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As 'Acute Onset of Pre-Existing Conditions' feature in Atlas America is quite new (effective May 12, 2008), we didn't have a chance to collect any feedback from the customers who had to make a claim, it is not known how this feature works. And beyond what is written in the brochure, no further information or clarification is being revealed by the insurance company. Even when asked to the top management, all we are being told is "everything will be determined after the claim occurs and hypothetical questions can't be answered". We also asked for the actual scenarios that were covered by them under this clause, and there is no response. As of today, Jun 18, 2008, I was told by them that even the policy wording is not yet ready which may provide more details than the brochure. Therefore, it is very difficult for us (or anyone else) to make any comments confidently about this feature. However, if you would still like to take a chance (for lack of any better option for pre-existing conditions coverage) and purchase it, Atlas is otherwise overall a good plan. But if there is any claims dispute regarding pre-existing conditions coverage, I would be unable to help you further.

You can consider purchasing Patriot America, available at /patriot-america-lite-insurance/ It will cover any new medical conditions, injuries or accidents that may occur after the effective date of the policy. It will not cover any pre-existing conditions or preventive check ups. Yes, it also includes emergency medical evacuation and repatration of remains. Please feel free to contact us at any time if you have any other questions.

When you move, send an email to admin insubuy.com along with your new address and certificate number and we will update in the system. Insurance card does NOT have the address on it. Therefore, you will not receive new cards when you move. However, you will receive any further correspondence (such as renewal notice etc.) at that new address after that. Please feel free contact us at any time if you have any other questions.

1. Protection America is an excellent plan because * It participates in widely recognized PPO - First Health PPO. * You get insurance card. * You get Rx discount card. * It is quite flexible. You can buy for min. 5 days and still renew it. In case of early departure, you get refund for pro-rated duration minus $25 cancellation fee, if no claims have been filed. * Excellent customer service. * Reasonable prices. 2. Insurance company will pay for any new medical conditions, injuries or accidents that occur after the effective date of the policy. It will not cover anything related to pre-existing conditions. Look at the brochure for complete details. 3. If you start any new threads, please post them in Visitors Medical Insurance section, rather than Visitors Visa section for the quickest response as I normally check only the insurance threads. I hope that answers your questions. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us at any time or post the questions here. 2. Insurance company will pay for any new medical conditions, injuries or accidents that occur after the effective date of the policy. It will not cover anything related to pre-existing conditions. Look at the brochure for complete details. This point was indeed important. I checked the brochure and it did clearly define what is meant by pre-existing condition. However, Atlas America seems to be better choice, because they say If you are under age 70, you are covered for Medical and Emergency Evacuation charges resulting from an Acute Onset of a Pre-existing Condition, up to the limit set forth in the Schedule of Benefits and Limits. A Pre-existing Condition is any Illness, Injury or medical condition or chronic or recurring Illness or Injury or medical condition, including any associated complications or consequences, which existed at or during the 2 years immediately preceding your Effective Date. An Acute Onset is a sudden and unexpected outbreak or recurrence of a Pre-existing Condition, that occurs spontaneously and without advance warning either in the form of Physician recommendations or symptoms. Treatment must be obtained within 24 hours of the sudden and unexpected outbreak or recurrence Acute Onset is the keyword that seems to catch my attention. He seem to be feeling that he may have gaut problem, which may be reoccurring after a year. Let me know your opinions about this. Thanks VJ As per the insurance company, what is written in the Atlas America brochure is an accurate statement. Beyond that, based on the hypothetical scenarios, it can not guaranteed in advance whether some condition would be covered or not for sure. It all depends. When the actual claim occurs, depending upon the medical records, treatment records and attending physician statement, it would be determined whether the particular scenario falls within the description of 'Acute Onset of Pre-Existing Conditions' or not. Each case is unique. As per the insurance company, what is written in the Atlas America brochure is an accurate statement. Beyond that, based on the hypothetical scenarios, it can not guaranteed in advance whether some condition would be covered or not for sure. It all depends. When the actual claim occurs, depending upon the medical records, treatment records and attending physician statement, it would be determined whether the particular scenario falls within the description of 'Acute Onset of Pre-Existing Conditions' or not. Each case is unique. I am in the process of buying Atlas America. I have a question about mailing address. It should be my US address where the documents will be sent. (My dad is already here with me in US). Am I correct? Thanks! Appreciate your quick responses. VJ Yes, please put US address. I just finished buying Atlas America for my dad. On the ID card, there's logo Hygeia as well as First Health, does this mean we can also go to a provider within First Health PPO network? Thanks, VJ The provider you see within /travel-and-student-insurance-ppo-network/ are in the network. They may either be directly contracted with Hygeia or internally by First Health in turn.

