Question
My mother visited this year (2006) from February to June. This was her 2nd visit in 10 years and she was all fine in the first visit in the year 2000. She was all fine until May and got sick. Initially, she had throat infection, then it was followed by nausea, vomiting and burning in the stomach. Taking her to a Urgent care center did not help and finally had to take her to Emergency.
Once I went into emergency, they started doing all kind of things. Since she was Diabetic and BP, the Dr. started diagnosing for possible heart problem. Then, this diagnosis went on for 2 days admitting her to ICU unit. For our question to why this diagnosis when the patient is having no chest pain or whatsoever related to heart, the Dr. said that is the normal procedure they follow for BP and Diabetic patients.
I had taken Protection America 80/20 Comprehensive coverage insurance. As anything related to BP/Diabetic could be considered pre-existing, I was worried the insurance company may not cover these expenses.
After 2 days of straining my mom w/ all kind of heart tests, all the results came negative for any possible heart problem. Then, it was the gastro (GI) Dr.s turn to finally find out what problem she had. On the third day, he scheduled for and Endoscopy and came out to say it is just "inflammation in the stomach", that has caused all these problems. I asked the Dr. right there if this is considered pre-existing? The Dr. said "NO", it is true "medical emergency" , then sent my mom home back on the third day and she is fine in India now.
I raised a question to the case worker in the hospital on all the tests they did for heart, when it was actually related to Stomach. I also said, the insurance company may not consider your tests as they may consider this as pre-existing. His answer was, that is how we proceed for patients who are BP & Diabetic.
After 10 days, I got a huge $35,000 bill from the hospital and other providers. I submitted all the claims as per IMGs claim procedure. IMG started the claim procedure, and in the meantime the providers started sending the same bill for every 15 days.
IMG did the review on the case, and paid all the bill upto $5000 at 80/20, and the remaining $30,000 at 100%. This left me to complete the deductible and 80/20 con-insurance formality.
I purchased this Insurance thru Narendra Khatre. Thank you Narendra for all the help in selecting the right insurance.
The bottom line is:
1. If your parents are above 65 and have pre-existing conditions, then it is your decision to sponsor them to visit US.
2. If you sponsor, do some home work and buy comprehensive insurance here in the US (not India).
Hope this my experience helps guys who are planning to sponsor their family members.
- drs
Answer
Hello,
Thank you very much for posting your detailed experience with Protection America.
Most people avoid posting good experiences as they consider that is how insurance should work and it is normal procedure and don't feel urge to report. And as we as a broker, work for you, and not for the insurance company, come to know about the claims experiences (good or bad) only when our customers report.
We are glad to know that your claims were processed and the bills were paid. Protection America (IMG) is indeed the best visitors medical insurance plan available in market today. And once again, it has proved itself. I reccommend everyone to purchase it for their relatives visiting USA.
drs, if you don't mind, could you please give me your certificate number and name in the private message or through an email, just for my reference purposes? Of course, we will never bother you with phone calls or will never provide your contact information to any one unless you specifically authorize us to do so. We respect your privacy and your time.
Protection America is available for instant purchase at http://www.buyamericaninsurance.com/...ateid=here