About Health Care & Insurance in the USA & Arizona

Vaccines aren't required for entry into the US, unless special circumstances warrant one. Special circumstance would be if your home country is suffering an outbreak of cholera. If your personal medical situation requires that you use a syringe or undergoe treatment with narcotics, then you must carry documented proof like a prescription showing that such items are required for your medical situation. You cannot bring the syringes on board a plane without proof that you need them for medicinal purposes.

You’re not required to carry health insurance (and why would you be, since so many US citizens don’t even have it!), but it is of course recommended. If you usually don’t buy health insurance when you travel abroad, you may want to consider it when travelling to the United States. Especially if you’re European, where low-cost or free medical insurance is readily available, you’ll need to know about the US health care system. Basically, there is no system in place which provides health care to foreign visitors for free or for low cost. This isn’t surprising, since there isn’t even a sytem in place to provide this for citizens of the US. Medical treatment and care is very expensive…actually not just expensive but dangerously expensive. If something happens to you while in the United States that requires major surgery and in-patient treatment you could end up paying tens of thousands of dollars.

Some hospitals may even require that you provide either proof of insurance or advance payment before they admit you or treat you. For this reason alone, it’s a good idea to get some health insurance that covers you while visiting the United States. This can be purchased as part of a larger insurance package that also covers theft or loss of luggage, trip cancellation, or even bail money in case you get arrested.

Travellers from Europe can check out policies sold by travel agencies or automobile clubs. One plan is the “Worldwide Healthcare Plan” sold by Europ Assistance. Their agent in the United States is Worldwide Assistance Service, Inc.