No one wants to think about it, but a medical emergency can happen on vacation. The big question is whether you know what to do when it does, especially if you’re traveling overseas.
How would you find a doctor and be sure you’re getting appropriate care? What if you don’t speak the same language as your doctors? For some people, it’s worth paying for a service just to let someone else find the answers to these stressful questions.
Now, how would you pay your medical bills? What if you need to be evacuated so you can receive appropriate medical care? How do you make those arrangements and then pay for the evacuation?
If you have travel medical insurance, your plan can not only take care of the financial stress of paying for treatment, but also handle those difficult questions of how to find good care. With all the upsides of travel medical insurance, plus the relatively small expense of a plan, it’s not hard to see how travel insurance can be worth the cost.
But we want you to see for yourself. Check out what’s typically covered by our plans and how much they cost, and we bet you’ll come to realize the value of travel insurance, too.
Overview: What’s Typically Covered by Travel Medical Insurance?
The answer to this will vary from plan to plan depending on the insurance provider, but here are the basics of travel medical insurance.
Medical expenses
Treatment can get expensive, and having to pay for it out of your own pocket can be disastrous financially. With travel medical insurance, however, expenses incurred as a result of your treatment can be paid in part or full, depending on your plan and situation.
Emergency medical evacuation
Sometimes the most appropriate medical facility isn’t in the same country you’re visiting. In these extreme cases, when deemed medically necessary, our Assist Team can arrange an emergency medical evacuation and coordinate your care with medical staff to make your transition as comfortable as possible.
Pre-existing condition coverage
Most of Seven Corners’ plans include coverage for pre-existing conditions. There are some requirements, waiting periods, and definitions of pre-existing conditions — all of which may vary by plan — to be aware of. Be sure you understand those details before purchasing a plan and talk to a licensed agent if you have any questions.
Terrorism medical expenses
If you suffer an injury as a result of a terrorist event, your plan could pay for the necessary medical treatment. Some restrictions apply, so be sure to read your plan carefully and research your destination thoroughly to know the risks.
Political evacuation
If civil unrest breaks out during your trip, some plans will pay to evacuate you to another, safer location.
Medical networks and directories
Included in your plan, you might also find an extensive network of providers and 24/7 emergency medical assistance. If you’re traveling in the United States, some of Seven Corners’ travel medical plans include the option to use a network to find a doctor or medical facility for care (other plans don’t have a network). Choosing providers within the network often means your treatment will be less expensive.
If you’re traveling outside the United States, Seven Corners maintains an international directory of medical providers. The Seven Corners Assist Team, which delivers multilingual support for a wide range of emergencies and other unexpected events, can use that directory to help you find the most appropriate medical facility for you to receive care.
International travel poses more risks than traveling within the country where you reside. Some of the coverage options listed above might not apply to the type of trip you're taking, which means you may need a different type of coverage. If that is the case, or if you want to protect the money you spent for your trip so you can be reimbursed for nonrefundable trip expenses, try a trip protection plan.
Is Travel Medical Insurance Affordable?
The cost of your travel medical plan varies with your age, the length of your trip, and the medical maximum and deductible you select.
For just a few dollars per day, you can buy $100,000 worth of coverage with a $250 deductible. There are also options for higher amounts of coverage and lower deductibles, based on your needs. Remember that the higher your deductible, the lower your plan cost will be.
Of course, there are other factors that determine cost. For instance, if you plan on participating in any hazardous sports during your trip, you can buy optional protection to cover specific activities that are considered to be higher risk.
Does length of coverage increase cost?
Quick answer: Yes. Typically with travel medical plans, the length of coverage will vary between five days up to three years, although you cannot purchase a three-year policy upfront. The maximum length of coverage for some plans is 364 days, and then you can renew it for up to three years.
It's fairly easy to figure out which policies are going to cost the most money. If you require travel medical insurance for a longer length of time, you're looking at a more expensive plan.
On the other hand, if you only need medical coverage for five days, the cost will be significantly less.
Does the cost of travel medical insurance depend on the destination?
The price of your plan can be impacted by where you plan to travel. For example, medical care in the United States is expensive. That means your plan might cost more if you plan on traveling to the U.S. versus if you aren't. It also makes having travel medical protection even more important for non-U.S. residents traveling to the United States.
When Would You Purchase Travel Medical Insurance?
While there are plenty of reasons to buy travel medical insurance, it’s absolutely vital if you’re traveling internationally. This is because your health insurance at home likely won't pay for the care you receive overseas or on a cruise ship. And even if your destination has universal healthcare, don’t expect to receive treatment for free. A country’s national healthcare system is designed for its own citizens, not tourists or visitors.
Without travel medical insurance to pay for treatment abroad, you’ll end up paying for most or all of that treatment out of your own pocket. A simple medication for a sinus infection might not break the bank, but a broken ankle or severe illness is another story. Would you be able to pay for thousands of dollars in medical bills out of your savings?
Who Needs Travel Medical Insurance?
We’ll ask again: Would you be able to pay your medical bills without insurance? For the travelers below, the answer was no. See how their travel insurance — or lack thereof — impacted their financial wellbeing as well as their own health and safety.
Daniel and Felipe: Why it’s important to get travel insurance
Daniel and Felipe, a couple from Canada, were traveling on a month-long trip through Southeast Asia. While in Myanmar, Felipe contracted a rare stomach virus, which left him hospitalized. Scared his partner needed a higher level of care than he was receiving in Myanmar, Daniel called Seven Corners for assistance.
In less than 24 hours, and while communicating through a 10.5-hour time difference and a language barrier in rural Myanmar, the Seven Corners Assist Team secured Felipe’s evacuation to Thailand via air ambulance. There, he was treated in a state-of-the-art medical facility by doctors within our medical directory.
Because of the couple’s travel medical purchase, Felipe’s illness was covered by insurance, as were the additional costs of emergency medical transportation to Thailand and their return flights home. Our Seven Corners Assist team also made sure Daniel and Felipe could travel together during the evacuation.
Watch Daniel and Felipe’s story in their own words:
Kevin and Alex: Why travel insurance is worth the cost
Daniel and Felipe are the perfect example of why travel medical insurance is worth the cost. Not everyone makes the same decision to purchase travel insurance, however, and in some of those cases, it doesn’t work in their favor.
Kevin, a high school girls' basketball coach from Indiana, was swimming in the Dominican Republic, when he was pounded by a rogue wave. He hit the sea floor and broke several bones in his back.
Unfortunately, Kevin didn’t have travel insurance. This meant his family had to scramble to create a GoFundMe to ease some of his $27,000 in medical expenses.
Alex, also from Indiana, fell 30 feet from a retaining wall while vacationing in the French Alps and shattered his T12 vertebra. His bills were expected to top $100,000. And he, too, was uninsured. His family also relied on a GoFundMe campaign to cover the charges.
Is It Worth it to Buy Travel Medical Insurance?
We think of travel medical insurance as low in cost, high in value. The value of quality travel medical insurance often can’t be measured in dollars and cents, but rather in a feeling of security.
You can see in the video below just what a relief it was for Leanne to have the coverage and assistance from Seven Corners when her daughter Makenzie went missing in Europe after becoming sick and unresponsive. Seven Corners was able to locate her daughter and reunite them during her recovery.
We help people every day who have medical emergencies while traveling. If you have coverage, you can rest assured that if you become sick or hurt on your trip, you're covered.
So really, it's up to you to determine whether a few dollars a day is worth it. And once you do — you're too smart not to — let Seven Corners help you find the best travel insurance for your trip. Visit SevenCorners.com for a quick quote or talk to a licensed agent.
