Making Sense of Travel Insurance

We'll start with the basics. Travel insurance is a general umbrella term to include both trip and travel medical insurance. Nowadays, you may see trip insurance used interchangeably with travel insurance. This is because the term travel insurance has developed into protecting trip-related expenses if you experience a delay, cancellation, or interruption. It is important to clarify whether the term travel insurance is being referred to as trip-specific coverage or overall travel protection, both medically and financially.

Travel medical insurance and travel health insurance often mean the same thing: essential medical coverage while on an international trip. If you need to receive medical treatment abroad, travel medical insurance can help with your medical expenses, provide emergency services including emergency medical evacuation, and may cover the cost of new prescriptions you need while abroad.

Trip insurance, on the other hand, provides coverage for your expenses related to the trip itself, such as trip cancellation, interruption or postponement, lost baggage, stolen passports, etc. It is often more focused on covering your trip, but there are more comprehensive trip insurance plans that can provide a limited amount of medical coverage in case you experience a medical incident while traveling.

Visitors insurance is a type of short-term travel medical insurance plan that is specifically designed for foreign visitors to the United States. Visitors insurance plays a vital role for travelers coming to the U.S. because most domestic health insurance plans do not extend coverage internationally. This kind of insurance offers financial protection against unforeseen medical costs, including emergency medical services and hospital visits, during a stay in the U.S. Visitors health insurance and visitors medical insurance are just synonyms of visitors insurance.

Travel insurance policies generally define a pre-existing condition as a medical condition, medication, consultation, or treatment that existed or occurred before the coverage's effective date. To determine this, policies commonly use a "look-back" period, typically ranging from 60 to 180 days before the coverage date.

A deductible is the amount that must be paid by the insured before the insurance company begins to reimburse for covered expenses. For example, if you purchase a plan with a $500 deductible and incur $1500 of expenses, the insurance company will begin to reimburse for expenses after you have paid the initial deductible of $500.

Policy exclusions can be defined as the expenses that the insurance company/plan will not pay. These exclusions typically include expenses resulting from illegal drug use, conditions that existed prior to the purchase of the insurance (these are called pre-existing conditions), participation in various dangerous activities, etc. Read your policy details carefully to identify any of these exclusions in your plan.

Co-insurance is the percentage or amount of eligible expenses that you would have to pay after the deductible. For example, you can have a travel insurance plan with a $200 deductible and a 70/30 co-insurance provision. That means that once you pay the deductible, you are responsible for paying 30% of your medical expenses, while your travel insurance covers the 70%.

An Insurance premium is the amount you pay to purchase a travel insurance plan. Premiums may be paid in full in advance, monthly, or depending on the policy.

A policy beneficiary refers to the person designated to receive benefits or payments in the event of the policyholder's death during the insured trip. The policyholder typically names their beneficiary when purchasing the insurance, and it's often a family member, spouse, or dependent.

A policy maximum is the highest amount of money that the insurance provider will pay for covered expenses. If you need to use your travel insurance during your trip, the policy will cover eligible expenses detailed in the policy’s documentation up to the policy's maximum amount.

When a policy is renewable, it means that you can renew it for the same duration and same benefits before the initial policy ends. Conversely, when a plan is non-renewable, it's not possible for the insured to renew the policy and they would have to buy a new policy. In this case, any condition incurred during the original policy duration would now be considered pre-existing, and would likely not be covered by this new policy.

When a policy is extendable, it means that the policy duration can be extended for a given period of time. If a policy is not extendable, the insured would have to purchase a new policy to maintain coverage once the initial policy expires.

Trip cancellation covers circumstances when you need to cancel your entire trip before departure. It reimburses prepaid, non-refundable expenses if you cancel for a covered reason like an illness or injury. Meanwhile, trip interruption covers situations once you are on your trip and you need to cut it short or return home early for a covered reason. It typically reimburses the unused portion of your prepaid expenses plus the additional transportation costs to return home early.

Hazardous sports or Adventure sports coverage are any activities that are deemed risky by the travel insurance industry because the risk equates to higher-than-average rates of injury and/or death. Some activities covered under this benefit are: motorcycling, scuba diving, jet, snow, and water skiing, mountain climbing, skydiving, amateur racing, piloting any aircraft, bungee jumping, spelunking, whitewater rafting, surfing, and parasailing etc

Athletic Coverage refers to official sports organization-related activities, like participation in amateur, club, intramural, interscholastic or intercollegiate tennis, swimming, cross country, track, baseball, softball, volleyball and golf sports only.

AM Best is an organization whose independent assessments of insurance plans are recognized as the benchmark for rating the insurers' financial standing and credibility. The organization provides their opinion of an insurer's financial strength and its ability to meet ongoing obligations to policyholders. On VisitorsCoverage you'll find only those insurance companies and plans AM Best rates as the best of the best.

The policy administrator is the company that administers the policies, providing claims processing, customer support, provider information, benefits approval, etc. For example, International Medical Group (IMG) is the administrator for the ChoiceAmerica plan.

The carrier/underwriter is the insurance company that actually carries the risk associated with the plans. For example, SiriusPoint Speciality Insurance Corporation is the underwriter for the ChoiceAmerica plan.

A Usual, Customary and Reasonable Charges, (UCR) charge is an established maximum amount that an insurance company will reimburse for a medical expense covered under your health insurance policy. UCR charges are generally determined based on charges that are actually billed by providers for each medical procedure or service in a geographical area.

AD&D insurance provides financial protection to your beneficiaries if your death is the result of an accident. AD&D also gives benefits for the accidental loss of limbs, eyesight, speech, or hearing.

A common carrier is any mode of commercial transportation, like airlines, trains, buses, ships, subways or streetcars.

Hospital indemnity is a type of insurance or a rider (a benefit you may be able to add on to a basic policy) that pays a fixed amount for each day that you're in the hospital.

Emergency Medical Evacuation covers the cost of transporting a seriously injured or ill person to one of the following locations:

• The nearest adequate medical facility
• A hospital near the insured's home
• Or the hospital of the insured's choice

Return of Mortal Remains is a benefit provided by a travel insurance company that covers the transfer of a traveler's mortal remains to their home country in the event of their death.

Repatriation is a benefit that covers your return trip back to your home country if you are ill or injured while traveling overseas.

Emergency Reunion refers to coverage of expenses related to bringing any of your relatives/family members from your home country to take care of you when you're hospitalized abroad. Expenses generally include a round-trip air ticket, transportation to the area where the insured is hospitalized, and reasonable expenses for lodging and meals, etc.

Intensive care is care that goes beyond ordinary medical care and observation for people in a critical or unstable condition. Intensive care is generally administered in a specialized unit of a hospital called the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) or Critical Care Unit (CCU).

In-patient is a type of medical care that involves/requires an overnight stay at a hospital.

Outpatient is a type of medical care that does not involve/require an overnight stay at a hospital.