Holiday travel is upon us, do you have travel insurance for your upcoming trips? People often think the only reason to get travel insurance is to cover the cost of a trip if you must change or cancel it. But did you know the biggest benefit of travel insurance is protecting you from certain unforeseen medical situations that may arise during your trip? Here are our top 5 ways travel insurance can cover you in a medical emergency.
If you take medications or prescription drugs regularly, it’s important to make sure you plan appropriately while traveling to stay healthy. Although you may have done everything right when it comes to your prescriptions (see tips below), unexpected events do happen, and bags can get lost or personal belongings can be stolen. What if your medications were in those items?
Replacing medication can be hard, especially in foreign locations. Not all medications are easily accessible throughout the world. Additionally, prescriptions can be more expensive in some areas, and replacing a full or even partial supply can cost a lot more money and time than what a traveler would want to spend on vacation.
Not only can travel insurance assist in replacing your lost or stolen bags, but coverage can also include replacing your medications. Travel Insurance can help you get a new supply of your prescription(s) at a local pharmacy and/or provide financial compensation for the cost to replace them.
It should be mentioned that not all travel insurance standard policies provide coverage for prescription drugs. If not included in the standard plan, you can find special policies that include supplemental coverage that will cover your needs. This ensures you are staying safe and healthy on your travels.
Tip: Before your trip begins compile a list of all medications you take, that way you and others will have on hand in case of emergency. Always take more medication than you need on your trip, it is better to have too much than too little. Finally, hand-carry your medications, never pack your prescription drugs in your checked bag to minimize risk.
Someone getting sick or hurt is probably the top reason for a spoiled vacation, unfortunately, it happens quite often. Insurance can protect you and your family against the financial consequences of an unexpected health problem or accident injury. Here are the ways travel insurance can cover you.
Travel insurance will help reimburse you for prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs when sickness or injury occurs before the trip, and you must cancel. Coverage typically includes you or someone in your travel party who gets sick or injured prior to your trip. This also includes when a non-traveling family member falls into the hospital or passes away before your trip and you no longer can go.
Travel insurance can help you when sickness or injury occurs during your trip, to you or someone in your travel party. Travel interruption coverage can reimburse you for the portion of the trip you are missing and help with additional tickets to return home early. Coverage also can help you find a doctor or hospital where you are, that speaks your language, and help cover your medical expenses, including an ambulance ride. Note, often health insurance plans do not cover international travel so travel insurance can assist you here.
Tip: Travel insurance should cover all medical conditions, even pre-existing. We recommend confirming what is included to ensure your unique medical needs are covered when purchasing your travel insurance policy.
When getting seriously injured or hurt on a trip it is important to know that your US-based health insurance plan often does not apply in foreign countries, meaning they don’t cover medical costs outside of the United States. Medical emergencies abroad can be expensive, you do not want to get stuck paying for an entire doctor’s visit or hospital stay. As the U.S. State Department notes, “many foreign medical facilities and providers require cash payment upfront and do not accept U.S. insurance plans.” Be aware of medical fraud, there are cases where treating physicians ask for enormous amounts of money at consultation.
Travel insurance with emergency medical benefits should pay all medical bills, some may not even require a copay. Travel insurance can either pay you back for the medical fees you had to pay upfront or help arrange payment in advance for emergency medical care, depending on the case. When you or your traveling companion feels better and, on the mend, travel insurance can also help cover the costs of additional tickets to get you home following the injury/illness.
Tip: Be sure to pay close attention to the compensation limits in your insurance policy as they can vary greatly – the last thing you need to be concerned about is not being appropriately covered financially when a crisis occurs. The risk of a massive medical bill does not outweigh the small cost of insurance, just make sure you have the right plan in place.
If you get seriously sick or injured while traveling, in a domestic or foreign location, you may find yourself needing to be medically transported to the nearest facility for higher medical care. Medical transports can be in the form of a helicopter air ambulance, for close distances, or a jet air ambulance, for longer distances. Air ambulance transport costs can range from tens of thousands of dollars up to six figures, easily reaching $200,000, depending on what country you are in and proximity to the nearest hospital.
Travel insurance with emergency medical transportation benefits will cover the cost of medical transport services. Typically, the transport will need to be approved and deemed necessary by the insurance company, this is done by verifying that the current medical facility is unable to provide appropriate treatment and a transfer needs to occur to get the right medical attention. Once you or your loved one is in a more stable condition, based on the needs, insurance will pay for a means of additional transport to get you home. This medical transport can be in the form of an air ambulance, a commercial flight, or even a specialized transport service including a medical professional escort on a commercial flight. Lastly, insurance will pay to repatriate travelers back to their home country.
Tip: We advise that you review the level of coverage you have in the section specific to emergency medical transportation. Costs of transports vary greatly so it is always better to have the most coverage you are willing to pay for. For example, based on how far you are traveling from home you may need to increase coverage to cover additional costs incurred for long-range transports.
Buying travel insurance to cover your whole family is a great idea. As mentioned before, insurance will cover your trip cancellation costs when non-traveling family members are hospitalized or pass away. But what about when you are the one in the hospital traveling alone in need of family support? If you have been hospitalized for more than seven days, travel insurance can cover costs to fly one family member of your choosing to come to accompany you. Their lodging, meals, local transportation, and telephone calls during this time can also be covered by the plan.
Tip: You should always check on your specific insurance plan but typically the definition of family includes spouses, children, parents, siblings, and other direct family members.
Purchasing a travel insurance policy can help provide the peace of mind you need to look forward to and enjoy your much-needed time off for self-care. When faced with a medical crisis before or during your travels, having a good travel insurance policy can help you and your loved ones feel safe and protected against anything that may come your way.
Covid Tip: As Covid is still a huge concern across the world, it’s crucial to buy a policy with Covid-19 coverage. Some travel insurance policies may exclude Covid-related incidents. A good insurance plan will offer “cancel for any reason” which would let you cancel your trip for any medical reason, including Covid. It would also be a good idea to ensure your policy covers Covid quarantine, including trip interruption coverage and travel delay expenses if you get involved in a mandatory quarantine during your trip due to a positive Covid-19 test.