Here’s another real story: Parents of a friend were visiting from India, and a group of them had gone to California. They both had international travel health insurance from a reputed Indian insurance company, and had no previously existing conditions. Little did they know what was in store.
They visited Universal Kingdom on July 4, and the crowds and the sun put in extra hours. It was exciting and tiring. Most of them were exhausted, except for my friend’s father, who could not sleep. He had slight tremors, and very soon, the condition went worse, and they had to call in the ambulance services. He did not have to be hospitalized, but the trip was cut short. He later recovered completely.
My friend, however, had more to come. The company in India that his father bought the visitor health insurance from refused to answer any calls, and it was not clear whether they would even reimburse any of the costs.
Meanwhile, the reminders from the hospital’s collection department grew more belligerent. Eventually, he ended up paying most of the bills. Lesson learned, he said, was that it was always better to buy visitor insurance from a U.S. company, and what’s more, the costs are often lower in the U.S. plan!