Travel health insurance for US Expats

December 10, 2007 7:53 AM

Where can I, an expatriate US citizen, get travel health insurance that will cover me while I'm traveling in the States?

I asked my insurance agent here in Austria if he could set me up with travel health insurance for my annual trip to the US. He sent me a policy which looked great, until I read the fine print. The policy will cover me worldwide, outside of Austria and any country of which I am a citizen. I'm still a US citizen, but Austria has been my place of primary residence for 7 years.

Is there any way for me to get travel insurance that will cover me while I'm in the US?

posted by syzygy to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

I've lived in Europe for five years and I always use insuremytrip.com for trips home. There are a lot of different options there and you should be able to find one which works for you. Also, did you check whether your current plan (if you're with an insurance agent, I assume you've gone private) covers you for emergency treatment in the US? The one I've got in Germany covers trips up to six weeks.
posted by laconic titan at 11:17 AM on December 10, 2007

John Ingle Insurance specializes in health insurance for people outside of their country of residence. I've been happy on the occasions when I used their services (though the most recent was 10 years ago). It's a Canadian company and I'm Canadian but from a quick glance at the web site it looks like they should have a product that's suitable for you.
posted by winston at 12:18 PM on December 10, 2007

Try Wallach.com
posted by citybuddha at 12:40 PM on December 10, 2007

short term health insurance plans can be for anywhere from 1-12 months (you decide), and are usually much simpler to get than permanent coverage. You fill in a brief form, and can have coverage within a couple days.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 1:27 PM on December 10, 2007

I just moved back to the US and bought short-term health insurance - I used Assurant. I didn't need to claim, so can't vouch for them completely.
posted by poissonrouge at 2:20 PM on December 10, 2007

I've always used World Nomads for my travel insurance. It's very easy to do online, and they will cover you in the States. Never had to file a claim, though.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 2:41 PM on December 10, 2007

Thanks for the good answers. It's hard to pick a best, but I went with World Nomads, so Pater Atheleias gets the nod.

Hopefully I won't have occasion to comment on how they handle claims :)
posted by syzygy at 12:24 AM on December 11, 2007