Travel Medical Coverage

What to look for

On a basic level, all travel medical insurance works through reimbursement- you pay the expense out of pocket and submit a claim to get reimbursed for that loss.  Medical coverage can either be secondary or primary. On our site we differentiate the two by having a small raised number “2” next to the benefit amount designating that the benefit is secondary. 

With secondary coverage, you must first submit your claim to your primary insurance plan and wait until you receive their “explanation of benefits” (EOB) that shows what is and is not covered.  Once you have the EOB you can then complete your claim with the travel insurance company. With primary coverage, you can submit your claim directly to the insurance company.

Plans that offer primary coverage are usually more expensive and offer lower benefit amounts that those that are secondary.  Which should you choose?   That depends on you.  If you don’t want to deal with the extra work involved with a secondary plan, then go for those that are primary. 

Primary Coverage

• Pays before any other coverage that you might have for the same financial loss.

• Claims take less time since you're only dealing with just the travel insurance company.

• Coverage usually costs more because the travel insurance company is responsible for the full coverage.  Medical limits not as high as secondary plans.

Secondary Coverage

• Pays after other insurance that you might have for the same financial loss.

• Higher medical limits

• Claims take longer since you first have to submit your claim to your own (at home) coverage before the travel insurance company will consider payment.

How do travel medical plans cover me?

As mentioned above, all travel medical plans work by reimbursement.  That being said, all plans do have a 24 hour emergency assistance number that you can contact during the event of a medical emergency.  By contacting that number, the travel insurance company can either forward payment, guarantee payment, or guarantee that you are insured.  Which of those three they do depends on the policy. Some plans can forward up to the full benefit amount if it is necessary to secure your admission into a medical facility, while others may only do so up to a limited amount, such as $1,000.  Others may guarantee the medical facility that you are insured. Always be sure you know what your policy does.

Pre-existing Medical Conditions

We go in full detail about pre-existing medical conditions in our Travel Insurance Buyers Guide, but what follows is a brief encapsulation.   All travel medical policies exclude pre-existing medical conditions. Many of the comprehensive package plans offer a pre-existing medical conditions waiver.  Some of the travel medical only plans offer coverage due to the acute onset of a pre-existing medical condition - it is important to note that these last type of plans do have age restrictions on the acute onset benefit.

Deductibles

Not all policies that offer travel medical coverage have deductibles.  There are some comprehensive package plans that do, but usually it’s limited to $50.  With the travel medical only plans, you can choose how much of a deductible you want, ranging from $0 to $2,500.

How much is enough?

We get this question quite a bit.  If you are traveling overseas, I’d recommend looking at plans that have at least $50,000 of travel medical coverage and at least $150,000 for emergency medical evacuation and repatriation.  For travelers with pre-existing medical conditions, we’d recommend looking at those comprehensive package plans that offer a pre-existing medical conditions waiver.