How to Find a Doctor to go to as an International Student

Posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2012 at 8:00 am

If you are an international student in the US and have either our Student Secure or our Atlas Travel Medical plan with us, you know that you are covered if you ever get sick or injured while in the United States. However, you may wonder how to find a doctor to go to in case you do get sick. Good news! You can choose whichever doctor or hospital you want to go to! Our plans do not limit you to a specific doctor when you receive treatment.

However, we do recommend that you go to a doctor or hospital that already has an agreement with the insurance company. We refer to these doctors/hospitals that already have an agreement with the insurance company as in-network providers. By choosing to go to an in-network provider, you will benefit in the following ways:

1. By receiving a network discount on your treatment
2. Being granted the ability for the doctor to directly bill the insurance company so that you don’t have to pay the entire treatment cost out of your own pocket and getting a reimbursement later on
3. Getting 100% coverage on eligible expenses after the deductible (on the Student Secure Select and the Atlas Plan)

International students who are asking how to find a doctor to go to will find it’s simple to find the provider they need. Our network is nationwide, so wherever you are in the USA, you won’t have a problem finding a doctor near you. When using our online provider search tool that is located directly on our website, finding a doctor is easy. You can access this tool by click on the link above or by typing www.internationalstudentinsurance.com/network into your web browser address bar.

You will see this page when you click on the link.

Once you are on this page, you will need to click on “USA Network” to find a doctor or hospital inside of the United States. A new window will appear that allows you to get started on your search. In step one you can choose the type of provider you are looking for, for example, if you are looking for a hospital choose “General Acute Care Hospital.” In our example below we chose “Physician” and “Family Practice” under “Physician Specialty,” this is generally what you should look for if you are just looking for a general doctor because you feel sick or have a minor injury.

On step two, click on “ZIP code” and enter the zip code of the area that you are trying to find a doctor in. In our example, you can see we have searched for a family practice doctor within five miles of the zip code 33199 in Miami, our results have 93 different doctors to choose from.

If you already have the Student Secure plan or the Atlas Travel Medical plan with us and still need assistance on how to find a doctor or more information on how to use your insurance, please call our client relations department at the number located on the back of your insurance ID card. Our client relations department is available for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you don’t have a plan with us yet but would like to know which one would work best for you, please contact our insurance agents to find the best insurance plan for you.

Posted by ahoontrakul

Originally from Thailand, Apinant grew up in the United States and has extensive international experience traveling throughout Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. He has lived, studied and worked abroad in China, England, Taiwan and Thailand. Apinant is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Masters in International Business and a Bachelors of Science in Business Management.