Many of our clients travel in retirement. Are you planning to travel outside of the U.S. this year? Before you go, remember to check your health insurance and/or Medicare coverage outside of the United States.
Original Medicare (Medicare Parts A & B) stops at the border. You have coverage inside the U.S., however, in general, Medicare does not pay for any services outside of the country. This doesn’t mean you must travel without coverage. Three of the ways to ensure you can get health coverage outside of the U.S. are:
- If you are on a Medicare Advantage plan, check your benefits outside of the U.S., most of these policies do give you emergency coverage worldwide.
- If you have a Medicare Supplement policy (A.K.A. medigap), check your policy to see if it includes coverage outside of the U.S., some supplemental policies do have limited international coverage.
- Purchase a travel insurance policy that includes health coverage while you are traveling. You can contact Elise for information on GeoBlue and you can also talk to your travel agent about travel insurance.
Some policies also cover transportation to get you back home in the event of an emergency. Be sure to carefully read the benefits of the travel policy that you decide to purchase so that you can travel with peace of mind.
Safe travels to all of you who are venturing out to see the world!!