Sunday, December 26, 2010

Health Insurance Coverage When Outside the US

My understanding is that most U.S. health insurance coverage stops at the borders. Even Medicare.

For me, this is not so relevant, because my U.S. health insurance coverage is going to end at midnight, December 31, 2010, anyway. Which is why I've been getting well-person screenings in the last few months in the event work is needed before the midnight hour. Fortunately, all has been clear.

I'll do some checking in the next couple of days into the possibility of affordable health care effective 1/1/11, but I suspect my definition of "affordable" and my country's definition of affordable will not intersect. This will likely mean I'll be going commando for awhile.  Hopefully, I'll get an ESL teaching job that provides health care coverage.

On the other hand, many countries outside the U.S. have decent and very affordable health care (affordable by average-Joe American standards; perhaps exorbitant by average, in-country resident standards), so no insurance may be needed.

Trip insurance for American travelers outside the U.S.:

At nunomad.com, Ricardo wrote How to Choose the Best Travel Insurance - Ricardo's Experience

World Nomads seems to garner most travelers' affections, but it's by no means the only game in town.

Other than various bells and whistles of particular policies, factors that affect the cost of travel insurance appear to be:
  • Traveler's home country
  • Destination country
  • Traveler's age
  • Length of time in the destination country

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