BootsnAll Travel Community

I am from the U.S. and am planning to leave my job to travel for an extended period of time. I don't want to pay for an HMO (because they are crap), and would prefer to pay more money for a PPO, but don't know if there are any companies out there who offer good health insurance for individuals.

My reason for continuing my health insurance while away, is that if god forbid, I get sick and need continued healthcare when I'm home, I don't want be charged ridiculous amounts for my insurance then.

Anyone out there with individual health care company recomendations (i'm from NY). Oh yeah, and the cobra that my company offers is only good for 3 months, so scratch that!

Thanks!!!

Try here

Your company has no say over how long COBRA lasts. It's a federal law. In general, COBRA lasts for 18 months though under certain circumstances it can be extended to 36 months.

Perhaps you work for a small company that's exempt from COBRA and so what they're offering isn't COBRA but something else?

Thanks for your feedback halfnine and EMH. That's good to know about it being a federal law EMH, thank you.

BlueCross/Blue Shield does alot of biz in indiv. policies and they're reliable.

But, if you're planning on traveling abroad you'll want to dig into the details because they do have network hospitals overseas but not everywhere. In some countries there might be none or just one. And, even then, you'll likely have to meet a deductible first. When I went into a BCBS-affiliated hospital in Istanbul with a sinus infection, I ended up having to pay for the exam and drugs myself anyway, because of the deductible.

If I was doing extended traveling abroad again, I'd seriously just look at catastrophic insurance...in case I was in a bad accident or had a big health issue and plan on paying as I go for minor things.

Thanks so much for the detailed information Deborah. I will definitely check out the Blue Cross/Blue Shield options - hopefully they will have something for mainly catastrophic/hospital situations.

If I can get this, I think I will combine it with that SOS travel insurance. That way I'm covered at home and on my trip. I didn't even think about just doing something like that for home, thanks!

Another company to check into is IMG Global.

http://www.imglobal.com/

You can purchase a policy that will cover you both abroad and in the US/Canada.

EMH! How did you find out about imglobal??? It looks great. Exactly what I'm looking for.

If anyone is reading this who has used this insurance and has any feedback on it, that would be awesome.

Thanks,

Joanna

From posts on Bootsnall. If you do a search on the forums, you'll come up with some info on them.

i've always been a healthy person but i'm in the process of discovering that i may have a lifelong (but not life threatening) disease that is going to make the trip that much more difficult. I have been wondering the same thing since i now know that i cannot go w/out u.s.insurance at all or i will be screwed. (i was planning on only having the travel insurance). I have Tonik Blue Cross now and i have to say it is pretty good. I've had it for a couple years as an individual and it's made for young adults that don't want to spend $400/mth on insurance. You have to check to see if it's in your state. if not, than if you know someone is the state that it is offered just say you live there. The is an out of pocket fee (different w/ each program) but it only applies to things like emergencies or surgery, etc. The one i have is a $1500 deduct/yr and i called yesterday and discovered that is the lowest one they have and also the lowest per month as well. my insurance is only a little over $100/mth and a reg. co-pay is only $40. I haven't had any problems w/ them at all and I would recommend them, from my research they are the cheapest, all inclusive, health plan out there.

Hmmm...I'm surprised they took you if you have a lifelong disease. Any thoughts on that?

Actually, to add to what I just posted...Tonik rejected me a few years ago because there was a chance I might have cancer. Now mind you, this was a self-diagnosis and I hadn't seen a doctor yet. It turns out my self-diagnosis was correct though I fortunately had a very minor, treatable form of cancer.

So...because of my own experience, I'm surprised that they would insure you, knowing that you may have a lifelong disease.

Oh, this issue has just surfaced in the past couple of weeks and i've had Tonik for a couple years so now they have no choice. hahaha.... Actually cancer is an option of what it might be as well but i really don't think that it's likely. Even if it is a lifelong disease it's very common and very easy to control and once I get it straightened out I am going to go as holistic as possible until i can hopefully get off the medication. I do not want to be on meds for life and personally i'm not really sick or anything like that, it was kind of a fluke how it all came about. I'm a stress ball right now about that whole thing.

I will tell you what i have learned of Tonik though - my boyfriend has Crohn's but has a very mild form and hasn't needed treatment or medication in about 14 years. He was honest and put it on his application and they rejected him. He called and explained that he does have it but is not actively sick and hasn't been in years. They actually told him that he should have not put it down on the app. since they DO NOT double check what you put on your application and that they only want to know if you are actively seeking medical care for your issue at that time. If you are not in the middle of care at that time, then you should NOT put it down. Obviously it seems like you are past all of that but maybe someone else reading this can benefit. If he never mentioned it he would be fine but since he did and even though it was 10+ years ago they will not accept him. Leave it to insurance companies - only want to insure you when you are healthy not when you actually need them.

Also, another friend had a similar situation w/ Tonik and they re-applied 6 months later, did not put the illness down and got insurance. So I guess you never know. However I can't even get started w/ how f-ed the whole insurance/dr game is. When I think about it all i want to do is move far, far away.

Congrats on getting better though!!!

Thanks for sharing. Interesting stuff. I'm surpised that Tonik doesn't do any checking. Most insurance companies will scrutinize every doctor's visit you've ever had. And reject you for even the smallest thing.

Our health care system is so messed up....those who need it the most are the ones who have the hardest time getting it. I'm hopeful that eventually we'll have national health insurance though that still seems far off in the future.

Good luck with your health issues. I'm hope things turn out all right.

Yeah, I totally agree. Our healthcare system is awful. I have had clients who have literally lost everything, had to claim bankruptcy, etc just to heal themselves. It's wrong, just wrong. That's one of the things i'm most looking for the current election.

I was shocked about Tonik not checking either. Totally strange but in a way it is hard to check if youthink about it. There is no national database for our health records and if you just leave info off the app. how are they going to check? They can't go around checking every dr. in the nation. Plus typically young people don't go to the dr. that often so they probably feel that their reward outweighs the risk. I hope someone here can benefit from it.

Thanks for the well wishes, I will know in 1 week what exactly is going on. It's a very nervous feeling.

I think the danger to not disclosing things on the application is that they can deny you coverage later on. Which basically means you have to lie to your doctor: "gee no doc, I've never had this happen before". And not being honest with your doctor could lead to misdiagnosis and/or mistreatment.

So...your options are to 1) lie on your application and later lie to your doctor or 2) get denied coverage.

Rock. Hard place. Welcome to the US Health Care Sytsem!

Yup, that is true. However I think I remember the rule of thumb being that if you hadn't been to the dr. or received treatment w/in 1 year then that was fine and they didn't count it, which is common for most insurances. The confusion was started w/ Crohn's because technically it is a lifelong disease but my boyfriend hasn't recieved treatment in 15 years. Since they didn't give this option on the online application he put down that he had an illness that needed treatment (since he might someday) but technically he doesn't and hasn't needed treatment. That is why they said he should've just left it off but they don't clarify that in the app. and they wouldn't let him explain to an actual person since everything they do is completely automated.