When Medicare was originally drafted, international travel was not as prevalent as it is today, and was not drafted into the plan.
Today, many more seniors travel internationally, and limited coverage has been drafted into the Medigap policies of C,D,E,F,G,H,I and J. Medicare supplement plans include a specific benefit for Emergency Foreign Travel. However, the key words here are “Emergency Foreign Travel.”
If your chosen Medicare supplement insurance plan has the Emergency Foreign Travel benefit, it will pay 80% of certain qualified emergency medically necessary medical services outside the U.S. after a $250 deductible is met.
However, the care must be deemed an emergency. For example: Let’s say you go to the hospital with what you believe to be a heart attack. It turns out, you ate some spicy Thai food that did not agree with you. Your Emergency Foreign Travel policy may not pay for this hospital visit as it turned out not to be an emergency.
The lifetime cap for total emergency foreign travel benefits is $50,000.00. The care must be included in the first 60 days of the trip to make sure that it’s foreign travel and not foreign residency.
If you go on longer trips than 60 days, a medical travel policy may be right for you. Contact us for more information at 1-888-461-2991.