As you sift through travel insurance options and carefully consider benefits that will be important to have for your travels, you may come across repatriation of remains or the return of mortal remains.
While it’s heartbreaking to imagine that you or a loved one may lose their life abroad, coverage for returning mortal remains to a home country can help save you from a huge financial burden considering the extreme costs of this process. This is why choosing a travel insurance plan with a repatriation of remains benefit is essential.
What Is Repatriation of Remains?
Repatriation of remains, or the return of mortal remains, is the transportation of a deceased person’s remains back to their home country in the event that their death occurs in another country.
Typically, the repatriation of remains process can include:
- Post mortem exam
- Embalming
- Coordinating with government officials to properly transport the remains
- Either air or ground transportation back to the home country
Travel Insurance Explained: Return of Mortal Remains from VisitorsCoverage on Vimeo.
How Much Does Repatriation of Remains Cost?
The cost of the return of mortal remains can depend upon a number of factors, including how far the remains have to travel, the location of the person’s death, government regulations, shipping costs, weight of the remains, and more.
Typically, the repatriation of remains can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 without insurance.
How Does Repatriation of Remains Coverage Work?
In order to return the mortal remains of a loved one, there are certain steps that need to be taken and regulations to consider depending upon the country of death and home country.
For example, a death certificate, authorization to remove the body from a foreign country, or embalming of the body may all be required in order to repatriate the person’s remains. Checking these regulations and abiding by any repatriation laws will be essential in getting your loved one’s remains back home.
Additionally, there are certain things that you may need to arrange such as communicating with local authorities, gathering necessary paperwork, organizing the transportation of the remains, securing a coffin or container for transport, paying air/ground shipping expenses, and speaking with government agents to arrange for services and approving transport.
With all of the coordination and arrangements that need to be made when it comes to returning a loved one’s mortal remains, this process can prove to be extremely stressful, time consuming, and expensive.
The good news is, a travel insurance plan with a repatriation of remains benefit can likely take care of all of this for you.
How Repatriation of Remains Insurance Can Help
If someone dies while traveling in a foreign country, the repatriation coverage in their travel insurance plan means you won’t have to handle this difficult situation alone. The travel insurance assistance department can:
- Negotiate with customs agents and authorities in their language
- Navigate the health law and regulations to prepare the body for transport
- Make arrangements and find an airline who can ship the remains home
- Handle the shipping costs, fees, customs requirements, and more (up to the plan limit)
The travel insurance company’s assistance department will make necessary arrangements, provide guidance, and coordinate with foreign national authorities to help you during such unforeseen events. Travel insurance providers have multilingual experts who are fully experienced in the process of repatriation that will help get a body transported back home.
Protect Your Loved Ones With Repatriation of Remains Coverage
Accidents or unfortunate situations do happen, and travelers are more at risk with health and safety issues. This is even more important if the traveler is old, or may have existing health conditions.
To ensure that your family is supported in the event of an unexpected tragedy abroad, purchasing a travel medical insurance plan with a repatriation of remains benefit is highly recommended, although hopefully will not need to be used.
When you consider that the expense of cremation, containers, and fees to transport a body would cost several thousands of dollars, possessing travel insurance with a repatriation of remains benefit is both cost-effective and can give you peace of mind during your travels.
If you have any additional questions about repatriation benefits or choosing the right plan, contact our Customer Success Team.
