Can I Travel outside of the US and get coverage through my Medicare Plan?

 

Travel (health care needed when traveling outside the U.S.) Medicare generally doesn’t cover health care while you’re traveling outside the U.S. (the “U.S.” includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa). There are some exceptions, including cases where Medicare may pay for services you get while on board a ship within the territorial waters adjoining the land areas of the U.S. Medicare may pay for inpatient hospital, doctor, or ambulance services you get in a foreign country in these rare cases:

• You’re in the U.S. when an emergency occurs, and the foreign hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your medical condition.
• You’re traveling through Canada without unreasonable delay by the most direct route between Alaska and another U.S. state when a medical emergency occurs, and the Canadian hospital is closer than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency.
  
  
• You live in the U.S. and the foreign hospital is closer to your home than the nearest U.S. hospital that can treat your medical condition, regardless of whether an emergency exists. Medicare may cover medically necessary ambulance transportation to a foreign hospital only with admission for medically necessary covered inpatient hospital services. You pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount, and the Part B deductible applies.

Original Medicare

Original Medicare generally doesn’t cover care outside the U.S. You may be able to buy a Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) policy that covers care outside the U.S.

 

Medicare Plan Quotes

 

 

Questions about Medicare? Talk to a licensed insurance agent!

Schedule a Medicare Consultation