Medicare Doesn’t Cover You Outside The USA

by Steve Dasseos on March 19, 2008

What I’m writing on today about Medicare usually comes as a big surprise to people when we tell them “Medicare does not cover you when you are traveling outside the United States”.

In rare cases, Medicare can pay for inpatient hospital services that you get in Canada or Mexico. Medicare can pay only if:

  1. You are in the United States when a medical emergency occurs and the Canadian or Mexican hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency.
  2. You are traveling through Canada without unreasonable delay by the most direct route between Alaska and another state when a medical emergency occurs and the Canadian hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency.
  3. You live in the United States and the Canadian or Mexican hospital is closer to your home than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your medical condition, regardless of whether an emergency exists.

This restriction also applies to passengers on board cruise ships that are registered in a foreign country (almost all cruise ships have foreign registry).

Here’s a link to Medicare’s Official Questions and Answers, too.

You’ll find a page on TripInsuranceStore.com with more details: Click here for more about No Medicare Coverage Outside the USA.

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I hope this makes sense. If you want the right travel insurance advice, call us at 1-888-407-3854 and we'll help you figure it all out.

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