# Health Insurance vs Travel Insurance for expats



## tjunction (Oct 20, 2015)

I'm relocating from Australia to Houston with my wife and son, and am considering health insurance options. 

Quotes for Health Insurance (Family of 3 covering Medical, Dental, Optical) have come in at around $1550 per month with $1000 copay/excess, or $1200 per month with $5000 copay/excess.

Quotes for equivalent Travel Insurance are less than $330 per month. I note one limitation in that pregnant mums are covered up to 26 weeks pregnancy, but are not covered for delivery of baby.

Can anyone tell me of any other notable limitations of simply getting travel insurance in 12+ month blocks?

Assuming no babies, Travel insurance seems the way to go at 1/5 of the price. 

Am I missing something here?


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

travel insurance is only sold to actual travelers not immigrants
as many have found to their cost ... its called insurance fraud


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

I answered in this thread, but I'll add a couple more points.

I agree with Davis1. The travel "insurance" company presumably has the right to verify that your physical movements are consistent with the terms of their policy and refuse payment for noncompliance. Conceivably the company could even refer you for criminal prosecution if you were to lie to them about your visa status or lack of travel, as examples. Does the policy let you stay in the United States indefinitely or even for long periods and enjoy the limited coverage it provides? Probably not.

What travel medical insurance policy provides coverage for routine dental and vision care? None I've ever heard of. You're comparing two financial products that are extremely different, and not only in that way. They're insuring against completely different risk profiles.

Let's consider one simple example. Let's suppose you and your spouse have the misfortune of contracting (or have already contracted) Hepatitis C. Fortunately this is a treatable infection now. Your travel medical insurance policy is extremely unlikely to cover the treatment medication. It's not an emergency, and for that matter it could be a preexisting condition that isn't covered. But let's suppose hypothetically that you somehow clear those hurdles. Hepatitis C treatment in the U.S. currently costs roughly $150,000 per person, plus doctors' fees. Does that travel medical insurance cover $320,000 of medical bills within a short period of time (weeks)? And do you really want to pay ~$320,000 and then submit those receipts, hoping to get reimbursed?

With PPACA compliant U.S. medical insurance you go to an "in network" doctor, you pay $5,000 out of pocket total, and the insurance company directly pays all the rest ($315,000). You stay in the United States, continue living your life, and there's a 98% or better cure rate.

The World Health Organization estimates there are between 130 and 150 million people worldwide with chronic Hepatitis C infection and about 500,000 deaths per year attributable to that particular infection. So I'm not picking something terribly exotic in this example. There are certainly more expensive ailments to treat with less reliable outcomes, including many forms of cancer.

Travel medical insurance is ordinarily only good enough (if that) to get you patched up in a trip to a hospital emergency room then put on the next plane back to your home country. It's for tourists and their much more limited risks. (Maybe. There are some pretty crappy travel medical insurance policies. It's not a well regulated industry.) That's not you or your family.


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

$1200 a month for comprehensive coverage (which Group/employer cover usually is) is, while not cheap, a competitive price.

Travel insurance won't cover you - it's for travelling outside of your home area, not for residents and only for emergency treatment.

Don't skimp on medical insurance with a family - one serious illness could be ten of thousands of dollars in costs.

Welcome to the USA medical system !


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Be sure to read the fine print, too, on that travel insurance policy. Most of the "annual" travel insurance policies I've encountered limit your travel time to a fixed number of days per year (like, 90 or 120) - by which they mean travel outside your country of residence. There is a very good chance that they could simply refuse to pay for anything if they determine that you are actually resident in the US and not "traveling."

If you are relocating for a job, however, be sure to check with your employer before signing up for any sort of health coverage. Most employers provide some sort of subsidized health insurance (as there is now, I believe, a penalty for those that don't). Despite all the tales of woe in using the healthcare marketplace website, the vast majority of folks in the US get their health cover through their employment.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Bevdeforges said:


> Most employers provide some sort of subsidized health insurance (as there is now, I believe, a penalty for those that don't).


U.S. employers with 50 or more Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employees generally must either offer PPACA-compliant medical insurance to their full-time (30 hours or more per week) employees or pay the Employer Shared Responsibility tax.

About 96% of such employers were already offering medical insurance before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to the statistics I can find, so this particular tax provision is unlikely to affect many employers and employees.

Employers with fewer employees are not subject to this tax, but such employers now have access to employer medical insurance exchanges so that they can extend insurance to their employees more affordably in order to attract and retain talent.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Depending on your legal status in the US travel insurance may simply not cover you.


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