Why is health insurance important in the United States?

The United States is the most expensive country in the world for medical expenses. Ordinary outpatient service charges can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. If surgery is required, the cost can range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you live in the United States without medical insurance, you may be burdened with huge debts due to medical expenses at any time.

Unlike Canada and many European countries, the United States does not have a universal health insurance system. Most of the medical institutions here are private, and the vast majority of Americans purchase private health insurance through commercial insurance companies (Private Health Insurance). The US government only provides public health insurance (Public Health Insurance) for special occupations such as the elderly, the poor, government employees, and military personnel.

Every insured person who participates in medical insurance must pay insurance premiums (premium) on a regular basis. According to different factors such as your age, health status, and insurance coverage, insurance premiums can range from tens of dollars a month to hundreds of dollars a month. When you need to see a doctor, the insurance company will reimburse most of the medical expenses on a pro-rata basis, and individuals must also take care of part of the medical expenses that the insurance company does not reimburse.

Medical expenses in the United States are very expensive, far higher than those in other developed countries. In the United States, an average outpatient visit costs two hundred dollars on average. Go to the hospital to see an emergency, and the cost is at least hundreds to thousands of dollars. Hospitalization costs can range from 1,000 to 5,000 U.S. dollars per day. The medical expenses of a serious illness or serious trauma accident can easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

When seeing a doctor in the United States, patients with medical insurance generally only need to pay for their own expenses, and the hospitals and doctors settle the rest directly to the insurance company. Patients who are not insured must pay all medical expenses, even in emergency visits.

When going to a hospital emergency, the hospital will generally ask you to provide proof of insurance. If there is no insurance, the hospital will require the patient to pay a deposit first. Although the law in the United States stipulates that hospitals must rescue patients who do need emergency assistance, regardless of whether they have the ability to pay, and whether they are legal residents or not. However, for those patients who do not meet the emergency rescue standards, if they cannot provide insurance certificates or cannot pay the deposit, the hospital may choose not to accept them.

In addition, with medical insurance, you can get preferential prices when you see a doctor. Insurance companies and medical units such as hospitals and clinics generally obtain preferential prices through negotiations. Individual patients without insurance will not get discounted prices from medical institutions.

For example, after someone sees a doctor, the hospital charges $1,000. If the patient’s insurance company and the hospital have a 25% discount agreement, then the medical expenses will be discounted according to the agreement for a total of $750, which will be shared by the insurance company and the patient in accordance with the insurance reimbursement agreement. If there is no medical insurance, the patient will need to pay the full amount of $1,000.

Therefore, there is no medical insurance in the United States, and individuals have considerable financial risks.

The Affordable Care Act requires U.S. residents to participate in medical insurance

The American Affordable Care Act (Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act), also known as Obamacare, requires U.S. citizens, permanent immigrants (green card holders), and long-term residents legally living in the United States to participate in medical insurance that meets the standards of the Affordable Care Act. This is the Individual Mandate of the Affordable Care Act. You can learn about the Affordable Care Act here.

The open application period for Obamacare medical insurance in 2021 is from November 1, 2020, to December 15, 2020. Residents of the United States can apply for long-term medical insurance for 2021 during this period. After the open application period, some special circumstances such as moving to a new area, new immigrants have just arrived in the United States, marriage/divorce, the birth of a newborn, etc., can apply for insurance as a special event. You can learn how to apply for Obamacare medical insurance in 2021 here.

How to participate in medical insurance for foreign visitors to the United States for short-term travel and residence?

At present, the Affordable Care Act does not have compulsory insurance for foreign visitors who hold non-immigrant visas to visit the United States for short-term visits, such as travel, family visits, business investigations, study abroad, and visits and exchanges. But you'd better take out medical insurance to prevent the huge medical expenses you will face in case of sudden illness or injury.

Foreign visitors in the United States cannot apply for domestic medical insurance for U.S. residents.

Atlas America US travel medical insurance is an insurance product suitable for foreign visitors to travel to the United States. You can apply if you leave your home country of permanent residence for international travel to the United States and/or other countries. Atlas America insurance includes comprehensive medical, emergency medical assistance, travel accidents, and accidental death and disability coverage. Here is more about Atlas America's travel medical insurance for the United States.

As long as you enter your date of birth and travel date on the Atlas America insurance quote page of the HCCMIS insurance company website, you can immediately check the insurance premium of Atlas America insurance and apply online. Here is how to get an Atlas America insurance premium quote and purchase steps online.