Out of state health insurance for non-emergencies?

[Lisa99]

We're in the process of moving to Florida so are looking at the various ACA health insurance options (we get a big subsidy so ACA is the only option we're considering).

We're going with Florida Blue but we have a choice between 3 networks. The preferred network, cost wise, doesn't cover us if we travel outside the state. There is a network that covers us nationwide, regardless of whether emergency or not, but it is significantly more expensive.

We travel some so I'd like to know if there is temporary insurance coverage one can get when out of home state. I used to think emergency coverage only was ok but after my herniated disc episode that happened out of state I'm now spooked about not having insurance when traveling. The disc wasn't life threatening but it was horribly painful and I either had to pay out of pocket or drive back to NV which is what we did.

 

[MBSC]

Travel Guard by AIG: Travel Guard: Travel Insurance for Trip Cancellation, Medical/Health & Accident Coverage, Flight Delays, Hurricane and Tropical Storms from TravelGuard.com

It's medical benefit is basically an accident/illness indemnity plan (not health insurance) with other services you probably do not need. A regular accident/illness indemnity plan may be more cost effective than this option. You may also want to talk to a local insurance agent who specializes in Medicare supplements. Supplements only have a limited (or no) foreign travel benefit and the agent may know of a foreign travel plan that happens to include a temporary domestic benefit.

If your travel involves spending more than 90 days in one place (snowbird), some BCBS HMO plans have an "away from home/Guest Membership" benefit.

Otherwise, you could look at Short-Term Medical (STM) plans from reputable companies such as UHC or National General. They use a broad national PPO provider network but exclude pre-existing conditions and have deductibles and OOP costs. It may be more cost effective to pay the provider's discounted cash rate for the uninsured or upgrade to the Florida Blue plans that include the BlueCard national provider network.

I am concerned that your thread title only references non-emergencies. While the plan will make a payment for out-of-network emergencies, you can be balance billed the difference in most states. Florida does not allow this practice but it depends on the state laws where the emergency service is rendered. So if you're visiting TX or GA and incur $100k in emergency diagnosis charges (heart attack, stroke, etc.) and your plan makes their $30k payment, you may be responsible for negotiating the remaining $70k.