work out with this policy and it is a scam.
But still sent them all the test details.
ICICI never responded even after 2 weeks and kept on dragging requesting the same documents over and over.
Most ridiculous part was they operate without a Toll Free number and every time we need to keep on updating every representative.
Thank god with advise from my family Doctor, I sent my parents within a week.
After reaching India, my father was undergoing tests and one day suddenly developed severe Heart stroke and was rushed to hospital and got operated.
He is safe and stable now and is recovering.
Meanwhile, ICICI did come back after 4 weeks with a pre-approval, with $ 800.00 limit.
They dont have any pre-negotiated rates with any hospital in USA.
I asked how about United Health Care tie up.
They answered that United Health Care is a payment agency for ICICI in USA.

To put Long story short
*******************
Later, I came to know that most of my friends had same kind of issues with all the Insurance company's based out of India. So fellow immigrants beware of these Insurance Companies.

Iam filig a case in Consumer court and trying to take it to media attention back home.
Infact, even it is not immigration related issue, thought of sharing with all the immigrants
as most of us do face this kind of issues.

Contrary to most of the posts on this forum, we had an ok experience with Bajaj Allianz. We did not have a major hospitalization claim, but the amount was around 800-900$, which was reimbursed after deductible. Our Agent in India did follow up, so a good Agent is helpful even in India.

Dear Mr. Behara,

We require more information from you before we can suggest you the most appropriate plan.

Please call us at (866) INSU-BUY and we would be glad to help you.

Narendra,
Please suggest a Healthcare Insurance plan which will suit my requirements as stated below:

Members to be insured:
Self - 29 years
Spouse - 25 years
Child - 2 years.

None of us have any medical history. I am looking for a coverage of $50000 with a $250 deductible.

Thanks in advance,
Salil Behara.

I had taken oversees travel insurance plan for my parents till Sep 2009. During their visit my father had consulted a doctor for some minor injury here in US and paid $250 as office visit. As per thr policy my office visit deductible was $100 but when I applied for reimbursement of $150 upon their landing in India with all proof, they are not ready to give me back my money with all sort of non-sence reasons. So I never recommend anybody to take ICICI lombard in future.

Thanks,
Mukesh Agrawal

NS,

Your analysis is quite accurate. And because of the reasons you mentioned in your post, I would suggest that you consider buying Atlas America as it would be more suitable to you in your situation.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.

Hello Narendra,

First of all let me compliment you and your staff for an excellent and very informative site that you have.

My parents arrived in the USA last week and I am looking for a good comprehensive insurance plan for them. They are aged 56 & 55 years respectively and would be here for the next 5 and half months. My mother is diabetic and my dad has a mild case of high blood pressure. Both have brought sufficient supply of insulin/medicines with them.

I did some research on the visitor’s insurance plan in the last couple of days and have narrowed down to Atlas America and Patriot America. Though their premiums are almost the same and they have the same First Health PPO network, I am leaning more towards Atlas America because of its co-insurance waiver for in-network facilities and limited coverage of acute onset of pre-existing conditions. On the other hand Patriot America covers 90 day supply of prescription drugs as opposed to 60 days Atlas America and also has a RX discount card. Everything else seems to be the same for these two.

We are in Florida and I am looking at $100,000 coverage for both with $500 deductable. I would like your opinion on which would be the better option out of the two for us.

Thanks!
NS