All:
I need some guidance in determining what type of medical insurance to get and from where for my parents who are visiting us (in U.S.A) from India.
Last couple of time we had them get their med insurance from "New India Assurance". Fortunately we did not have to use it for any medical reasons. However, I hear from various sources that such type of Insurance are quite like a scam, which does not work the way it is intended to.
Any insight on this would be much appreciated.
Cheers and thx in advance.
opr-r21
Insurance- US visit
Insurance- US visit
This is my personal experience with Oriental Insurance. In 2000, I had taken an insurance coverage from them for my mother's visit to the US. I think we had paid about 24,000 INR for the 6 months coverage.
During her stay in the US, my mother had to visit a doctor twice for some severe pain in her right leg. When I showed the Oriental Insurance coverage card to the doctor, she refused to accept it and asked me to pay first and then file a claim with the insurance company. The same happened while purchasing the medicines. I ended up paying around $500 for both doctor visits and the prescription medicines.
About 15 days later, I followed Oriental Insurance's instructions to file the claim and sent the original receipts (they had asked for it) with the filled-out claim form to their US addr in VA -- I had thought that their US processing would be much faster than their Indian one and also it will be easier for me to follow up with them. I didn't hear anything (no acknowledgment of receiving the claim and a processing # and such) for a month. When I called up the Mercury International (Oriental Insurance had a tie up with them and "claimed" to settle the overseas claims through them) contact number, a teenage kid picked up and he told me that they never received my claim! I had sent the claim with a return receipt so I knew they had received it. After talking to the kid for a few minutes, he told me that he keeps receiving many such calls from Indians everyday but Mercury International doesn't give a hoot to their claims, in the US. He suggested that I get in touch with Mercury International in the UK. This is when I started believing that I have to say goodbye to my $400 ($100 was the deductible).
Still, I am not the one to easily give up on my hard-earned money :) I pulled up Mercury International's UK number from their website and called them. Just to limit the length of this post, I will not get into the details of my follow ups with them -- it would suffice to say that I had to make multiple calls to them, talk to various different people there, explain them about my claim again and again (some even refused to recognize my mother insurance ID #). This happened for about 8 months. Finally, I had had enough of all this. I told them that I will file a BBB report against them in the US -- they didn't care. I filed a report on BBB site (I searched for my report on BBB just now but I think they periodically purge the old reports so I couldn't find it) explaining the entire situation. BBB was very prompt in sending me an acknowledgment letter in which they stated that they will send a letter to Mercury International and ask them to specify their stand on the issue. They also mentioned that beyond that they really can't do anything else.
A week later I had a v-mail from Mercury International UK waiting for me at my home phone, asking me to get in touch with them. I returned their call and gave them all the details all over again. They promised to resolve the issue quickly. Nothing happened for over a month, so I called them again and threatened to take them to the consumers court in the US. A week later I got the check for the amount!!! :emteeth: From the time I had submitted the claim to the time I got the check, I think it took around 15 months!!!
That's my experience of dealing with an Indian insurance company for overseas coverage claim. One of my friends had the exact same issue with Oriental Insurance, in the US. I think he gave up on them and didn't get his money.
These days when I make personal visits to the US, I take the coverage from Bajaj Allianz. It's very easy to get the coverage online and they mail you the coverage documents etc. But, I haven't made any claims with them so I don't know how good or bad they are in terms of settling their claims. I know that many big IT companies in Bangalore use Bajaj Allianz for overseas travel coverage.
I am also interested in knowing from other members about the best options to get overseas travel coverage. I would prefer a company whose insurance is accepted in the US, so you just pay the deductible and walk away.
-Asif
During her stay in the US, my mother had to visit a doctor twice for some severe pain in her right leg. When I showed the Oriental Insurance coverage card to the doctor, she refused to accept it and asked me to pay first and then file a claim with the insurance company. The same happened while purchasing the medicines. I ended up paying around $500 for both doctor visits and the prescription medicines.
About 15 days later, I followed Oriental Insurance's instructions to file the claim and sent the original receipts (they had asked for it) with the filled-out claim form to their US addr in VA -- I had thought that their US processing would be much faster than their Indian one and also it will be easier for me to follow up with them. I didn't hear anything (no acknowledgment of receiving the claim and a processing # and such) for a month. When I called up the Mercury International (Oriental Insurance had a tie up with them and "claimed" to settle the overseas claims through them) contact number, a teenage kid picked up and he told me that they never received my claim! I had sent the claim with a return receipt so I knew they had received it. After talking to the kid for a few minutes, he told me that he keeps receiving many such calls from Indians everyday but Mercury International doesn't give a hoot to their claims, in the US. He suggested that I get in touch with Mercury International in the UK. This is when I started believing that I have to say goodbye to my $400 ($100 was the deductible).
