Travel
For your health
Having appropriate international health insurance policy is crucial to staying healthy while abroad. Most domestic health insurance programs, such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield, will reimburse you for health care costs incurred overseas if you provide receipts, so travelers must be prepared to pay the cost of care upfront. While routine medical care is unlikely to be costly abroad, the cost of emergency treatment, hospitalization, evacuation, or repatriation can range from $1,000-$50,000. Therefore, it is important to obtain special international health care coverage for the duration you are abroad.
Graduate students who are also Teaching Assistants (during the time of travel) have international health care coverage through Chickering Plus/Assist America (see http://www.hr.msu.edu/HRsite/Benefits/Students/HealthCov/). Be sure to understand the limitations of your benefits and be prepared to pay any deductibles on site. Also, be sure that your coverage does not expire while you are abroad.
For graduate student travelers who enroll through the Office of Study Abroad, students will be automatically enrolled in the HTH Accident & Sickness Health Insurance policy (http://studyabroad.msu.edu/studenthandbk/health_issues/health_insurance.html) for less than $1.00/day.
For graduate students who do not enroll through the Office of Study Abroad or are not Teaching Assistants, an HTH policy can be purchased for the same price through the Office of Risk Management (http://ctlr.msu.edu/CORMI/). Presently, the ORM does not have the ability to charge individual students for HTH coverage, but they can change departments. In advance of contacting ORM, you should speak with your sponsoring department about the appropriate charge account for your policy, and determine the best method for reimbursement.
If your travel abroad is sponsored in any way through your employment at MSU, you are supported by MEDEX (http://ctlr.msu.edu/COMBP/mbp35.aspx#rmi13), but coverage is limited to evacuation, repatriation, and the coordination of benefits with your domestic provider. In most cases where emergency medical treatment is required abroad, you will be expected to pay upfront. If you have domestic health care coverage, MEDEX will then work with your domestic provider to obtain reimbursement (if this is a benefit provided in your domestic plan). Authorized medical evacuations are covered if local emergency treatment facilities are considered inadequate.
Therefore, unless you are flush with cash or are in a location where a high-limit credit card would be accepted for medical treatment, you are strongly encouraged to obtain an HTH policy through the Office of Risk Management if you are not enrolled with the Office of Study Abroad.