Health Insurance and Emergency Assistance

Health Insurance: It is absolutely essential that you have comprehensive health insurance while abroad. Ask your family to obtain written confirmation that your health insurance policy provides coverage in your country. The optional Bates insurance that many families subscribe to provides such coverage. (Cross Insurance, which provides this policy, may be reached at 207-783-8591 or 1-800-537-6444. Ask for Lisa Farrington or Michael Parkin. Claim forms and additional information are available on their website: www.crossagency.com). Several companies specialize in student insurance abroad, including CMI Insurance Worldwide, Cultural Insurance Services International (800-727-2437), and HTH Worldwide (877-237-2390). Take your policy number and the company's address, regular telephone number, etc. with you. (800, 888, and other toll-free numbers do not work from overseas.)

Emergency Assistance: Many programs automatically enroll their students in an Emergency Assistance insurance policy. You should establish whether or not you are covered by such a policy and, if you are, put the key contact information into your cell phone. If your program does not provide emergency assistance, you should use one of the policies below.

• If you are a US citizen, and are enrolled in the Bates College Insurance Policy, this assistance is provided by Scholastic Emergency Services. Call 877-488-9833 if in the United States and +609-452-7570 from abroad.
• For international students enrolled in the Bates College Health Insurance Policy, this assistance is provided by Medex Access.   If calling from the United States, the Medex number is: 1-800-527-0218.  From abroad, the number is: +410-453-6330.
• For Bates students not enrolled in the Bates College Health Insurance Policy, Europ Assistance USA provides this assistance. The Europ Assistance emergency center is open 24/7.  If calling from the United States, the number is: 1-800-766-8206.  If calling from abroad, call collect if needed:  +202-659-7777.   The Bates plan number is:  01-SP-585. Please note that this emergency medical assistance does not eliminate the need for regular health insurance.
• You should enter the appropriate telephone number into your cell phone so it will be available if needed.