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The rules say that plans must pay for a medical service or item if regular Medicare would pay for it in this case. 
You can find this rule at 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Section 422.101. 
 
The rules state that items and services furnished outside the United States are excluded from coverage except 
for the following services, and certain services rendered on board a ship: 
 Emergency inpatient hospital services where the emergency occurred:  
o While the beneficiary was physically present in the United States; or  
o In Canada while the beneficiary was traveling without reasonable delay and by the most direct 
route between Alaska and another State. 
 Emergency or nonemergency inpatient hospital services furnished by a hospital located outside the 
United States, if the hospital was closer to, or substantially more accessible from, the beneficiary's 
United States residence than the nearest participating United States hospital which was adequately 
equipped to deal with and available to provide treatment of the illness or injury;  
 Physician and ambulance services furnished in connection with a covered foreign hospitalization. 
Program payment may not be made for any other Part B medical and other health services, including 
outpatient services furnished outside the United States;  
 Services rendered on board a ship in a United States port, or within 6 hours of when the ship arrived at, 
or departed from, a United States port, are considered to have been furnished in United States territorial 
waters. Services not furnished in a United States port, or within 6 hours of when the ship arrived at, or 
departed from, a United States port, are considered to have been furnished outside United States 
territorial waters, even if the ship is of United States registry; and  
 The term "United States" means the 50 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 
Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa and, for purposes of 
services rendered on a ship, includes the territorial waters adjoining the land areas of the United States. 
 
You can find these rules in Medicare Benefit Policy Manual Chapter 16, Section 60. 
 
If you want to read these Medicare rules, you can go to this website www.medicareappeal.com. 
 
  The Plan contract says that the Plan covers items and services in accordance with Medicare rules. The contract 
says the Plan covers worldwide emergency and urgent care services outside of the United States (U.S.) under 
the following circumstances. If you have an emergency or an urgent need for care outside of the U.S. and its 
territories, you will be responsible to pay for those services upfront and request appropriate reimbursement 
from us. The Plan will reimburse you, for covered out-of-network emergency and urgent care services outside 
of the U.S. and its territories, at rates no greater than the rates at which Original Medicare would pay for such 
services had the services been performed in the United States in the locality where you reside. The amount the 
Plan pays you, if any, will be reduced by any applicable cost-sharing. Because the Plan will reimburse at rates 
no greater than the rates at which Original Medicare would reimburse, and because foreign providers might 
charge more for services than the rates at which Original Medicare would pay, the total of our reimbursement 
plus the applicable cost-sharing may be less than the amounts you pay the foreign provider. This is a 
supplemental benefit not generally covered by Medicare. You must submit proof of payment to the Plan for 
reimbursement. See Chapter 4 (Medical Benefits Chart, what is covered and what you pay) for more 
information. If you have already paid for the covered services, the Plan will reimburse you for their share of the 
cost for covered services. You can send the bill with medical records to the Plan for payment consideration. 
You can find this information on page 47 of the Plan's 2022 Evidence of Coverage.