US health insurers are removing all limitations to their policies for customers caught up in the US attacks.
Major health insurers CIGNA and Oxford Health have told customers they will offer any medical treatment necessary and are removing treatment authorisation procedures.
The Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) confirmed that many other insurers were doing the same.
Normally, Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) policies, the type offered by CIGNA and Oxford Health, only allow insured parties to be treated by a preferred network of doctors and hospitals.
An HIAA spokesman said: “People are getting 100% coverage wherever they are treated.”
He added that many insurers were automatically extending health cover for people whose policies are due for renewal.
One of the reasons is that several health insurers, such as Empire, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, were based in the World Trade Centre and have lost most of their records.
The HIAA said it was too early to put an estimate on costs for health insurers but areas likely to be hardest hit were workers' compensation and disability insurance.
