Hi once again from Gary.

On my last post, I wrote about healthcare in Ukraine and summarized by focusing on implications to you, the traveler. Here I will discuss an even more important healthcare topic. It concerns healthcare for your Russian bride.

According to immigration statistics I’ve read, a higher percentage of Russian women enter America as married persons rather than single. This implies to me that many men are meeting and marrying their women in her native country and bringing them to America on K-3 (spousal) visas. Healthcare for her in this situation is relatively simple assuming that you have medical insurance that will allow you to add spousal coverage. But you need to confirm with your insurance company that they will in fact provide coverage for her given that her status in America will be as a non-citizen. And you need to arrange with them to provide this coverage no later than the first day she enters the country.

If you bring a women to America on a K-1 (fiancee) visa, the situation is very different. No matter what insurance you have, you will not be able to provide medical insurance for her on your policy until you are married.  So for the period of time from when she arrives until when you get married, you must make arrangements for her to have medical insurance coverage. (And you should still check to assure that your company will cover her as your non-citizen wife).

The most straight forward way to provide medical coverage for her is to purchase an international traveler health insurance policy. And whatever you do, stick with a big name, reputable insurance company. It does no good to have coverage with a company that won’t come through for you when you need it. The one that I have coverage for Alla with is AIG through their Travel Guard International program. (And by the way, Alla and I had occasion to use the coverage, and they came through for us as advertised.)

Our focus here is on health insurance, but through the Travel Guard program you can purchase not only health insurance for her, but all other forms of insurance for traveling as well. Here’s the company’s verbatim blurb of who they are and what they offer:

“AIG Travel Guard International is the industry’s leading provider of travel insurance plans - covering more than 6 million travelers worldwide each year. Our travel insurance plans offer coverage for vacation and trip cancellation, travel interruptions and delays, emergency medical and health expenses, lost baggage and more. Plus, every AIG Travel Guard insurance plan includes our 24-hour “911″ travel emergency service for emergency medical assistance, last-minute or emergency travel and flight changes, lost luggage tracking, pre-trip travel advice and more.”

For health insurance they offer comprehensive coverage with flexible deductible and coverage limit choices at very reasonable prices. Click the button to learn the details, get pricing, and purchase a policy online. From the home page, click “continue”, then fill in your resident state, then scroll to the bottom of the next page and click on “worldwide health”.

Travel Guard Insurance

In closing, I hope three things - - that this information is useful to you, that for her sake and yours, you follow through and get her medical coverage, and that you never have to make use of her insurance.

Goodbye for now.

Gary.

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