Purchasing visitors insurance is critical as health-care costs are extremely high in the United States. As there are many visitors insurance plans available in the market, it is best to do careful research by getting multiple quotes, comparing the products and buying the plan that is the most suitable for you. All the information available for a given product is published right here on this website.

However, after purchasing visitors insurance, you should take several steps to get the best out of it:

1. Read description of coverage

Ideally, you should read the description of the coverage before buying visitors insurance. The complete documents are available right here on this website. Of course, the price of visitors insurance depends upon several factors, such as age, duration, policy maximum, deductible, the product type and the exact product, but you should not avoid any details.

You will additionally get a copy of the description of coverage by email and with some products, additionally by postal mail. If you don't get a chance to read it to understand the benefits and exclusions thoroughly, read it immediately. Do not ignore the details thinking that it is some "blah blah" fine print.

Irrespective of whether you read the description of the coverage, the insurance company will pay or reject your claims based on that document. Some people are disappointed or angry when a claim is rejected just because they didn't read the description of coverage and expected everything to be covered.

If you have any questions, or if you don't understand anything, you can call our office and speak with a U.S.-based licensed insurance professional, available seven days a week.

If you believe you purchased a policy that will not meet your needs, you should cancel it. Most visitors insurance plans provide a full refund anytime before the effective date of the policy.

2. Confirm application details

Once you receive your insurance documents in email and postal mail, make sure that all the details about the travelers, policy maximum, deductible, coverage duration and everything else is accurate.

If you need to make any changes, you should ideally contact us before the effective date of the policy. Once visitors insurance is effective, what can be changed is very limited.

If you notice any typos in names or any other information, immediately contact us to get them fixed. Minor typos in names are correctable, but the complete replacement of names is not possible. In the latter case, you must cancel the insurance and repurchase.

3. Secure Insurance documents

Once you receive the insurance documents by email, take a printout. Keep one copy with you at all times, keep another copy at your host's home or in the hotel and if possible, keep another copy with someone in your home country. If urgent medical attention is necessary unexpectedly, having those documents handy will be very helpful.

You can also additionally store the insurance documents in a flash drive and carry that with you.

4. Look up a provider list

Some visitors insurance plans participate in a PPO network, while others don't.

If you have purchased a PPO plan, make sure to get the listing of participating providers in advance and take a printout. Of course, you can't print a list of all the providers everywhere in the country. Therefore, you should print a smaller list near the area where you will be. Irrespective of an emergency or not, an insurance company will adjudicate the claims according to whether you went to a provider within PPO network or not.

Even if the specific visitors insurance plan does not participate in a PPO network, it is still a good idea to research the names of some hospitals and other medical facilities, and keep the list handy, just in case you need it at any time.