Best travel insurance for Americans visiting the US from Japan?

June 23, 2016 8:07 PM

Hey there! My wife and I are two Americans living in Japan, so we've gotten used the idea of being able to see a doctor if we need to, and now that we're in our thirties it suddenly occurs to us that maybe we should make sure we have health insurance for our three-week trip to America, because otherwise it could pretty easily mean just sort of running out of all of our money if something goes wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions for good travel insurance companies to go with, or ones to avoid?
posted by DoctorFedora to Travel & Transportation around United States (2 answers total)

Best answer: You may want to keep in mind that almost all of these policies don't cover pre-existing conditions. I'd also pay attention to the deductible and pick the right one based on your needs. I would get at least $100,000 coverage, even $1M coverage is not too unreasonable due to the cost of healthcare in the US.

I have used squaremouth.com to compare travel health insurance and buy the one that best fit our needs. For my latest trip from Japan to U.S. I bought a policy from ihi.com (Bupa Global) because that is one of the few travel medical policies that includes liability coverage for rental car. My credit card covers any damage to the rental car but liability is not covered by the card and rental companies usually only have minimal liability coverage, so it is better to have your own coverage if you will be renting a car in the US.
posted by thewildgreen at 8:40 PM on June 23, 2016 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Not sure if they sell policies in Japan, but traveling from Australia to the US, I always buy cover from World Nomads. I found them through Lonely Planet, and I believe they are one of the more comprehensive policies out there. I haven't done a comparison in a while, but back when I started using them 8 years ago or so, I did a pretty extensive comparison of policy documents from different providers, and they were the best value for the amount of cover provided. They were fantastic and prompt in paying a claim I had when I injured myself traveling in Thailand.
posted by amusebuche at 4:51 AM on June 26, 2016 [1 favorite]