Still, I am not the one to easily give up on my hard-earned money :) I pulled up Mercury International's UK number from their website and called them. Just to limit the length of this post, I will not get into the details of my follow ups with them -- it would suffice to say that I had to make multiple calls to them, talk to various different people there, explain them about my claim again and again (some even refused to recognize my mother insurance ID #). This happened for about 8 months. Finally, I had had enough of all this. I told them that I will file a BBB report against them in the US -- they didn't care. I filed a report on BBB site (I searched for my report on BBB just now but I think they periodically purge the old reports so I couldn't find it) explaining the entire situation. BBB was very prompt in sending me an acknowledgment letter in which they stated that they will send a letter to Mercury International and ask them to specify their stand on the issue. They also mentioned that beyond that they really can't do anything else.
A week later I had a v-mail from Mercury International UK waiting for me at my home phone, asking me to get in touch with them. I returned their call and gave them all the details all over again. They promised to resolve the issue quickly. Nothing happened for over a month, so I called them again and threatened to take them to the consumers court in the US. A week later I got the check for the amount!!! :emteeth: From the time I had submitted the claim to the time I got the check, I think it took around 15 months!!!
That's my experience of dealing with an Indian insurance company for overseas coverage claim. One of my friends had the exact same issue with Oriental Insurance, in the US. I think he gave up on them and didn't get his money.
These days when I make personal visits to the US, I take the coverage from Bajaj Allianz. It's very easy to get the coverage online and they mail you the coverage documents etc. But, I haven't made any claims with them so I don't know how good or bad they are in terms of settling their claims. I know that many big IT companies in Bangalore use Bajaj Allianz for overseas travel coverage.
I am also interested in knowing from other members about the best options to get overseas travel coverage. I would prefer a company whose insurance is accepted in the US, so you just pay the deductible and walk away.
-Asif
Insurance- US visit
I have a friend who has very positive feedback for Liason Intl. He had used http://www.buyamericaninsurance.com for buying insurance from them. The same site also has customer reviews. I am sure there are other sites/agents.
My friend says it's better to buy comprehensive coverage than fixed coverage.
I personally have a bad experience from New India Insurance which I guess is fixed coverage. I am not going for them in future.
My friend says it's better to buy comprehensive coverage than fixed coverage.
I personally have a bad experience from New India Insurance which I guess is fixed coverage. I am not going for them in future.
Insurance- US visit
Another such agent is http://www.path2usa.com/
Sometimes the rates of the same plan differ depending on the agent.
Sometimes the rates of the same plan differ depending on the agent.
Insurance- US visit
My parents are visiting me for 6 months and I bought insurance from
http://www.icicilombard.com. The insurance amount was INR 19675/- for $50K coverage per person.
http://www.icicilombard.com. The insurance amount was INR 19675/- for $50K coverage per person.
Insurance- US visit
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts !!.
Cheers
Rajesh
Cheers
Rajesh
Insurance- US visit
The India Network Foundation(indnet.org) provides Health Insurance for Visitors. I've gotten insurance from them, never used it though, but heard from friends that claims processing is local and efficient.
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restlessdesi
- Posts: 276
- Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:04 pm
Insurance- US visit
Another one with very bad experience with Mercury International. The UK based company is not recognized by most US hospitals. My father-in-law needed surgery, it was deemed that he could get this done in India. He went through a lot of pain, we spent a lot of $$, had to cut short his trip and went back to India.
Asif, I guess I didnt pursue our $$ as well as you did. But I wouldnt touch an India/UK based insurance company ever again.
Asif, I guess I didnt pursue our $$ as well as you did. But I wouldnt touch an India/UK based insurance company ever again.
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GoogleAjax
- Posts: 33
- Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:23 am
Insurance- US visit
I am looking to buy visitors health insurance for my mother. How is ICICI Lombard? Any good or bad experience? Please help me to choose a provider. :confused:
Insurance- US visit
I buy visitor insurance for my mother from Liason usually. One of their programs has connection with Hegia PPO network. I have never used. However, a close friend of mine had reasons to use it for his mom and it worked out fine. I have heard horrors stories about Oriental and Mercury. several times over. Usually US companies are better as they are bound by US laws. My 2 cents.