What it includes and who needs it most

Travel medical insurance is a general coverage that can reimburse you for covered medical expenses while you are traveling, such as hospital stays, dental procedures, and medical discharges. This type of insurance usually only covers emergencies, so you won’t be covered for doctor or dentist visits, or elective procedures.

Read more: Travel insurance: What it covers, costs, and how to choose the right policy

When we talk about travel insurance, we may refer to several different types of protection. Depending on your travel insurance, you may have some or all of these types of coverage included:

• Emergency treatment: This includes emergency treatment, such as hospital and doctor visits, surgery, and prescription drug costs.

• Dental implants in emergency situations: It covers emergency dental treatment, such as dentist visits and procedures. This coverage may be included in other policies as part of emergency health insurance.

• Medical evacuation and emergency transport: It covers the cost of both medical evacuation and emergency transportation. For example, this coverage may cover the cost of taking you to the nearest hospital or repatriating you to your home country.

• Retrieval of remains: This will cover the cost of transporting your remains or a covered companion back to your country if you die while traveling.

• 24/7 emergency help: This coverage provides access to 24/7 access to and coordination of language translation, medical assistance, legal assistance, and other services.

Read more: How much does travel insurance cost?

It depends on your specific travel insurance policy, but standard travel insurance covers emergency treatment while you are traveling. Some policies also cover emergency dental treatment.

• Serious injury, illness, or other medical condition: Generally, if you need emergency treatment while traveling, you should be covered up to your policy limits. Possible situations can include any number of accidental or unexpected events that require an emergency hospital visit and/or treatment.

• Severe dental injury, infection, or other dental-related medical condition: Similarly, your policy may also provide emergency dental treatment if you have a sudden or unexpected dental injury, infection, broken tooth, or other similar condition.

• Emergency medical or dental care: Most travel insurance policies only cover emergency expenses, so non-emergency expenses usually won’t apply.

• Common tests: Scheduled exams are often scheduled in advance, so routine exams will likely not be covered.

• Special surgery: If the surgery, such as cosmetic surgery, is elective, it probably won’t be covered.

• Allergy Treatment: Unless it is part of emergency care, allergy treatment is unlikely to be reimbursed.

• Physical therapy: Regular physical therapy would generally not be covered unless it is required as part of your travel requirements.

• Pre-existing conditions: You usually need an optional add-on as part of your travel insurance to cover pre-existing medical conditions.

• Anything beyond your cover limits: Even if the treatment or procedure is technically covered, your policy will only pay up to the listed limit.

Read more: What does travel insurance cover, and do I need it?

These steps can guide you through the general travel insurance process:

1. Compare policies and buy travel insurance

It is possible to buy private health insurance. You may also already have money through your health insurance plan. However, many people choose to purchase a comprehensive insurance policy that provides multiple types of coverage, including travel insurance, trip cancellation insurance, and trip interruption insurance.

Before purchasing a policy, it is important that you compare travel insurance plans to find the best option for you. Be sure to carefully read the reasons covered, excluded, and costs as you compare plans.

Remember that you usually need to purchase travel insurance before leaving on your trip.

Hopefully, you won’t need to use your insurance while you’re traveling, but if you do, remember that it only applies if there’s a qualifying event. In the case of travel insurance, that could mean a medical or dental emergency.

For example, if you trip and fall on your arm and you think something is wrong, it makes sense to visit a hospital or doctor immediately to get checked out. This is an example of something sudden and unexpected that may require emergency treatment.

Sooner than later, you need to notify your insurance provider of a qualifying event. Your benefits administrator or claims contact can help guide you through the process and let you know what you need 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 directly to the emergency room if necessary.

You usually pay for your medical expenses, and your insurance provider then reimburses you. This means you will need to send receipts and other documents to your provider so they know the claim is valid and how much they need to pay you.

Note that it is best to keep receipts for all expenses related to your emergency or dental treatment, just in case. It can be very difficult to track costs after the fact.

5. Submit your claim and continue the review process

Once you have gathered all your documents, submit your claim. This can usually 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 refund. Depending on the payment method you choose, you can receive it as a bank deposit or a check sent to your home.

Read more: Is travel insurance worth it??

Private travel medical insurance can be quite expensive. For example, we found United Healthcare SafeTrip plans for less than $50 for a two-week trip to the UK for a single traveler in his 30s.

These programs included emergency medical and dental treatment, medical evacuation, medical evacuation, recovery of remains, and baggage loss and delay. However, they did not include the usual types of coverage, such as trip cancellation, trip interruption, or trip delay.

If you are considering purchasing medical travel insurance as part of a comprehensive travel insurance policy, you can expect the entire policy to cost about 4% to 10% of your total travel expenses. That means you may have to pay $400 to $1,000 for travel insurance on a trip worth $10,000.

Yes, some major credit cards offer travel insurance, but it’s rare. To see if your credit card offers this benefit, consult your benefits guide and look for coverage options such as “Emergency Medical and Dental,” “Emergency Evacuation and Transportation,” and “Travel Accident Insurance.”

Read more: How credit card travel insurance works

Medical travel insurance usually covers emergency care and treatment for sudden, unexpected injuries or illnesses.

Like most insurance, you are only covered up to the coverage limit on your policy. If your treatment costs more, your insurance will not cover the extra cost.

It depends on the policy. Although emergency dental care is often included with medical care, this is not always the case.

Travel health insurance makes sense if:

• You are traveling to other countries: Your personal health insurance plan may not cover you for international travel.

• Want peace of mind on your trip: When it comes down to it, most people won’t need to use their travel insurance. However, having local insurance can give you the peace of mind you need to enjoy your trip to the fullest.

• Plan to participate in high-risk activities: You will probably need to include an optional supplement for high-risk activities, but most insurance providers offer this option.

• Going to distant places: Areas with limited infrastructure may not have adequate medical facilities, underscoring the importance of insurance to cover large medical evacuation and transportation costs.

• You have pre-existing medical conditions: You usually need to add coverage for this, but you can often do it as part of a comprehensive travel insurance policy.

Read more: How to compare travel insurance to choose the right policy

• Types of cover: Travel health insurance is a broad term that encompasses various types of coverage, including emergency medical and dental care, medical evacuation and emergency transportation, restitution, and 24/7 emergency assistance.

• Urgent care: In general, medical travel insurance only applies to sudden or unexpected medical or dental emergencies.

• Independent vs. complete: You can buy individual travel insurance or comprehensive travel insurance that includes medical coverage and other insurance, such as trip cancellation, trip interruption, and trip delay reimbursement.

Tim Manni edited this article.