How Much Does Travel Medical Insurance Cost?

How Much Does Travel Medical Insurance Cost?

Travel medical insurance plans are designed to cover international travelers in the event that they contract an illness, are involved in an accident, or suffer an injury while outside of their home country.

Generally, domestic health insurance plans won't cover you if you get sick or are injured while traveling abroad. This can leave travelers with a huge financial burden if they need to seek medical care uninsured during their travels.

While a short-term health insurance plan does involve an added expenditure for your trip, it is an investment that can end up saving you money in the event that you need to seek medical care during your travels.

How Much Does Medical Travel Insurance Cost?

The cost of travel medical insurance can vary depending on a few different factors including age, health, destination, length of your trip, and more. Additionally, policy maximums, deductibles, coverage, and benefits will also affect the travel medical insurance cost.

The average cost of travel insurance can range between $200 to $300.

Depending on your individual needs and the coverage you desire, the cost of travel insurance will vary. Regardless, the small up-front cost you pay for travel insurance is worth it for most travelers to ensure financial protection for medical attention while abroad.

Is Travel Medical Insurance Worth It?

While it may not be ideal to pay a couple extra hundred dollars for travel insurance on top of your trip’s cost, the value greatly outweighs the initial premium you pay if you end up ill or injured amidst your travels.

Medical costs can vary greatly internationally, and can be extremely expensive in certain areas. For example, those traveling to the United States from abroad may not realize how expensive medical care is uninsured. A stay at a hospital can quickly add up to thousands of dollars, which is why a small initial investment in travel insurance can prove helpful if anything unexpected were to happen while abroad.

What Factors Affect Travel Insurance Cost?

The cost of your travel medical insurance will be impacted by a number of factors. Here are some factors to consider when determining how much your travel medical insurance will cost.

Traveler’s Age

Older travelers will usually need to pay higher premiums as they may be more susceptible to illness or injury.

Destination Country

Some countries, like the United States, have higher healthcare costs than others. Depending on your destination, you may have to pay different amounts for your travel insurance policy.

Policy Maximum

Depending on the plan, you may have multiple choices for a policy maximum, or the maximum amount of money a plan will pay toward qualified expenses. These can range from $10,000 to $2 million. Higher policy maximums will generally result in higher premiums.

Deductible Amounts

The deductible is the amount of money that you as the policyholder must pay out of pocket before the insurance policy begins to cover costs. Higher deductibles mean that you'll have to pay more in the event of an emergency, but the initial policy will cost less. Lower deductible amounts are generally recommended, especially for shorter international trips.

Types of Benefits

Comprehensive travel medical insurance will cost a little more. For example, CoverAmerica-Gold is a slightly more expensive travel insurance plan than Atlas America. However, that's because CoverAmerica-Gold includes more comprehensive benefits designed for visitors to the U.S.

Pre-existing Conditions Coverage

The majority of travel insurance policies only cover illnesses and injuries that begin after your policy effective date. There are some plans however which do offer coverage for pre-existing conditions, but the plan’s premium may be higher.

Adventure Sports Coverage

If you plan on participating in adventurous activities during your trip, you may need additional coverage added to your travel insurance plan. If you plan to ski, snowboard, snorkel, whitewater raft, scuba or do any other activity where you have a higher risk of injury, you may need to get an adventure sports rider, depending upon which plan you choose. Remember, adding this rider to your basic travel medical insurance will increase your premiums as you are engaging in more high-risk activities.

All of these factors can impact travel medical insurance costs and make some insurance plans more expensive than others. So, pay attention to these details when doing your research. Low cost medical travel insurance might not always be the best travel insurance for your needs.

How to Get Low Cost Medical Travel Insurance

People are always looking for cheap travel insurance. While everyone wants affordable travel medical coverage, you shouldn’t scrimp when it comes to protecting your health. That said, there are ways you can customize your policy to keep the overall cost of travel health insurance lower.

Select the Right Deductible

Choose a plan with a deductible that aligns with the coverage you are looking for. Choosing a higher deductible will typically keep your travel insurance premium low, however, you’ll have more out-of-pocket costs if you need medical attention.

  • If you're considering buying a comprehensive travel insurance plan where the deductible is annual (once in 12 months), selecting a higher deductible can lower your premium.
  •  If you're considering buying a limited/fixed coverage plan where the deductible depends on per sickness/per injury, selecting a lower deductible can be a wise decision.

Buy an Extendable Policy

Buying a renewable travel health insurance policy can be helpful in the following ways:

  • If you cancel your travel insurance plan at any point, you won't lose your premium charge as long as you don’t have any claims already on file. Also, you may save on cancellation charges.
  • A renewal policy provides flexibility to renew when you want to, which gives you better control on the policy duration.
  • A renewable is considered as continued coverage, that is, any health problem that occurs during the policy effective date will not be considered as a pre-existing condition for the renewed policy, which may otherwise be the case if you buy a new policy.

Consider a Comprehensive PPO-type Plan

PPO types of plans have several advantages:

  • You can get discounted and negotiated rates.
  • The claim and administrative process is generally faster because doctors/hospitals covered under the PPO network already have a working relationship with the insurance company. 
  • A comprehensive travel health insurance plan offers greater protection in case of any medical emergency since most of them provide 80/20 of coverage, which means less financial liabilities.

Consider Refundable Plans

A cancelable and refundable plan can be a wise choice. If you have to cancel your plan for some reason, you get your money back. Remember though, if you already filed a claim, you won’t be able to get a refund.

Pay Attention to Additional Fees

Often some extra charges such as renewable fees, processing/administrative charges, and cancellation charges can increase your overall insurance cost.

Invest in Protecting Yourself Abroad

There's no such thing as the "best" travel medical insurance plan. Depending on individual needs and available features, a particular plan can be more suitable for one person but not for another.

Consider all the facts and your own situation before making a selection. You should understand what you're buying, what the travel medical insurance policy covers and what it doesn't. A well-informed decision can save you from future frustrations.

VisitorsCoverage is here if you have questions or need help deciding on a travel medical insurance plan. Our Customer Success Team is happy to help.