International Health Insurance?

[droid]

Hey all,
I'm trying to get a global health insurance plan, not only since I'm traveling, but also since obamacare is making everything more expensive for some of us. My local US plan just had an increase of more than 100% for renewal, meaning I'd probably be covering some unhealthy-habit slackers.

Anyhow, I've looked around for other plans, specifically for global coverage, and i'm quoted about $250/month.
However, shopping around I came across this IMG company that offers a plan with decent coverage for about $60.
https://purchase.imglobal.com/Quote/GLO ... /pre-quote

It seems too good to be true, but I've checked it out in BBB and other sites and it appears legit.
Do any of you have any experience with this company? What are your experiences when it comes to insurance overseas?

[Moretorque]

What the hell does a robot need health insurance for ?

[Rock]

1. To save as much money as possible, it's important that you take out anything you don't need. For example, if you will not be in USA, get a policy which covers all of world except USA. Excluding USA will automatically make it cheaper. Secondly, accept some deductable to further lower premium. If you can pay first say 500 USD of any illness or treatment, that will bring down your premiums cus there are a high percentage of low cost cases. If company does not have to pay for those, it saves them a lot of money. You really need insurance mostly to cover the huge stuff if you are unlucky for it to happen.

2. Have you checked out Lonely Planet's health and travel insurance?

3. Read carefully the conditions and exclusions of that one cheap policy. It's probably cheap for a reason. Not all policies cover the same stuff of course.

[Jester]

3. Read carefully the conditions and exclusions of that one cheap policy. It's probably cheap for a reason. Not all policies cover the same stuff of course.

Sometimes the worst thing is not the exclusions, but the things that are not even on their list of covered conditions or covered treatments.

[newlifeinphilippines]

Why are you buying insurance? ITs a fraud. obamacare is just a tax nothing more. it aint helping anyone.

Even fi you make 50,000 a year as a single gu y the penalty is like 1000 bucks. Thats cheaper than 2700 for the cheapest policy.

Now youll say well what if i have an emergency. Well the cheapest plan only covers like what 40 percent? so your still stuck with 60 percent of the bill. And you can write off medical expenses on the tax return if you dont have health insurance anyways right? So your not gonna save much having healt insurance UNLESS you had like the top dog insurance plan that covers almost everything percentage wise. Then you'll say what if i come down with an illness. Doesn't obamacare now allow people to sign up with preexisting conditions? So whats the need for insurance beforehand. just get it when your sick. lol. If you're traveling it makes even less sense.

[newlifeinphilippines]

1. To save as much money as possible, it's important that you take out anything you don't need. For example, if you will not be in USA, get a policy which covers all of world except USA. Excluding USA will automatically make it cheaper. Secondly, accept some deductable to further lower premium. If you can pay first say 500 USD of any illness or treatment, that will bring down your premiums cus there are a high percentage of low cost cases. If company does not have to pay for those, it saves them a lot of money. You really need insurance mostly to cover the huge stuff if you are unlucky for it to happen.

2. Have you checked out Lonely Planet's health and travel insurance?

3. Read carefully the conditions and exclusions of that one cheap policy. It's probably cheap for a reason. Not all policies cover the same stuff of course.

Those policies wont fulfill obamacare so youd have insurance then get penalized in the end = double fined.

[mahadeveshwara]

Why are you buying insurance? ITs a fraud. obamacare is just a tax nothing more. it aint helping anyone.

I agree. Insurance as an institution jacks up the price for everyone. In the odd event that something may happen to me, it works out statistically better that I pay cash for everything. The system is demonic at its core and I don't want to support it at all. Here in the 3rd world you won't hear of people being indebted for hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical care. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of the whole quality of life thing? Either you survive or you die. No big deal.

[Moretorque]

yaa insurance companies are just another group taking a slice out of the pie and jacking the price but anyhow sometimes it can save you but it does make the over all price of life go up for all.

