Travel Medical Insurance - Peace of Mind for Your Overseas Journey
Travel can be exciting, yet at times can become stressful and unnerving. Travel medical insurance provides peace of mind during these trying times.
Emergency health plans cover unexpected emergency medical expenses without the need for underwriting, while also covering transportation costs from foreign hospitals back home or to facilities that can treat your illness.
Coverage Options
Doing business abroad without adequate health coverage is risky business, but travel medical insurance is designed to minimize that risk by covering emergency medical expenses incurred on trips as well as providing for evacuation services should an incident necessitate transport to a higher quality hospital.
Medical coverage limits vary by insurer and plan; some plans provide options for selecting deductibles. Pre-existing condition exclusions and waiver options also differ, with some plans offering lookback periods to determine eligibility for such waivers; others do not.
Based on your destination and activities, you can customize your policy by adding additional riders. Specialized policies exist for frequent travelers as well as those engaging in high-risk activities such as scuba diving and mountain climbing; also many travel medical insurance policies provide 24/7 phone assistance that helps navigate foreign medical systems and language barriers.
Pre-Existing Conditions Waiver
Pre-existing condition waivers allow travel insurance policies to cover a family member's illness that could compromise a trip. These features are often found on comprehensive packages which also offer trip cancellation/trip interruption coverage.
Your family member must purchase travel insurance within a certain period (depending on their plan) of making their first deposit for their trip and be medically stable on its effective date. In addition, their amount must equal or surpass total non-refundable trip costs in order to be eligible.
A look back period typically lasts 60-180 days prior to a policy's effective date, which requires your health condition to remain stable with no new treatments, tests or exams undertaken during that timeframe. Otherwise, claims could potentially be denied and having all required documentation is key to making sure they go smoothly.
Medical Evacuation
Many travel medical insurance plans at https://auras.insure/ include evacuation benefits. This coverage pays for the cost of transporting you from an out-of-the-way location to an adequate treatment center or back home, or for repatriating family members if one dies or becomes hospitalized and cannot provide care themselves.
Before choosing an insurance plan, take an inventory of your financial and health circumstances, along with potential health risks related to your itinerary and destination. Next, find a plan with suitable medical maximum, deductible, add-ons and customer service ratings from insurers; final step would be research on their insurer.
Secondary Coverage
Travel medical insurance provides full coverage if they become sick or injured while abroad, including hospitalization costs that would exceed their domestic plan's limits, treatment by physicians abroad and even possible evacuation if necessary. Many travelers are unaware of this potential gap. Travel medical insurance offers extra emergency healthcare costs coverage such as treatment by foreign doctors abroad and medical evacuation should it become necessary.
Many travel medical insurance plans provide primary (First Payer) medical coverage, which ensures your medical claims will be paid prior to any other coverage being applied; however, most travel medical insurers still ask on their claim forms whether other health plans exist and will likely process your claim as secondary coverage (Excess).
When traveling overseas and not fluent in the local language, health insurance can assist in communicating with healthcare professionals and navigating local healthcare systems. It may even cover transportation costs from overseas facilities back home - this benefit is known as repatriation coverage.