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Travel medical insurance is a standard travel coverage that can reimburse you for covered medical expenses while traveling, such as hospital stays, dental procedures, and medical evacuations. This type of insurance typically only covers emergency situations, so you likely wouldn’t be covered for routine doctor or dentist visits, or optional procedures.
Learn more: Travel insurance: What it covers, costs, and how to choose the right policy
When we talk about travel medical insurance, we may be referring to several different coverage types. Depending on your travel insurance policy, you may have some or all of these types of coverage included:
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Emergency medical coverage: This covers emergency medical treatment, such as hospital and doctor visits, surgeries, and prescription costs.
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Emergency dental coverage: Covers emergency dental treatment, such as dentist visits and procedures. This coverage may be included on some policies as part of the emergency medical insurance.
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Medical evacuation and emergency transportation: Covers costs for both medical evacuation and emergency transportation. For example, this coverage may cover the costs of transporting you to the nearest hospital or transporting you back to your home country.
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Repatriation of remains: This will cover the cost of transporting the remains of you or a covered traveling companion back to your home country if you die while traveling.
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24/7 emergency assistance: This coverage provides access to 24/7 assistance for reaching and coordinating language translation, medical help, legal help, and other services.
Learn more: What does travel insurance cost?
It depends on your specific travel insurance policy, but standard travel medical insurance covers emergency medical treatment while traveling. Some policies also cover emergency dental treatment.
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Serious injury, illness, or other medical condition: In general, if you need emergency medical treatment while traveling, you should be covered up to your policy limits. Possible situations could involve any number of accidental or unexpected events that require an emergency hospital visit and/or treatment.
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Serious dental injury, infection, or other tooth-related medical condition: In the same vein, your policy may also provide emergency dental treatment coverage if you have a sudden and unexpected dental injury, infection, broken tooth, or other similar situation.
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Nonemergency medical or dental care: Many travel medical insurance policies only cover emergency expenses, so nonemergency costs typically wouldn’t apply.
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Routine exams: Planned exams are often scheduled in advance, so routine exams likely wouldn’t be covered.
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Elective surgeries: If an operation, such as a cosmetic surgery, is elective, it likely wouldn’t be covered.
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Allergy treatments: Unless they’re part of emergency care, allergy treatments are unlikely to be reimbursed.
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Physical therapy: Standard physical therapy usually wouldn’t be covered unless it’s necessary as part of your transportation requirements.
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Preexisting conditions: You typically need an optional add-on as part of your travel insurance policy to cover preexisting medical conditions.
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Anything over your coverage limits: Even if a treatment or procedure is technically covered, your policy will only pay up to the listed limits.
Learn more: What does travel insurance cover, and do I need it?
These steps can guide you through the general travel medical insurance process:
It’s possible to buy a standalone medical insurance policy. You also might already have coverage through your personal health insurance plan. However, many people choose to purchase a comprehensive travel insurance policy that provides multiple types of coverage, including travel medical insurance, trip cancellation insurance, and trip interruption insurance.
Before you purchase a policy, it’s essential that you compare travel insurance plans to find the best option for you. Ensure you carefully read through the covered reasons, exclusions, and costs as you compare plans.
Keep in mind that you typically need to buy travel insurance before leaving on your trip.
Hopefully, you won’t need to use your insurance while traveling, but if you do, remember that it only applies if there’s a qualifying event. In the case of travel medical insurance, that may mean a qualifying medical or dental emergency.
For instance, if you trip and land awkwardly on your arm and think something is seriously wrong, it makes sense to immediately visit a hospital or doctor to get checked out. This is an example of something sudden and unexpected that could require emergency treatment.
Sooner rather than later, you need to notify your insurance provider of the qualifying event. Your benefits administrator or claims contact can help guide you through the process and inform you of what you’re required to submit for a successful claim.
In the event of a medical emergency, you may want to contact your provider immediately so they can coordinate the best care and treatment options. However, this all depends on the specific situation and the severity of the injury or illness. You may want to go straight to an emergency room if it seems necessary.
You typically pay for your medical expenses, and your insurance provider then reimburses you. This means you will have to submit receipts and other documentation to your provider so that they know the claim is legit and how much they need to pay you.
Note that it’s better to keep receipts of every expense related to your emergency medical or dental treatment, just in case. It can be much more difficult to track down expenses after the fact.
Once you have all your documentation collected, submit your claim. This can typically be done through your provider’s website or mobile app. The review process may take days or weeks.
If everything is submitted correctly, you should eventually receive your reimbursement. Depending on the payment method you choose, you may receive it as a bank deposit or a check mailed to your home.
Learn more: Is travel insurance worth it?
Standalone travel medical insurance can be fairly cheap. For example, we found United Healthcare SafeTrip plans for under $50 for a two-week trip to the U.K. for one traveler aged 30.
These plans included emergency medical and dental treatment, medical evacuation, medical repatriation, return of remains, and baggage loss and delay. However, they did not include standard types of coverage, such as trip cancellation, trip interruption, or trip delay.
If you’re considering purchasing travel medical insurance as part of a comprehensive travel insurance policy, you can expect the entire policy to cost around 4% to 10% of your total trip cost. That means you may have to pay $400 to $1,000 for travel insurance on a trip that costs $10,000.
Yes, some of the best travel credit cards provide travel medical insurance, but it isn’t common. To see if your credit card offers this benefit, consult your guide to benefits and look for coverage options such as “Emergency Medical and Dental,” “Emergency Evacuation and Transportation,” and “Travel Accident Insurance.”
Learn more: How credit card travel insurance works
Travel medical insurance generally covers only emergency care and treatment for sudden, unforeseen injuries or illnesses.
Like most insurance, you’re only covered up to the coverage limits on your policy. If your treatment costs more, your policy won’t cover the additional expenses.
It depends on the policy. While emergency dental coverage is often included with medical coverage, that’s not always the case.
Travel medical insurance makes sense if:
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You’re traveling to other countries: Your personal health insurance plan may not cover you on international trips.
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You want peace of mind for your trip: When it comes down to it, most people won’t need to use their travel insurance policies. However, having insurance in place can give you the peace of mind you need to fully enjoy your trip.
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You plan to participate in high-risk activities: You will likely need to include an optional add-on for high-risk activities, but many insurance providers offer this option.
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You’re traveling to remote areas: Areas with limited infrastructure may not have adequate medical facilities, underscoring the importance of insurance to cover the potentially hefty costs of medical evacuation and transportation.
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You have preexisting medical conditions: You typically need to add coverage for this, but you can often do it as part of a comprehensive travel medical insurance policy.
Learn more: How to compare travel insurance to choose the right policy
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Coverage types: Travel medical insurance is a broad term that encompasses various types of coverage, including emergency medical and dental care, medical evacuation and emergency transportation, repatriation of remains, and 24/7 emergency assistance.
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Emergency care: In general, travel medical insurance applies only to sudden or unforeseen medical or dental emergencies.
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Standalone vs. comprehensive: You can purchase standalone travel medical insurance or comprehensive travel insurance that includes medical coverage along with other insurance, such as trip cancellation, trip interruption, and trip delay reimbursement.
Tim Manni edited this article.