[Rock]

1. To save as much money as possible, it's important that you take out anything you don't need. For example, if you will not be in USA, get a policy which covers all of world except USA. Excluding USA will automatically make it cheaper. Secondly, accept some deductable to further lower premium. If you can pay first say 500 USD of any illness or treatment, that will bring down your premiums cus there are a high percentage of low cost cases. If company does not have to pay for those, it saves them a lot of money. You really need insurance mostly to cover the huge stuff if you are unlucky for it to happen.

2. Have you checked out Lonely Planet's health and travel insurance?

3. Read carefully the conditions and exclusions of that one cheap policy. It's probably cheap for a reason. Not all policies cover the same stuff of course.

Those policies wont fulfill obamacare so youd have insurance then get penalized in the end = double fined.

1. I don't believe Obamacare covers you overseas. If something happened, you would need to come back to USA for treatment. If you want insurance to cover you in overseas hospitals, you would need some additional non-Obamacare policy.

2. If you spend more than 11 months of the year outside of USA I believe, you are exempted from the Obamacare obligation. I fall into that category.

[droid]

Thanks for the replies guys

What the hell does a robot need health insurance for ?

I don't know, there might be some secondary-storage fragmentation, or perhaps an unrecoverable stack-overflow due to interaction with human females. Better safe than sorry.

1. To save as much money as possible, it's important that you take out anything you don't need. For example, if you will not be in USA, get a policy which covers all of world except USA. Excluding USA will automatically make it cheaper. Secondly, accept some deductable to further lower premium. If you can pay first say 500 USD of any illness or treatment, that will bring down your premiums cus there are a high percentage of low cost cases. If company does not have to pay for those, it saves them a lot of money. You really need insurance mostly to cover the huge stuff if you are unlucky for it to happen.
2. Have you checked out Lonely Planet's health and travel insurance?
3. Read carefully the conditions and exclusions of that one cheap policy. It's probably cheap for a reason. Not all policies cover the same stuff of course.

Yeah a deductible makes a big difference, but it's a bit of a gamble nonetheless. Thankfully i can afford a decent deductible.
I opted to include US coverage,since I will probably be there for a few days anyway.

Why are you buying insurance? ITs a fraud. obamacare is just a tax nothing more. it aint helping anyone.
Even fi you make 50,000 a year as a single gu y the penalty is like 1000 bucks. Thats cheaper than 2700 for the cheapest policy.
Now youll say well what if i have an emergency. Well the cheapest plan only covers like what 40 percent? so your still stuck with 60 percent of the bill. And you can write off medical expenses on the tax return if you dont have health insurance anyways right? So your not gonna save much having healt insurance UNLESS you had like the top dog insurance plan that covers almost everything percentage wise. Then you'll say what if i come down with an illness. Doesn't obamacare now allow people to sign up with preexisting conditions? So whats the need for insurance beforehand. just get it when your sick. lol. If you're traveling it makes even less sense.

I agree. Insurance as an institution jacks up the price for everyone. In the odd event that something may happen to me, it works out statistically better that I pay cash for everything. The system is demonic at its core and I don't want to support it at all. Here in the 3rd world you won't hear of people being indebted for hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical care. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of the whole quality of life thing? Either you survive or you die. No big deal.
moretorque
yaa insurance companies are just another group taking a slice out of the pie and jacking the price but anyhow sometimes it can save you but it does make the over all price of life go up for all.

That's too extreme guys, i got sick a couple years ago and my old insurance did cover a lot of the cost, otherwise it would've been 15 grand or so. And also like rock said the important thing is to cover the huge catastrophic stuff (god forbid).

1. I don't believe Obamacare covers you overseas. If something happened, you would need to come back to USA for treatment. If you want insurance to cover you in overseas hospitals, you would need some additional non-Obamacare policy.
2. If you spend more than 11 months of the year outside of USA I believe, you are exempted from the Obamacare obligation. I fall into that category.

1-Right obamacare does not cover you outside.
2-True, which i plan to do

Anyhow i got the IMG Global insurance online, it seemed pretty straightforward in pricing and procedure.
Only thing is that Obamacare does not consider it a valid insurance, since they don't get the slice from me to cover other people. So i'll have to either put up with the fines, or really only spend 30 days in the states a year. The latter is going to be the case this year since i'm only going back to get my china visa and then split.