{"id":120883,"date":"2023-07-26T20:10:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T00:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=120883"},"modified":"2023-07-26T20:12:04","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T00:12:04","slug":"international-medical-insurance-provides-peace-of-mind-lowers-financial-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=120883","title":{"rendered":"International Medical Insurance Provides Peace of Mind, Lowers Financial Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Capital Blue Cross \u2013 \u00a0THINK<\/a>\u00a0(Trusted Health Information, News, and Knowledge) is a community publication of Capital Blue Cross. Our mission is to provide education, resources, and news on the latest health and insurance issues.<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

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Traveling abroad can be thrilling and enriching. It also can be a major medical risk, and purchasing international medical insurance is an affordable, accessible way to manage that risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A 19-year-old man\u2019s recent summer getaway to Cancun, Mexico, turned tragic when \u2013 while enjoying his pristine ocean view \u2013 he fell from three stories. Nobody saw him fall.<\/p>\n

Later found unconscious, he was taken to a local facility \u2013 one with a reputation for refusing patient treatment and\/or discharge, withholding passports until full payment is made upfront, and price gouging.<\/p>\n

It could have been a worst-case scenario, since the man\u2019s injuries left him in critical condition and in need of emergency surgery to reduce brain swelling. He\u2019d need to be moved quickly to someplace that could deliver that level of care.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, he had international medical insurance, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges Americans to purchase when traveling outside the U.S. That\u2019s because nearly 1 in 4 Americans have had medical issues while traveling abroad, according to research from Harris Poll and GeoBlue, which provides health insurance coverage for travelers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really makes sense,\u201d says Capital Blue Cross Senior Account Executive Jackie Sariano. \u201cIt\u2019s affordable, it\u2019s accessible, and it provides peace of mind when traveling abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Their Minds<\/b><\/p>\n

According to Harris Poll and GeoBlue, Americans are increasingly thoughtful about possible medical issues when traveling internationally: Nearly two-thirds agree health concerns factor into their destination choice.<\/p>\n

Still, too few are turning their worries into action by ensuring their health and finances while traveling internationally.<\/p>\n

As a result, more than three-quarters of consumers either don\u2019t know how they\u2019d pay for or won\u2019t have sufficient insurance to cover medical care when abroad. Too many mistakenly assume their domestic health plans will simply work the same way abroad.<\/p>\n

Rethinking Employee Benefits<\/b><\/p>\n

Post-pandemic, employers have been faced with a new dilemma: how to support employees who want to work remotely outside the U.S. or add leisure travel to international business trips. It\u2019s becoming more common: 41% of companies are considering a permanent work-from-anywhere option and 80% of U.S. travelers are planning to add leisure days to future business trips.<\/p>\n

But relying on a domestic health plan can result in increased financial burden, delayed or denied medical care, and other stressors. International providers often expect full payment at time of service; international claims are often considered out of network, making them more expensive; and most individual and employer-provided domestic health plans don\u2019t cover medically necessary evacuation or repatriation to the U.S.<\/p>\n

Covered Care That\u2019s Right There<\/b><\/p>\n

For employers, the path to safer employee travel is simple: health plans that include international health insurance coverage. These plans ensure access to quality providers who accept direct payment from the carrier, 24\/7\/365 multilingual support, coverage for medical evacuation, and more.<\/p>\n

Capital Blue Cross, for instance, offers coverage from GeoBlue \u2013 a fellow member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield family \u2013 as an option for employer and individual plans. Capital also provides the option to purchase international medical plans directly at any of its five Capital Blue Cross Connect health and wellness centers, and further shows its commitment to coverage and risk management outside the U.S. by providing GeoBlue coverage to its own employees.<\/p>\n

Quick Action, Quality Care<\/b><\/p>\n

A GeoBlue plan covered the 19-year-old man who fell three stories in Cancun, and the people and policies behind that plan quickly kicked into action upon receiving the man\u2019s injury report.<\/p>\n

GeoBlue\u2019s medical review team determined the emergency-surgery need, and within two days of being notified, GeoBlue had an air ambulance fly the man and his father to Houston in time to receive the necessary care at the appropriate cost.<\/p>\n

In this case, the foresight to purchase international medical insurance couldn\u2019t have paid off more.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife is full of unexpected events,\u201d Sariano said. \u201cDon\u2019t wait until it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about GeoBlue, visit https:\/\/about.geo-blue.com<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

(GeoBlue\u00ae is a trade name of Worldwide Insurance Services, LLC, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You can find more useful articles at https:\/\/thinkcapitalbluecross.com\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nJERRY REIMENSCHNEIDER
\nSenior Public Relations Specialist | Brand & Market Strategy
\nhttps:\/\/www.capbluecross.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Capital Blue Cross \u2013 \u00a0THINK\u00a0(Trusted Health Information, News, and Knowledge) is a community publication of Capital Blue Cross. Our mission is to provide education, resources, and news on the … Continue reading International Medical Insurance Provides Peace of Mind, Lowers Financial Risk<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482,5742],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2","category-think"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/airport.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/120899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}