Making ensuring you have the appropriate foreign health and travel insurance plan in place may not always be your first priority if you’re a student who plans to study abroad. The majority of students do not believe they will require coverage, or you might wait until the last minute and not have the time to compare all the options. The InternationalStudent.com Study Abroad Center is here to assist you by doing the legwork for you. As a result, we have found a number of plans that are perfect for students studying abroad and provide the best coverage at the best price.
Monthly Student Health Insurance
Students who are participating in a study abroad program outside of the United States should choose the Student Secure plan, a monthly international student health insurance plan. The benefit package has several great features, including hospitalization coverage, prescription drug coverage, doctor visits, mental health care, maternity coverage, sports coverage, evacuation coverage, and much more. The policy is renewable if you need more coverage, and you can buy it in monthly payments. For students, it offers the greatest flexibility.
Student Travel Health Insurance
The Atlas International plan is best for students who want more travel-related advantages but don’t need the monthly payment flexibility of the student secure or perks like maternity leave, etc. You can purchase the plan for 5 days to 1 year, and you can renew it if you initially buy at least 3 months. Hospitalization, medical visits, prescription medicine, evacuation, repatriation, trip interruption, missing luggage, and many other things are all covered by the plan.
Study Abroad Insurance Tips
When looking for study abroad insurance, you will know that there are many plans available – here are a few tips to help you look for the right insurance plan:
- All insurance carriers are rated by either AM Best or Standard and Poors – some countries will require your insurance plan be rated above a certain level so be sure to check this out.
- Make sure you read the exclusions – all plans will have exclusions, some will be more stringent than others, so be sure to check them out and make sure you understand what is not covered under the plan.
- Does the plan participate in a network – some plans have a PPO network which is a network of doctors/ hospitals, and they will require you to visit these providers, and other plans will not restrict you to any provider in particular so you will need to check that out.
- 24 hour assistance – most plans will offer you 24 hour assistance service, which is standard on all plan, but make sure you can easily call them from the country you are located in.
- How claims are paid – nearly all insurance plans will work on a pay up front, claim back later procedure, but make sure you are aware of how long a claim will take to be processed, it should really be no more than 2 weeks.
