Travel insurance for Greencard holders temporarily visiting the USA

Some Greencard holders, also called permanent residents of the USA, may not be residing in the US and only temporarily visiting the US just like the tourists to the US, can purchase temporary travel medical insurance. As healthcare is exorbitantly expensive in the US and there is no free healthcare, even for senior citizens, purchasing temporary travel medical insurance is highly recommended.

How can greencard holders be visiting the USA?

Greencard refers to the permanent resident card in the US. It is normally called greencard because it was originally green in color and it later changed to various colors such as white, pink and white before becoming a green color again.

Greencard allows the person to live in the US permanently. In fact, to maintain the greencard, the holder must stay in the US six months of the year. In such cases, the holder’s country of residence would be the US.

However, the USCIS allows greencard holders the flexibility to live outside the US for six months in a year without any additional paperwork. They can stay outside the US for up to a year with additional proof. If they apply for the Re-Entry Permit, they can stay outside the US for up to two years. In such cases, their true country of residence would be outside the US, even though they are technically called the permanent resident of the US.

Many US citizens sponsor the greencard for their parents so that they can come and go whenever they want. However, many of those elderly parents don’t actually want to stay in the US permanently and they are essentially ‘visiting’ the US, similar to how the tourists on B1/B2 visa would be visiting. In other words, their effective country of residence is not really the US.

What is the health insurance eligibility for greencard holders temporarily visiting the US?

Domestic health insurance plans require you to keep the insurance the year round, as it would be assumed that such insureds live in the US except may be, for short trips abroad. Such health insurance would be PPACA (Affordable Care Act) compliant and would be very expensive and you would have to pay the premium even when you are not in the US. Even though that would be the best option, most greencard holders temporarily ‘visiting’ the US for a short time (up to six months) don’t want to continuously pay for the insurance year-round.

Residency is a somewhat vague term and the rules for residence with greencard are also not precise to determine the residency. The IRS (income tax department) has a different definition, and the USCIS (immigration department) has a different definition. On top of that, various US states might have a different definition as well. Above all, it is really up to the individual what country they consider as their country of residence.

Due to lack of precise way to define residency, different insurance companies have come up with a different eligibility criterion for purchasing a short-term travel medical insurance when visiting the US.

A few travel insurance companies simply don’t allow green card holders to purchase travel insurance when visiting the US. Some of them allow to purchase when purchasing the insurance before arriving in the US and purchasing for a maximum of six months. Some may allow to purchase as long as you mention your country of residence outside the US.

What does the temporary travel medical insurance for greencard holder visiting the USA cover?

Even if the insurance company allows to purchase travel medical insurance for greencard holder visiting the US, it is really the same insurance that regular visitors/tourists visiting the USA would purchase.

Just because the person is a green card holder, such temporary health insurance plans would not cover everything that the person would like or want in the coverage. For example, it would not cover any anticipated or scheduled healthcare. You can’t just purchase a short-term health insurance, visit the US for a short term and get your surgeries and check ups done. They would also not cover the routine maintenance of pre-existing conditions such as medications, blood tests and more.

Because such plans are the same as the visitors insurance, are not required to remain active year-round unlike the domestic health insurance plans, and are significantly cheaper compared to the domestic health insurance plans, they are generally meant to cover any unexpected and new medical conditions, injuries or accidents that occur after the effective date of the policy.

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