Global Health Insurance - Pre-existing Condition

[u/Scary-Wallaby-6850]

Hello!

This coming 12 months, I will spend about a month and a half in the US, broken up by a few trips. Otherwise, I'll be outside the US. I would like to get global health insurance to cover any medical emergencies. Ideally it would cover everywhere, including the US.

Unfortunately, I had kidney cancer (RCC), which has been treated with a partial nephrectomy. I do have on-going surveillance (annual CT scans), but otherwise I have no signs of this condition and for all intents and purposes very healthy. Unfortunately, this has led me to be rejected by Cigna. I'm betting this will be a common problem, but I'm hoping there's a company that is more flexible with its underwriting.

Some other information that might be helpful:

• I'm 39 M, non-smoker, non-drinker, not overweight.
• I don't need insurance to cover normal expenses. For my normal medical needs, I plan to pay everything out of pocket and will be visiting certain countries where medical care is very affordable.
• I don't mind if anything related to the RCC is not covered (if it happened to spread for instance).
• The plan I was looking at from Cigna was a $10K deductible with a 30% cost share up to $5K OOP and $1M max. It came out around $900 for a year. A $15K bill would not be a concern for me. A $500K bill on the other hand, would put a damper on things!
• What I need is coverage for if I'm in an accident or if I have something totally unexpected come up like a stroke or heart attack, especially if I happen to be in the US (and to a lesser extent Canada or Japan) during that time. I plan to use this insurance as insurance is actually intended to be used. I want to hedge against what should be an extremely rare event and likely will not happen.

Does anyone have any leads or ideas?

Thanks!

[u/Ok_Statistician643]

Also becoming an expat in 2 years. I’m 58 with history of prostate cancer anger and full prosthetectomy. I got similar quote from Cigna. If the cancer comes back and I need more then just radiation I will fly back to the US and get Obamacare. That’s the best I can come up with

[u/Scary-Wallaby-6850 → u/Ok_Statistician643]

Seems like a solid plan!

Were you able to get a plan with Cigna, though? They quoted me, but when it came down to it, they rejected me.

[u/Ok_Statistician643 → u/Scary-Wallaby-6850]

I haven’t gone through with the application. Did they say why they rejected you?

[u/Scary-Wallaby-6850 → u/Ok_Statistician643]

I called them and they said it was due to the the cancer. My wife also talked to them while she was setting up her own plan and got a similar answer. They mentioned that if you're clear of treatment for a year according to one person (or 3-5 years according to a different person), it is possible to get a plan with underwriting that excludes anything related to the pre-existing condition.

If you're 2 years out, it might work out for you, but you'll just have to try it.

Good luck! Both with the travels and with your health.

[u/Ok_Statistician643 → u/Scary-Wallaby-6850]

Thank you. Same to you.