So, you’re on a mission to find the best travel insurance for parents visiting USA. Oh boy! I know the feeling.
You have 23 tabs open in your browser and you’re probably comparing six different plans right now, isn’t it? Well, let’s do this.
When I was in the USA, I brought my parents and my in-laws to USA for visits. And every time I did, I was like on a war mission.
Every day, I would go online and look for travel insurance plans, compare them, look for reviews, cross-check if the reviews were legitimate, try and find out the person who left the review, contact him on WhatsApp or LinkedIn, and try to learn his experience.
And trust me, I learned the hard way that, all that is written and told to you via websites and those beautiful brochures aren’t always entirely true.
The devil is in the details and you should not miss a thing!
In this article...
Best travel insurance plans for parents visiting USA
| 1. | Best Plan – Patriot America Plus |
| 2. | Recommended Plan – Atlas America |
| 3. | Popular Plan – Safe Travels USA |
Recommended Plans
Up to $2,000,000 of Overall Maximum Coverage, Emergency Medical Evacuation, Medical coverage for eligible expenses related to COVID-19, Trip Interruption & Travel Delay.
Coverage for in-patient and out-patient medical accidents up to $1 Million, Coverage of acute episodes of pre-existing conditions, Coverage from 5 days to 364 days (about 12 months).
Up to $8,000,000 limits, Emergency Medical Evacuation, Coinsurance for treatment received in the U.S. (100% within PPO Network), Acute Onset of Pre-Existing Conditions covered.
1. Patriot America Plus
Patriot America Plus is an excellent plan for parents visiting USA. Here’s why.
- Offers an amazing PPO hospital network.
- For urgent care, the deductible is waived, just $25 co-pay.
- For walk-in clinics, only $15 co-pay.
- Covers pre-existing conditions up to policy maximum for 70 years and below.
- Plenty of policy maximum choices up to $1,000,000.
2. ‘Atlas America’
After Patriot America Plus, Atlas America is the next best insurance plan for parents visiting USA. Here’s why.
- Only $15 co-pay for urgent care or walk-in clinics.
- Excellent PPO hospital network (United Healthcare or First Health)
- After deductible, policy pays 100% up to the policy maximum.
- Covers acute onset of pre-existing conditions. (Up to policy max for people below 70 years & up to lower of the policy max or $100,000 for ages 70 – 79.
- Plenty of policy maximum choices (up to $ 2 million).
3. ‘Safe Travels USA Comprehensive’
After Patriot America Plus and Atlas America, the next best travel insurance for parents visiting USA is Safe Travels USA. Here’s why.
- Most recommended plan for aged parents above 70.
- Urgent care just $30 co-pay.
- Extensive PPO network from First Health PPO network.
- Covers acute onset of pre-existing conditions up to policy max for people under 70 years.
- For ages 70-79, it covers acute onset of pre-existing conditions for up $35,000.
How to choose a good travel insurance plan for parents?
Here’s my cheat sheet to choosing a good travel insurance plan for parents.
Ask questions. Plenty of them.
Here are a bunch of questions I’d ask you and your parents.
- How long are you visiting the US?
- What kind of activities will you be doing during your visit?
- Are you going to travel alone back and forth from the US?
- Do you have any pre-existing conditions?
- Are you on any prescription medicine?
- Do you need baggage insurance?
- Do you need to protect against trip cancellation?
- Do you need protection against weather conditions?
You get the idea.
There is no one plan that fits all. The trick is to ask as many questions as possible and get your answers.
The fact is that there are so many plans out there but not one that takes care of all. Certain plans are great for pre-existing conditions. Some are great for trip cancellations. Some are great for short stays. So on and so forth.
For parents visiting the USA, you might want to consider an additional angle.
Their age.
Since most parents would be over the age of 50 years (generalizing), it is probably a good idea to check if the travel insurance plan covers pre-existing conditions.
Also, make sure that the plan covers medical emergencies, usual checkups like flu, and other occurrences.
You might also want to consider what activities parents do during their visit to the USA.
There are two types of travel insurance plans for parents visiting USA. Fixed coverage and Comprehensive.
If they are into adventurous activities, like hiking, etc, then you might want to consider them, while choosing a good plan.
If your parents aren’t much into adventurous activities and are in the US for spending time with you, then you might want to choose a plan to avoid adventurous activities.
Also, adding trip cancellation to your parent’s insurance plan might be a good idea because there might be flight delays and cancellations during the trip. They have become a common occurrence now.
What is a fixed coverage plan?
A fixed coverage plan is one that offers limited benefits for the insurer.
Try to avoid these type of plans for parents as they only cover the basics and is generally useless. They might appear cheap but it’s not worth it.
Many people who bought travel insurance for their parents visiting the USA will tell you that buying cheap travel insurance is a bad idea.
They look good on paper but once you get into the claim process and the like, things get disappointing.
Is comprehensive travel insurance better for parents visiting USA?
Yes.
Comprehensive travel insurance plans offer better benefits, participate in better hospital networks (PPO) and offer simple deductible options that has to be met only once per policy period and cover acute onset of pre-existing conditions in most plans.
Generally speaking, comprehensive travel insurance plans are a better choice for parents visiting USA.
Never buy travel insurance from your home country.
One of the often repeated questions here is…
"Should I buy travel insurance for parents from my home country or not?"
Well, to be honest with you, I wouldn’t suggest buying travel insurance from your home country. Reasons below.
Most often, the companies offering travel insurance from your home country can only provide you insurance in your home country.
They might appear to show coverage and protection in USA but, we all know very well that companies in USA have better coverage and networks.
When you’re in the USA, you are going to be using hospital networks in USA. It is better if your insurance company is in USA and can be contacted for any communication.
Many times, parents buy cheap insurance plans from their home country only to find out later that they aren’t very useful when in the USA.
You can see a lot of people complaining about this on many websites.
Summary
To summarize, there is no one best travel insurance for parents visiting USA but if you compare different plans, you’ll find that the best plans are those that offer comprehensive coverage, cover pre-existing conditions, offer extended benefits and are flexible with dates.
