Did You Know: Living/Traveling Abroad
How does Medicare work when you are a US Citizen but living or traveling abroad?
Travel outside the U.S.
Medicare usually does not cover medical care you receive when traveling outside the U.S. and its territories. However, Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage Plans must cover care you receive outside the U.S. in certain circumstances:
- Medicare will pay for emergency services in Canada if you are traveling a direct route, without unreasonable delay, between Alaska and another state, and the closest hospital that can treat you is in Canada.
- Medicare will pay for medical care you get on a cruise ship if you get the care while the ship is in U.S. territorial waters. This means the ship is in a U.S. port or within six hours of arrival at or departure from a U.S. port.
- In limited situations, Medicare may pay for non-emergency inpatient services in a foreign hospital (and any connected provider and ambulance costs). Your care is covered if the hospital is closer to your residence than the nearest available U.S. hospital. This may happen if, for example, you live near the border of Mexico or Canada.
A Medigap, or Medicare Supplement, policy can help cover foreign travel emergency care. Plans C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, M or N will cover your care if it begins during the first 60 days of your trip if Medicare doesn’t otherwise cover the care. These Medigap policies will pay 80% of the billed charges for certain medically necessary emergency care services outside the U.S. after you meet a $250 deductible for the year. Medigap’s foreign travel emergency coverage has a lifetime limit of $50,000.
If you have moved outside the US, you have decisions to make about keeping your Original Medicare A & B even though it may not cover any care you receive. You will want to purchase other insurance before you qualify for certain foreign countries health benefits.