Many people that invite senior citizens such as their parents, in-laws, or other relatives to the U.S. from abroad may purchase short-term travel medical insurance, also called visitors insurance or health insurance for foreign visitors, while they are in the U.S. for a short duration.

Many of those customers have domestic health insurance through their employers, where there are a lot more things covered including preventive care, immunization, pre-existing conditions, routine maintenance, and a lot more. Those are long-term, major health insurance plans that they have to keep year-round and pay a large premium for every month. As the employer may be paying a large portion of those premiums, they may not realize the how expensive health insurance in the U.S. is.

On the other hand, visitors insurance plans are low-cost, short-term, travel health insurance plans that will generally cover any new medical conditions, injuries, or accidents that may unexpectedly occur after the effective date of the policy. All such short-term international travel insurance plans come with their limitations, and some people may have trouble understanding what should be covered in and what to expect from visitors insurance.

It is very important to set the right expectations for visitors insurance.

The following is the partial list of common questions that people ask whether they are covered or not:

COVID-19 Tests

• they have no symptoms but they suspect they have been around someone who has COVID-19 and would like to confirm
• they have been in close proximity with someone that was diagnosed COVID-19 positive
• they are planning to go back home and the airline requires it
• their destination country requires it to avoid the 14-day quarantine requirement
• their relative just arrived in the US and would be staying with the family and the host would like to make sure that they are COVID-19 negative

Flu Shot

Prescription Refill

Periodic Check up

Healthcare for Chronic Conditions

Dental and Vision

What Visitors Insurance is, and Is Not

As the above items that people routinely end up needing are not covered, some people inaccurately claim that visitors insurance is useless. However, that is absolutely not the case. Some people even allege that visitors insurance is a scam and rip off, which is completely baseless, as none of the visitors insurance plans promise to cover such expenses in the first place. It is some of the customers that unreasonably expect them to be covered. As visitors insurance plans come at such a low cost and are intended to last only for a short duration, they can’t possibly afford to cover all these routine items that you would need.

Visitors insurance plans are not long-term health insurance plans and don’t cover all of your healthcare needs. However, you never know what kind of new medical conditions, injuries, or accidents you might face that occur unexpectedly after the effective date of the policy. That is what visitors insurance is meant to cover. As healthcare in the U.S. is very expensive, it is highly advisable to always purchase visitors insurance.

Even if you are a U.S. citizen between jobs and purchase short-term medical insurance, that also would not cover pre-existing conditions or routine healthcare expenses, but only new medical conditions, injuries, or accidents.

Some people mistakenly think that such restrictions are only in U.S.-based travel insurance companies and that they might be better off purchasing from their home country. You should carefully analyze buying travel insurance from U.S. vs home country before making any decision. Those traveling from India to the U.S. should read comparing travel insurance from U.S. vs India for further information.

In any case, there are many different visitors insurance plans available that differ in coverage and prices. Before making any decision, it is of utmost importance to review the certificate wording to understand what it covers and what it doesn’t.