Hello, everyone.
I am a 25-year-old American study-abroad student living in Italy. I am slowly in the transition of finding a job in Italy or the EU after graduation. I don’t plan on moving back to the USA anytime soon but maybe in the future.
The issue:
I will turn 26 and I will no longer be on my parents’ insurance. I will try to visit the US next year for family things but I want to at least have emergency insurance for the amount of time I am there. I tried applying on healthcare gov for the special enrollment period but only got suggested some very expensive premiums that I can’t afford. Does anyone have any suggestions?
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Look for emergency medical insurance AND emergency return insurance that will bring you back to Italy. I have it, it costs like 100 Euros a year. Any insurance without the emergency return insurance that pays for airlifts back to the country of origin are bullshit. You may need a second policy.
Also get it ASAP because there’s a lockout period before it is valid.
Travel insurance. That’s what I do every time I go back to the US for a week or two. Usually it’s 20-30€ per week and covers all your standard emergencies
What is the name of the travel insurance you get?
I usually just buy my bank’s travel insurance (ING - they supply it from Nationale Nederlanden). I saw Allianz gives you 50k medical coverage plus some other stuff for 67$ for two weeks
I use IMG global for travel health insurance. Very different from “Travel Insurance.” If you want it to cover healthcare costs in the US, make sure you know the difference.
So the IMG global is for actual doctor visits and prescription refills? And I would possibly need another travel insurance for emergencies?
Standard regular health stuff you should get at your home doctor- but yes, travel health insurance is for anything health related. There are options for levels of coverage. Standard travel insurance will cover cancellations, lost luggage, terrorism etc. travel stuff, not health stuff.
I have travel insurance through a UK company as I am a resident there. I am a US passport holder. I pay around £200 annually for my partner and myself. Definitely look at company options in your country of residence to ensure they cover things like airlift, COVID, etc.
You don’t want anything from healthcare.gov unless you are moving back to the US permanently. Look up travel HEALTH insurance that will cover you in the US during your travel dates. All policies are different, but you will want to be sure you are covered for emergencies/catastrophic essentially if you were to end up hospitalized, god forbid.
For regular recurring prescriptions you should ask the GP in your home country in advance to fill enough to get you through your travel dates.
And remember, lots of people in the USA don’t have any insurance at all. If you need to go to urgent care or other unplanned but not super serious emergency doctor visit during your travel - just tell them you don’t have insurance and you will self-pay. It will be less than they’d bill insurance and shouldn’t be too bad $$$.