When we travel abroad, our domestic health insurance wonât usually cover us. This is what makes travel insurance a must-have for every international traveler. Travel insurance comes in two types: travel medical insurance and trip insurance. For comprehensive urgent medical care while youâre traveling outside of your home country, travel medical insurance may seem like the obvious choice. While it is true that youâll have more comprehensive coverage with travel medical insurance, Americans traveling abroad have another option for urgent medical coverage: trip insurance.
Is Accident and Sickness Insurance the Same as Health Insurance?
The Accident and Sickness coverage you get with trip insurance isnât a substitute for your regular domestic health insurance. Trip insurance offers Accident and Sickness coverage for American residents traveling abroad. Policy maximums will vary by plan but some policies have policy maximums as high as $500,000. This means that if youâre traveling abroad and incur a new injury or contract a new illness that requires emergency medical attention, you may be covered.
Trip Insurance Includes Emergency Medical Evacuation
Depending on the policy, your trip insurance policy may include emergency medical evacuation coverage. If youâre sick on a cruise, injured in a location with rough terrain, or in a village with limited medical resources, this benefit can be a literal life saver. Emergency medical evacuation usually involves airlifting the sick or injured policyholder to the nearest medical facility, where they can get the treatment they need. The service would cost an uninsured person upwards of $100,000 and they would still need to pay for any additional medical care they received.
Other Benefits of Trip Insurance
In addition to the urgent medical coverage offered through the accident and sickness benefit, trip insurance also protects the trip investment. With most basic trip insurance plans, travelers may be protected for certain prepaid travel expenses related to things like trip cancellations, missed connections, and luggage loss.
Basic trip cancellation insurance coverage can cover prepaid non-refundable expenses should you need to cancel your trip for a covered reason. These reasons may include inclement weather, sickness of self, a travel companion or a dependent, death of a loved one, or job termination. Covered reasons may vary from plan to plan so be sure to read your policy documentation. Only those situations explicitly stated in these documents will be covered under standard trip cancellation.
However, trip insurance plans are customizable. You can choose an add-on like Cancel For Any Reason coverage and youâll be able to cancel your trip for any reason, even if itâs not explicitly stated as a covered one, and still recoup certain prepaid travel expenses like hotel or rental deposits.
Contact VisitorsCoverage for Help With Your Trip Insurance Questions
If you canât decide whether you need travel medical insurance or trip insurance, this explainer can help. Still have questions? Weâve got answers. Our team of licensed trip insurance experts is happy to help.