I need more details. It would be best if you could kindly call us. Ok, I'll try to call you tomorrow since you're working till 9PM Central Time. In the meantime, the details are: 1. 2 months 23 days trip 2. 4 month old baby girl 3. I'm aware immunization is not covered. So if we do have to visit the doctor, it will be an illness and certainly no pre existing condition right? 4. If we do have to go for her shots, any idea how much a doctor would charge (excluding the cost of the medicine)? This will help understand if fixed would be better for us or comprehensive. 5. In general, is baby care an expensive affair? At least it is not so here in India (very relative and individualistic I know - USD 60 a month for a healthy baby). Would you still recommend comprehensive? Many thanks for your advise. Immunizations etc. are not covered. However, they don't cost much. On average, the shot may cost around $30 to $100 each. Insurance company will pay for any new medical conditions, injuries or accidents that may occur after the effective date of the policy. It will not cover any pre-existing conditions. For young people, there is hardly any cost difference between fixed and comprehensive. I did the quotes for 2 months 23 days and the difference is less than $10 for the entire period. Definitely go for comprehensive. e.g., look at Atlas America at /atlasamerica-insurance/ Actually we are two adults and one infant. Atlas America mentions that children below 10 are free with an adult. This is pretty good. 1. Would this mean that all the benefits of the adult are inherited by the child? Of course limited to the policy maximum, right? 2. Atlas America would cover even during travel right - via countries other than USA? 2. Is there any other policy which has children free? Your suggestions are very effective. Thanks! 1. All benefits are per person. In other words, the policy maximum, the deductible etc. are per person. 2. Atlas America would cover anywhere outside home country as long as the insurance is effective. Insurance is effective at 12:01 AM Eastern Time on the day you specify. Therefore, keeping time zone differences in mind, you should put the effective date one day in advance of the travel date in order to cover during travel as well. 3. No. If you have any other questions, please feel free to post them here or contact us at any time. To sum-up, if i take insurance for the mother, the infant is free. If there is a need to visit the doctor for the infant, we show the ID card of the mother and the appropriate expenses will be waived off? We will need proof of mother-child relationship I reckon? Ignore the last question. I wasn't selecting child. I can see child info to be entered now.Please ans the first part. Thanks! When you apply, you put the details of the parent and child both. So, you will have insurance for each person. You will get insurance cards for each person. Great! You just made me choose my insurance plan in the last 5 mins, something that I was thinking would take me days (considering the options one has). Many thanks. You're doing a splendid job. You are welcome. If you have any questons or problems at any time, even after purchase, please feel free to contact us at any time. Hi Narender, Can you please answer the last two questions also: 1. While applying online, it asks for "Delivery Method". What is going to be delivered? I thought everything could be printed out. I don't think I will have time enough to collect anything being delivered so I should give USA address right? 2. Atlas America mentions that Coinsurance will be waived if expenses are incurred within the PPO and expenses are submitted to Underwriters for review and payment directly to the provider . So if i get treated at a registered service provider as available from "Hygeia Provider Search Tool", insurance will cover everything right? I won't even have to have 20% of the first USD 5000 is it? Thanks! Fulfillment contains the policy, insurance cards, instructions etc. 1. A. In first page, you can choose 'Online Fulfillment' either 'Yes' or 'No'. If you select 'Yes', you will get everything by email and nothing by mail. If you select 'No'. you will get everything by email as well as by mail. B. If you select 'No' in the first page, next page will ask whether you want everything by regular mail (no charge) or express mail (extra charge.) Yes, you can specify US address. That is what everyone does. Of course, in any case, you can print everything out at any time from our 'Current Clients' section at /myaccount/ 2. As long as you go to the providers in the network AND they bill directly, you don't have to pay 20% for first $5,000. Please feel free to contact us at any time if you have any other questions. Could you help me find the nearest PPO network hospital in Lone Tree, Denver, CO? The closest I found on /travel-and-student-insurance-ppo-network/ was LITTLETON ADVENTIST HOSPITAL. But on this hospitals website, they do not mention a tie up with Atlas America insurance / InsuBuy / Hygeia Network. Am I looking right or...? Thanks! Mahesh The list you are looking at is the correct list. Ask them if they participate in 'Hygeia PPO network'. If they say yes, good. Otherwise, ask them if they participate in 'First Health PPO network'. If they yes, good. Did you read few paragraphs given at /travel-and-student-insurance-ppo-network/ before you started searching? It explains all this very clearly. Hospitals don't know about Atlas America / InsuBuy / MNU etc. and that's absolutely fine. Earlier in this chain, you had suggested Atlas America as the right policy for my specific requirement when I travelled to Denver, CO. I am visiting Denver again with my wife and a 1 year old daughter now. I was comparing Atlas with other policies when I came across Liasion Continent B. This seems to me like a better policy because: * Lower premium than Atlas (lowest for all when no deductible selected) * 75/25 as compared to 80/20 only upto USD 5000 for Atlas Would you still advise Atlas America or do you think I should try Liasion Continent B this time? Many Thanks, Mahesh In Atlas, if you go to the provider in the network and they bill directly, it is 100% up to policy max. Otherwise, it is 80/20 to $5,000 and then 100% to policy max. In any case, you end up paying deductible + max $1,000 out of your pocket. However, in Liaison Continent B, after deductible, it is 75/25 all the way to policy max. Therefore, if you take $100,000 policy, you may end up pay deductible + $25,000 out of your pocket. That is significantly higher out of pocket. Also, in Atlas, one child under 9 comes free with each parent. Now that you know the differences, you can decide which one works best for you. Yup, I overlooked that in a PPO network, underwriters bear 100 % in Atlas. I'll stick with this one this time again. Thank you!

1. Correct. 2. Correct. 3. For first visit insurance company pays $55 but your deductible is $50. Therefore, it pays $5 which $55-$50. Next visit onwards, it pays $55/visit. 4. You don't have to provide any medical documents from anywhere when renewing or buying new policy. It is always better to renew the policy on the same terms. Even if you didn't fall sick in previous duration, if buy a new policy and after that, for example, you fall sick within a week and doctor says this illness is one month old, it would be considered as pre-existing condition and not covered. 5. Always advisable to buy separate policy. Anyway, total price is the same either way. But separate policy provides you with more flexibility. Thank you very much for your prompty reply. I just heard that my father had a very small surgical outpatient treatment of removing some extra puss from his lower back which was only superficial. It is not suppose to come back again but in case we have to do it again, then what do your suggest? Which one will cover the best? Will it be considered as pre-existing...because it is no chronic. Thank you again. Based on the Dr opinion, attending physician statement and all medical records, it will be determined whether something is related to pre-existing conditions or not. And the decision to pay or not would be made accordingly. However, in my opinion, it would be considered as pre-existing condition and not covered by any plan.