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We offer AIG TravelGuard products as well. However, we didn't put them on our web site because they are available only to US residents. Only AIG TravelGuard products that are available to non-US residents are their 'worldwide health' products. They are simply rebranded Atlas America/International (just a different name, absolutely no other difference). And we offer original products: Atlas America/International at /travel-and-student-insurance-plans/

Thanks for you reply. The rates and coverage apparently look the same. The only difference I noted between the two was that the underwriters and insurers were different - Atlas - underwriter - Multinational Underwriters insurer - Lloyd's of London AIG Worldwide - underwriter/insurer- Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania It appears that Lloyd's is a non-admitted or surplus line insurer while AIG is a US insurer. I am given to believe that a surplus line insurer can put more riders than a US insurer who has to function within US insurance laws. I'm just a layman seeking insurance for my parents so I would like to have your expert advice on the issue.

It is a long story. I will describe what I can. Atlas America/International are administered by MultiNational Underwriters (MNU) and Underwritten by Lloyds of London, since 1998. TravelGuard was an administrator of various plans and Arch Insurance Company and AIG underwrote the policy. TravelGuard was owned by Noel Group. Noel Group acquired Multinational Underwriters several years back, as TravelGuard didn't have any products for non-US residents. They renamed Atlas America/International to Worldwide Health America/International and offered them to TravelGuard customers/agents. All this time, we have always been directly contracted with MNU and offering Atlas America/International. Therefore, there was no need to offer Worldwide Health America/International which are identical to Atlas America/International. Identical product, different name. Noel Group sold TravelGuard to AIG and therefore it became AIG TravelGuard. Worldwide Health America/International remained the same and now AIG TravelGuard simply became one big agent of MNU for selling Worldwide Health America/International. (Even though their internal arrangements could be little different because of the same owner in past for two companies, but from customer's point of view, that is what it is.) Subsequently, Noel Group sold MNU to HCC Life Insurance Company, a US insurer in Houston, TX. However, whether it is Atlas America/International or Worldwide Health America/International, they are still underwritten by Lloyds, just like it has been since day 1. Worldwide Health America/International are NOT underwritten by AIG. The statement you are making regarding domestic insurer vs. surplus lines insurer is generally true. However, it does not really apply in this case. If you were to compare Aetna/Blue Cross/Cigna etc with Lloyds, that would be true. Aetna/Blue Cross etc. are health insurance companies. However, that is not the case with AIG. AIG is primarily a property/casualty company and offers travel insurance on a surplus lines basis. Those products are not filed as health insurance products. Therefore, it is the same thing as other surplus lines companies. That is exactly why companies like Aetna, Blue Cross etc. don't give insurance to visitors. They are health insurance companies and are not allowed to sell health insurance with too many exclusions. And with less exclusions, they don't want to take the risk of insuring visitors. To prove my point, for a moment, lets ignore all the points I described above regarding companies and products changing hands. Go to /visitor-insurance/ We have several products underwritten by AIG (Insurance Company of State of Pennsylvania) and there is no confusion regarding who is who, what is what. e.g., Liaison Majestic, Visit USA-Healthcare, Worldmed, Diplomat America, Diplomat LongTerm. Still, all of them have pretty much the same restrictions and exclusions that Atlas America has. In short, all visitors insurance products pretty much work the same way as far as the insurance laws are concerned. For visitors to US, all the products are surplus lines products. Therefore, that should not be your concern at all. You should simply look at the features, benefits and prices and decide accordingly.

Short version of the above explanation: Just like InsuBuy.com, TravelGuard AIG is acting as the agent of MNU and selling Atlas America/International which is underwritten by Lloyds. Only difference between them and us is that they have renamed them as Worldwide Health/International. The plan is still underwritten by Lloyds and administered by MNU. Your claims would still be handled by MNU. If you are still not clear, give me a phone call and I would be glad to help you further. Sometimes, talking over the phone is easier than long exchange of emails and discussion forum postings.

Thanks for you detailed reply. It really broadened my perspective and answered a lot of questions. Given that all visitor products are surplus line there is a price difference between products which are kind of similar. As a case in point - if you compare Atlas America with Patriot America there appears to be around a $200 difference for a 3 month coverage (deductible $2500 insured for $500000) for 2 persons aged between 65-69. Given this price difference will there be substantial difference in quality of service. I would really appreciate an answer as this will help me move closer to a decision.

At least in the case of visitors insurance, higher price does not necessarily mean better quality. To explain that further, let me explain further how this visitors insurance works: e.g., MNU approached Lloyds of London and got one master policy from them and they are enrolling people into that one master policy. They called that policy Atlas America and started marketing it. You can consider that master policy as a kind of group policy. And we (and all other agents/brokers) are helping them in those enrollments. Therefore, the price of the product depends upon the volume of business (not overall business of underwriter, but just this one master policy, or this group, that is the group of visitors), claims experience, broker commissions, operating expenses, company profits and so on. Generally, larger the volume of business, cheaper the policy is. That is exactly why even though several products underwritten by AIG that I mentioned above have drastically different prices, even though it is the same underwriter. Think of it as this way: e.g., Aetna gives group insurance to an employer that has 50 employees. Aetna gives group insurance to another employer that also has 50 employees. The price of insurance for these two employers could be different based on many different factors. In other words, there is really no practical difference in quality between Atlas America (MNU) and Patriot America (IMG).