February 22, 2008 - Author: English Advantage

One of the biggest mistakes you can make coming to the US is to come without health insurance. As a student you are going to need insurance anyway, because universities require students to have insurance policies before they can enroll. And you need it. Last year when I had a wart on my back, I went to my doctor for 15 minutes just for him to tell me it wasn't serious. That 15 minutes cost me $200! Without insurance there's no way I could have paid that.

You don't want to do what some international students do either, which is not go to the doctor because they can't afford it. If you have something wrong, you want to be able to get it checked out.

Now if you're an American planning to study abroad you may think you have it made. Healthcare is so much cheaper abroad, right? But when you're sick or seriously injured you need to not worry about medical care. In a different culture, a different system, you want to be able to go to a proper doctor and have costs taken care of. When I got sick for the first time in Kazakhstan, my friends sent me to a local doctor because it was so cheap. This guy told me to drink yogurt twice a day and put mustard on my back to stop my cough. No wonder it was cheap. I could really have used some insurance so I could just go to a proper hospital and get normal medical advice.

So check out this site for a Free Student Insurance Quote with Multinational Underwriters. Or call them up on their hotline and talk to someone. Find out how much student travel insurance will cost; probably it's cheaper than you think. And unlike your existing policy, which may not even cover you outside your home country, these policies are designed with staying in a foreign country in mind! Many policies even include Acts of Terrorism coverage and Emergency Med Evacs! You won't regret it.