For a visitor( had one heart attack 50 days ago) from India, during
his travel ( plans to travel in 2 months for 6 months) to the US, is
there a travel insurance policy which will cover emergency conditions
arising from pre-existing conditions such as a heart attack ? Pre-
existing conditions are generally excluded but does it mean that
during an emergency arising due to say heart attack(for someone who
already has one heart attack) will not be
treated in the US ?

Hi,

The first question is whether is whether there is travel insurance
available that would cover a heart attack under the specified
conditions, and the answer is yes, but benefits would be limited
and/or the cost high.

I looked through the terms of a number of travel insurance policies,
and indeed they all exclude pre-existing conditions. But I did find
one that allows an exception to that, but you’d have to get what’s
known as a rider from the insurance company at extra cost.  I’ve
listed that policy below, although it’s undoubtedly not the only one
that provides riders, which are simply a provision that provides extra
coverage above what the normal policy does.  In a case such as the one
posed by the question, the rider undoubtedly would have to be
negotiated.

International Plan
http://www.internationalplan.com/travel-exclusions.html

The following policy has a clause that covers up to $1,000 for “acute
onset” of a pre-existing condition (although $1,000 wouldn’t go far
toward covering a heart attack).

Multinational Underwriters
http://www.mnui.com/atlas/atlasp5.asp

The following policy covers pre-existing conditions if they have been
disclosed (although I strongly suspect someone would be denied
insurance if disclosing a recent heart attack).

Global Medical Insurance
http://www.imgct.com/gmi_preexist.htm

What I suggest be done is to contact a travel insurance company and
see how much a rider would cost.  I expect it would be very high, as
the risk to the insurance company would be high, and there would
undoubtedly be a limit on how much would be paid and/or a high
deductible.

The second question is (assuming there’s no health insurance that
would cover it) whether a visitor from India would be treated for a
heart attack while visiting the United States.  The answer is yes, at
most hospitals emergency care would provided for such a
life-threatening problem.  A 1986 federal law requires hospitals to
provide emergency treatment to patients regardless of their ability to
pay, and such services are provided regardless of citizenship.  Here
are some articles about that law:

Hospitals Told Not To Delay Emergency Room Treatment
http://www.aaem.org/managedcare/delay.html

Federal Government To Crackdown on Hospital “Dumping”
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9811/30/emergency.care/

Know Your Emergency Room Rights
http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/insure/basics/5170.asp

You should not that such care is not unlimited.  A patient is expected
to make payment arrangements, and care has to be provided only until
the patient is stabilized.  You couldn’t except to receive any
follow-up care, just enough to get you out of the emergency.

Google search term #1: "travel insurance" rider pre-existing medical
://www.google.com/search?q=%22travel+insurance%22+rider+pre-existing+medical

Google search term #2: “patient dumping”
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=%22patient+dumping%22

I hope this has provided you the information you need.

Best wishes,

mvguy