Medical coverage when you leave Argentina

[Holden]

I am looking to get private medical insurance here and I'd like to have a plan that covers me when I take a trip outside Argentina. For example, I had Medicus before and they would provide medical coverage through AssistCard for 2 months. So you could take a 2 month vacation to Brazil and still be covered. Ideally, I would like a plan that offers a longer period of coverage, so when I leave to return to the US for several months I am still covered.

I heard that Swiss Medical offers coverage outside of Argentina for up to 6 months... does anyone that has Swiss Medical know if that is true? I also live very close to the German Hospital so I was going to consider their coverage as well, but does anyone know if they offer coverage for when you leave Argentina, and if so, for how long?

Thanks in advance...

 

[TrevorCito]

Yes, swiss medical offer travel insurance but its capped at 12k USD for each person on the plan... basically useless. Insurance provided through credit cards often offer better cover.

 

[Sleuth]

It's also emergency coverage, I believe so it will not cover routine things.

 

[allcraz]

Hi everyone. I have AssistCard travel insurance through my Visa Gold credit card. In all my traveling, I have never had to claim and am going into this situation quite blindly. We were recently in the States and both my daughter and I were admitted to the emergency room. Me for a really nasty and sudden virus, and my 10-month-old for strange symptoms she had developed after I was checked in. She was checked out and fine, while I was put on an IV and given nausea medication and watched for about 3 hours and then released. I am now finding out that I supposedly should have called AssistCard before receiving medical care, but who is thinking about that when they are projectile vomiting? (TMI, sorry.) Just wanting to know if any of you have gone through a claim with AssistCard without having called them before receiving care? Thanks in advance.

 

[Alicia karr]

I asked about the "call first" thing on Assist card,,,like if you're unconscious how can you call first? Their answer was basically call within the first 24 hours and you should be ok...
I use the medical insurance that comes with my ARG. Credit card. It covers travel for up to 90 days at a time. Even the assist card wouldn't cover me for that long (at the time I looked into it they had a two month limit for each trip. And it was a couple of hundred dollars!
The credit card insurance does cover doctors visits, but you need to call them and possibly they have people they send you to. I'm not sure because fortunately I haven't had to use it yet.
Do always read the fine print. Often there are caps on what they will pay, limits on how long you can remain in one country and many exclusions. (What else is new?!)

 

[Ceviche]

Almost all travel medical insurance I know, want you to call them first or within 24 hours. I was searching and researching for several months last year as I travel often.

So I have a medical health insurance (A6) from Hospital Aleman now at 1050 pesos a month. Horrible service!Thinking of changing to Trinidad Hospital from this year.

I also have taken a plan from "Global rescue". Global Rescue.com. This plan is basically...if you fall very sick or have a bad accident, they will transfer back to anywhere in the world as filled up in the form at time of taking the plan. No questions asked. Its 300 us$ a year and I found it worth it. thankfully yet to use it. But they have a monthly newsletter highlighting people rescued all over the world.

For my travel health..I have taken "[font=Helvetica Neue']HCC Medical Insurance Services" ..It covers me all over the world for 1 million us$ at 300 us$ a year us$ . but I must call [/font]them within 24 hours. thankfully, yet to use them!

I also have accident and life insurance on my US credit cards.

 

[allcraz]

Interesting. Thanks for your answers, lacoqueta & ceviche. I'm guessing this is going to turn into a live and learn situation. It never occurred to me to call. I just thought you sent them the bill afterwards. Oops. I did call AssistCard yesterday, and the guy was really helpful and asked me if I had proof that I tried to call at the time of "emergency", and I said no, and his response was sort of like, "Don't worry." At one point I'm pretty positive he said, "Don't worry, you won't have to pay anything," although I'm not sure why that is since it clearly says you're not covered if you don't call before or within 24 hours. I was sent the form to fill out for the "reintegro" although I don't yet have the bill. I'll write about how it all turns out. Thanks again.

 

[germano]

I have used worldnomads.com several times. Filed a couple of claims with them and it went very smooth. All via Internet (scanned receipts) - never had to call them. The nice thing about worldnomads is that you can extend your policy while traveling. So if you signed up for two months and stay longer you can buy more weeks/months while traveling.

 

[nicoenarg]

Not really sure its relevant, but my wife and I used William Russell health insurance (http://www.william-russell.com/international-health/if/global-health-plans-summary) which covered our medical insurance both in Dubai, where we were living at the time, and everywhere else in the world (except the US and London, we had the option to put it on but we didn't since we didn't plan on visiting or staying in either place). At the time the Silver plan cost us some $175 US dollars (that was two years ago).

They were pretty awesome. We had to spend out of pocket for regular checkups and then get the money back (they always credited our account within 5 working days) and for emergencies we had something like 72 hours (? not sure right now) to call and ask them for approval and get the hospital and them dealing with finances, etc.

We don't have this insurance anymore though since we don't need it but it is a good option if you travel a lot.

 

[allcraz]

I have used worldnomads.com several times. Filed a couple of claims with them and it went very smooth. All via Internet (scanned receipts) - never had to call them. The nice thing about worldnomads is that you can extend your policy while traveling. So if you signed up for two months and stay longer you can buy more weeks/months while traveling.

That's nice to know. I used them, too, but never had to file any claims. I use AssistCard now because it's an included benefit with my credit card. In the future I'll know I have to get in touch!