We have a number of people visiting from out of country this summer, some for extended periods, and at least one has health insurance that won't cover expenses in the USA. I looked at various travel insurance plans, but they look expensive for the coverage you receive (e.g., $300 for up to $50k in expenses). We aren't looking to cover long-term or chronic conditions that would be treated in the home country, just emergency services. I'm leaning away from suggesting travel insurance because:
1) If something happens in my car or home, our auto/home policies are likely to cover it
2) If someone else is at fault, we can probably recover something from them/their insurance
3) If it's a small issue, we can easily self insure
4) If it's an expensive illness that can be treated in the home country (cancer), home country insurance will cover (we'd have to get them home)
5) If it's an extremely expensive emergent condition, e.g. a $200k appendectomy (what Google told me the upper limit is), I'd expect the hospital to negotiate this down A LOT, since they are unlikely to recover any debt from visiting tourists. This is a bit of a moral hazard, but on the other hand we've been paying years of increased premiums due to the emergency room heath insurance "loophole"
Any thoughts or suggestions for good travel insurers? At it's face, it seems like the plans I'm looking at are pricing in something like a 0.6% chance of having to pay the maximum, which doesn't sound TOO terrible. But if the bill is huge (hundreds of thousands) I'm not sure $50k will help us very much.
Edit: Perhaps it makes sense to get regular (temporary) health insurance, if it's possible to meet the requirements for enrollment. For the same price, you get "full" coverage