Insurance

More Information about International Medical Insurance, Travel Assistance, Trip Insurance, and Medical Evacuation and Repatriation Insurance

The Office of International Programs at CSU strongly encourages you to carry insurance that will assist you should you become sick or injured while abroad. Here are some definitions of the types of insurance that are available, as well as a list of companies that offer short-term medical and travel policies for international destinations. It is important to understand what you are buying and to read what each covers or excludes and how and when payments will be made. The provision of this list does not imply endorsement by the Office of International Programs.

  • Medical and Hospitalization Insurance is essential for travelers. It pays for care when you are sick or injured abroad. Some policies will pay up front so you don’t have to worry about getting money or changing currency to secure care, while others require you to pay for the care and be reimbursed.If you are covered by a U.S. health insurance plan, ask your insurance company if you will have coverage while you are abroad because some plans will not cover you if you are outside the U.S. If your plan does provide coverage, find out how (and when) to file a claim.
  • Travel Assistance Coverage is also considered essential for travelers. It usually includes medical evacuation and repatriation insurance. (Please note: The travel assistance policy may or may not cover political evacuations – pay attention to what circumstances are covered.)
    • Medical Evacuation Insurance (Med-Evac or Psych-Evac) helps when you become ill or are hospitalized while abroad and need to get to a better medical facility, get medically evacuated home, need a family member to come help you, need an English-speaking doctor, need prescription drug renewals that are unavailable in your location, etc.
    • Repatriation Insurance will help with arrangements should you die abroad. It will help make the arrangements and take care of the considerable paperwork for your family to get your body home and pay for part or all of the transport costs, or provide for a burial abroad.
  • Trip Insurance may be a combination of different types of insurance, but it generally includes the cost of a cancelled or delayed trip or lost luggage. Trip insurance is often marketed by travel agents and may include a variety of coverage, but it primarily focuses on paying for cancelled trips or costs associated with delays or lost luggage. It can be expensive because it is based on a percentage of the cost of your trip.What they may not tell you is that you may put it under the trip cost calculation line to pay only for travel assistance options included in the policy. If an influenza pandemic, quarantine, or other health risk is looming, or if you have a family circumstance that might cause you to have to cancel your trip, it may be worthwhile to include the trip cancellation option with the purchase of this type of insurance. Don’t forget to ask whether or not they would cover being quarantined in a foreign country because of exposure to an infectious disease such as H1N1 influenza.

Remember, these are different types of coverage that may be packaged in different ways or that may require you to sign up for more than one policy. We strongly encourage you to purchase, at a minimum, medical or hospitalization insurance and travel assistance insurance that will cover medical evacuation and repatriation whenever you travel outside the U.S.

Please read the policy carefully so you know the circumstances under which they will pay. For example, will they pay a hospital up front or only reimburse you with receipts? Do they want to make all of the arrangements and therefore won’t reimburse you for costs you incurred before they were notified? Will they cover pre-existing conditions? Will they cover if your injury or illness resulted from drinking alcohol? Do they cover mental illness?

CSU maintains travel assistance coverage that includes medical evacuation and repatriation for its employees who are traveling abroad on business (contact the CSU Office of Risk Management and Insurance about the policy). The CSU Benefits Office, during open enrollment, also offers a travel assistance policy as part of the voluntary Accidental Death and Dismemberment (ADD) Coverage for faculty and AP’s who wish to have coverage for personal time and for their families. CSU Students or non-student travelers will need to purchase coverage individually if they do not have it.

List of insurance and travel assistance providers:

HTH Worldwide Insurance Services
12900 Federal Systems Park Drive
Suite 2A Fairfax, VA 22033
Phone: 1-703-322-1515 Fax: 1-703-322-1636

Colorado State University Health Insurance
Colorado State University Health Services
Phone: (970) 491-5118

Cultural Insurance Services International
9 West Broad St. Stamford, CT 06902-3788
Phone: 1-800-284-3572 Fax: 1-203-863-6156

Health Insurance for U.S. Students Studying Abroad
CMI
1447 York Rd. #400
Lutherville MD 21093
Phone: 1-410-583-2595 Fax: 1-703-322-1636

Hinchcliff International
11 Ascot Place
Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone: 1-607-257-0100 Fax: 1-607-257-3051
Email: [email protected]

Insurance Consultants International
308 Epps Street
Tomball, TX 77375
Phone: 1-800-576-2674 or 281-516-3633
Fax: 603-843-6662
Email: [email protected]

International Medical Group
407 North Fulton Street Indianapolis, IN 46202 U.S.A.
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 1-317-655-4500 or 1-800-628-4664 Fax: 1-317-655-4505

International Scholastic Overseas Services (International S.O.S.)
P.O. Box 11568 Philadelphia, PA 19116
1-800-767-1403

MEDEX
P.O. Box 5375 Timonium, MD 21094-5375
Toll-free: 1-888-MEDEX-00 Phone: 1-410-453-6300
Fax: 1-410-453-6301
Email: [email protected]

Seabury & Smith
International Student Department
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20037-1125
Phone: 1-800-331-3047 Fax: 1-202-457-6877
Email: [email protected]

Seven Corners, Inc.
Email: [email protected]

Rust and Associates
508 Kellogg Ames, IA 50010
Phone: 1-800-336-0747 Fax: 1-515-663-8746
Email: [email protected]

Student Overseas Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 506
Alpharetta, GA 30239 Phone: 1-404-740-0809 Fax: 1-404-663-4664

Wallach & Company, Inc.
107 West Federal Street
P.O. Box 480 Middleburg, Virginia 20118-0480
Phone: 1-800-237-6615 or 540-687-3166 Fax: 1-540-687-3172
Email: [email protected]