Travel Health Insurance

I searched but didn’t find exactly what I’m looking for.

I plan to fly to USA, so I need an extra health insurance, because the basic Swiss insurance only covers up to the double (2x) of the Swiss tariff for any procedure. And for USA, as we know, the costs can be ridiculous.

So I got an offer from my basic insurance provider. Assura Mondia costs 8 CHF per month and the minimum term is 5 years. So 96 CHF per year for what seems to only be applicable to USA trips, and you have to pay it for 5 years. Seems like not the best deal, that’s why I wanted to ask you for any alternatives. Do you know any short-term insurances that cover short USA trips?

On the other hand, the lady on the phone said, the tariffs vary from country to country, and you could be surprised by the cost of some procedures (of course she was not very specific, so maybe this was some kind of scare marketing blabla). So if you travel often (and I do) then maybe it’s worth to take it just to be safe. What do you think/how do you handle it yourself?

No there should be weekly insurances. I would check with other health insurance providers. I know that mine sends a card yearly on which you can specify the date of the travel and then pay for those weeks. Usually you can have these insurances with another provider than where you have your health insurance.

You can maybe check directly with a US provider.

Try swisscare. Never tried it for travel insurance though.
Edit: I’m not sure they offer an insurance for the USA anymore. weeird.

maybe imglobal?

Read the fine print.
Assistant’s surgeon : 20% of primary surgeon’s charge.

wtf it means?

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Thanks. I found a website visitorscoverage.com which compares multiple insurances.

I see that two weeks of insurance for $1’000’000 limit and $2’500 deductible go for around $30, which is fine. But when you look into the comparison, then your head starts spinning :stuck_out_tongue: . Some of them only cover 80% of costs outside of their network. And how should I know what is inside and what not. “Excuse me, I’m dying, what network is your ambulance in? Oh… OK then I’ll take the next one” :face_with_raised_eyebrow: (yeah yeah, accidents are different than doctor visits)

The one I saw said that out of network they pay 80 for the first 5000usd. then 100%. Still more reasonable, it’s an insurance after all…
The problem are all other stuff like I said before. Super weird.
Just get rega and ask to be sent back :slight_smile:

Edit: Apparently it’s the same where you’ve checked. Same Insurance name, same fine print for PA plus.

Yes I made it extra, to compare your suggestion with the other one. This CoverAmerica has 100% coverage, so at least in this regard it’s better.

How frequently do you plan to visit the US and for how long?

Check into CSS Travel Insurance Economy. Unlimited coverage for medical emergencies in addition to what is covered by compulsory insurance. If you only need the medical emergency coverage, the cost is CHF 16 for 17 days, CHF 28 for 31 days, CHF 57.60 for 1 year.

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Well, maybe once a year in the coming years? Are medical emergencies the same thing as “Unfallversicherung”? Because that part is covered by our employers. I would need to ask my boss if our insurance covers USA. And what qualifies as an emergency? If I break my leg, sure. But if I get food poisoning? Or if I suddenly get a high fever?

I believe for treatment to qualify as a medical emergency, it would have to be stated as such on the medical bill. That would generally be the case when treatment is initiated in a hospital’s emergency ward, though I’m sure other treatments may qualify if they are clearly billed as medical emergencies.

Occupational accident insurance does cover you against accident-based medical emergencies while traveling, but like compulsory health insurance, coverage is limited. So treatment is covered up to double the cost of equivalent treatment in Switzerland and emergency medical transportation is covered up to a maximum of 29,640 francs. Some occupational accident insurance providers have better coverage than what is legally required. You can ask your employer for the T&Cs.

As far as I can see, the CSS insurance also extends travel coverage. “In case of illness, accident or premature birth, CSS will cover the costs of emergency treatment and hospitalization which are not covered by another insurer that has an obligation to pay benefits.” You can find the policy T&Cs here:
https://www.css.ch/media/en/documents/privatpersonen/avb/457_e_css_avb_reiseversicherung.pdf

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No, Unfall is accident (eg from break leg to weeks in ICU after car accident) & medical emergencies are getting your appendix out to weeks in ICU due to pneumonia (caused by Covid19 to be very trendy).
Only Unfall is covered by Unfallvers. Check with employer, mostly it’s better coverage than Krankenkasse.

I just found this offer, which seems better than anything else I could find (for basic foreign accident and health insurance without limit/cap). 8 weeks of coverage for 30 CHF:
https://www.visana.ch/de/privatkunden/leistungen/vacanza

Traveling to Canada for one month this year, so I am very much interested in this thread! :slight_smile:

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Thank you, it looks great. A one-off insurance for a low price. So far I don’t see any problems. I guess I’ll take it.

How does that actually work? Do they check if you were really travelling? I typed in global coverage for 365 days, and it came out at under 1000$. How can it be so cheap, and why would American not just get that even if they are not travelling?

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Generally, the coverage only applies to medical bills in foreign countries (not your country of residence), and only to medical emergencies (not planned treatment).

I took the Visana insurance! You fill out the form, they send you a booklet with terms and a payment slip, you pay and that’s it.

By the way, regarding health insurance for nomads, here’s an interesting thread:

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I still have the complementary insurance from swica because I did not realise I had to cancel that separately.

It does state that it has travel insurance but I have no Idea exactly what or how much that covers (Most materials I have seen seem pretty vague).

https://www.swica.ch/en/private/insurance/supplementary-insurance/completa-top

Swica Top coverage outside of Switzerland (supplemental to compulsory Swiss health insurance benefits): Full costs of emergency medical care; emergency medical evacuation (search, rescue, ambulance) up to CHF 50k; emergency medical repatriation to Switzerland; travel costs for one person’s sympathy visit, plus up to CHF 1k food and accommodation for sympathy visitor.

https://www4.swica.ch/p/030_d_AVB_ZB_VVG.pdf

If you have Swica Top, you should not need any other travel medical insurance.

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Neat. Might even be worth to keep it.