What Is Visitor Insurance for the USA, and How Does It Work?
Visitor insurance is a short-term medical plan bought for someone visiting the USA who has no US health insurance. It helps pay for a new illness or injury treated during the visit, up to the plan's limits, for a price fixed when you buy. It is not general health insurance: it usually excludes health problems that existed before it started, and it ends when the visit ends. [1]
When does it start, and when does it end?
It runs between the dates you choose, unless the trip changes them. In one carrier's sample policy, coverage starts on the later of the start date on the certificate and the day the traveler leaves their home country. It ends on the end date on the certificate or the day the traveler returns home, whichever comes first. A period of coverage runs from 5 days to 12 months.
So pick dates that match the trip: the plan pays nothing for care before the start date or after the traveler goes home. [1]
How does a bill get paid?
In this order: you pay the deductible, the plan pays its share, and two limits cap the total.
The deductible is the amount you pay before the plan pays anything; in one carrier's sample policy, the choices run from $0 to $2,500.
Then the plan's share: many plans pay a percentage of the covered charges and you pay the rest. In the sample, the plan pays 100% at a doctor or hospital in its network and 90% outside it, so 10% of those charges is yours.
Each kind of care can also have its own smaller limit.
The overall limit is the most the plan pays for the whole trip, and it depends on the traveler's age. In the sample, the choices run from $50,000 up to $1,000,000 through age 69, are $50,000 or $100,000 at ages 70 through 79, and $10,000 at 80 and older. Anything above the limit is yours. [1]
What does it not cover?
Health problems that existed before the start date; plans call these pre-existing conditions. In one carrier's sample policy, that means any condition that existed at application or at any time in the 3 years before the start date, whether or not it was known, diagnosed or treated; charges related to it are excluded. Some plans add a narrower benefit, called acute onset, for a sudden, unexpected flare-up of such a condition; it has its own rules (in the sample, only under age 70), explained in the pre-existing conditions guide. Planned or elective care is excluded under this wording too; so is anything else the plan's exclusions list names. [1]
What do you do when someone gets sick?
For anything short of an emergency, a clinic usually costs you far less than an emergency room: in one carrier's sample policy, an emergency room visit for an illness that does not end in a hospital admission has its own $250 deductible, which a clinic visit does not. Call the plan before any planned hospital care, keep every bill and receipt, and follow the guide on what to do if your parent gets sick. [1]
Three things to compare
- The overall limit at the age the traveler will be when coverage starts, not the biggest number on the plan page.
- How the plan pays: fixed dollar amounts for each kind of care, or a percentage of the covered charges. The fixed-benefit vs. comprehensive guide shows the difference.
- The rules for conditions the traveler already has: the definition, how far back it looks, and whether any acute onset benefit applies at their age.
Your next step
Get quotes using the traveler's exact age and travel dates. Put the three points above side by side for each plan, and ask about anything unclear before you pay.
Compare visitor insurance plans
Related guides
Sources
This IMG sample policy illustrates the wording. Terms differ by plan; your own policy documents determine your benefits. The amounts quoted from the sample are not a quote or a promise of payment, and this page uses no invented example numbers.