Insurance

Open your U.S passport to page two and you may be surprised by the following warning:
HEALTH INSURANCE. Persons considering foreign travel should determine what health insurance coverage, if any, they require while outside the United States. Medicare does not cover health care costs outside the United States and its territories, except under limited circumstances in Canada and Mexico.

Many international travelers lack appropriate insurance protection

Government sponsored health programs such as Medicare almost never cover care received in a foreign country. Employer-sponsored plans often limit overseas coverage to emergency care only (and the burden will be on you to prove it’s an emergency). Emergency medical evacuation is almost never covered. Even if you’re traveling on business, you may have significant gaps in your coverage.

Why is insurance so critical for international travel?

Obtaining healthcare in some parts of the world can be tricky. Some hospitals won’t provide any treatment–or won’t allow a patient to be discharged–until the hospital has received a guarantee of payment. Such guarantees are commonly provided by travel insurers, in conjunction with assistance providers, but rarely by other insurers or managed care plans. This means you’ll have to pay in advance, perhaps as much as tens of thousands of dollars, with your credit card. Of course, for this to work the hospital must accept foreign credit cards and your card must have a sufficient credit limit.
In addition, remember that leaving your destination — for a place with higher quality medical care or to return home where your regular insurance is accepted–can be difficult. Medical evacuations are tricky to arrange and there are some air ambulance providers who should be avoided. Worse, local authorities may have financial ties to certain evacuation companies. The solution? Most travel insurance includes a medical assistance benefit, which is critical. It gives you 24/7/365 access to a company that will arrange an evacuation for you with a creditable evacuation company–or, through their medical personnel, can help assure that you’re getting appropriate treatment locally. The assistance company will also be available to help with other travel related problems such as legal troubles, lost passports or credit cards, etc. Emergencies are rare but everyone should have a contingency plan.

Assess your personal health plan

If you have health insurance in the U.S., the first step is to check with your insurance company and establish what kind of coverage you have. If you have difficulty getting a straight answer, that alone should be a warning. If you don’t have insurance in the U.S., consider that you might need it more than ever when traveling–and recognize that the coverage can be cheap — as little as $1.50 to $9 per day.

Three Important Types

There are the three major types of coverage to consider. Most travel insurance products offer all three or two of the three:
• Health/accident insurance. Typically referred to as travel health insurance, these policies pay for doctor and hospital bills, and sometimes dental care and medications. These plans can be written for short trips (1 day – 6 months) and will supplement Medicare or a managed care plan. HTH’s TravelGap plans are an example of this type of coverage. International health insurance can also be purchased as primary insurance for someone relocating to another country for an extended period of time (6 months or longer). HTH’s Global Citizen and Global Citizen EXP are examples of this type of coverage. These plans are comprehensive and include added features such as preventative services, acupuncture, chiropractic, maternity benefits and more.
• Medical Evacuation. This is key. Evacuations can be expensive (as much as $100,000 or more from a remote location). In addition to the coverage, you’ll want assistance arranging an evacuation–(see above). All of HTH’s products offer coverage for medical evacuation.
• Trip cancellation/interruption. These coverage’s protect you financially in the event you have to cancel or interrupt your trip for medical or other reasons. For example, say you purchase a $5,000 cruise but can’t take it because of personal illness–or illness in the family. Depending on when you cancel, a significant portion of the $5,000 may be non-refundable. This type of insurance will reimburse you. HTH’s Trip Protector offers this type of coverage (as well as evacuation and supplemental health/accident).
One form of travel insurance commonly sold at airports is “flight accident insurance,” which generally pays a lump dollar amount in the event of death from a plane crash, an extremely rare event. If you’re looking at insurance in an airport, make sure it also includes one or more of the three important coverages listed above.
Source: HTH Worldwide.

Who should insure the engagement ring?
Purchasing an engagement ring is a big decision and you should be equipped with the right information before making your purchase. Here’s a guide on making a purchase that will make your fiancée, bank account, and Trusted Choice® independent insurance agent say “Yes!”

Brace the bank

An engagement ring is an investment, and (thankfully) you get to dictate how much you’re willing to risk. According to www.theknot.com in 2013, the average cost of an engagement ring is $5,431. If that price makes you cringe, no worries—you can still find a great ring for a little less, but read the next section to ensure you don’t compromise quality for price.

Understanding Girls’ Best Friend

There are four elements to determining quality of a diamond- carat, clarity, color, and cut. Educate yourself on these elements. A carat is a diamond’s weight, not size, so don’t be fooled by how big a diamond may seem; the clarity is an assessment of a diamond’s internal and natural characteristics. The color and cut of a diamond depends on preference; color is graded on an alphabetical scale, and cut varies, but affects the way the gem shines.

Certified & Appraised

Ask the jeweler for the assessment of the diamond and a GIA diamond grading report. An assessment of the diamond on the jeweler’s stationary protects you in the event that the jeweler misrepresented the value and facts about the ring. A GIA diamond grading report also serves as backup verification for your purchase— the Gemological Institute of America is the most respected lab in the world. If your jeweler cannot provide the assessment or GIA report, back out of the store slowly and find another jeweler.

Now the REAL big question: Who should insure the engagement ring?

You proposed, but your fiancée will live in their condo until the big day– what do you do? This is a matter of insurable interest. When you purchase valuables (like an engagement ring) for someone else and you want to insure the item, you are trying to create insurable interest. Insurable interest says, “I have a strong interest in this item but it does not reside in my home with me; however, I should be able to insure it for a period of time.”
The easiest way to create insurable interest for the person in possession of the ring is to make the use of the ring by her conditional…i.e., you still own the ring and it doesn’t become your future spouse’s until you both are married. Until that time, you have an insurable interest and there should be coverage under your policy.
If you make ownership conditional on marriage, you likely have an insurable interest and can insure it yourself. Since most homeowners policies limit theft of jewelry to about $1,500 (some less, some more), the ring should be scheduled on his homeowners policy. An alternative is for your fiancée to insure it on their policy since coverage usually extends to any property you use, not just property you own. This assumes that either or both have homeowners policies (or they live at home and are covered by their parents’ policies). When you are married, you both should have a single homeowners policy with both as named insureds and the ring and other jewelry scheduled on the policy.
Be sure to talk to your Trusted Choice® independent insurance agent about all of your options and steps to getting your new future off to a bright start!
SOURCE(S):
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/diamonds-decoded-experts-guide-buying-engagement-ring/story?id=19630519
http://www.independentagent.com/Education/VU/Insurance/Personal-Lines/Homeowners/Conditions/FacultyInsurableInterest01.aspx
www.bankrate.com