Got a big trip coming up? Chances are you are excitedly planning your itinerary around Canada or mapping out your European driving vacation, but don't forget about one very important thing: international travel medical insurance. Most overseas vacations are very successful and you do not need to make a claim, but if disaster strikes you want to make sure that you are covered.
So you know that you need to find some travel insurance, but choosing a policy can be confusing. There are different companies and options and they each have differing inclusions, exclusions, premiums and gap fees. Before selecting a policy, you should compare what each is offering and make an educated decision based upon your health needs and those of the other people that will be covered with the plan.
When you have worked out the current level of coverage that you have, you will have to start looking at the different travel insurance options that are out there and start comparing what they have to offer. There are various types of travel insurance and most of them base the premiums either on the length of the trip or a fraction of the total price of the trip.
Basically there are four types of international travel medical insurance: short term or single trip coverage policies, long term or multiple stop trips of up to 12 months, expatriate covers people living overseas and foreign national covers people that are resident of the United States, but not citizens.
There can be a great deal of difference between different policies. You may be able to save money on some items that are not necessary for you and are extremely unlikely to be necessary when you are overseas. The level of coverage that you need might also depend on the length of time that you will be taking out the policy for.
There are a number of inclusions in a policy that are pretty standard. The basics to look out for include: emergency hospital care, emergency dental treatment, emergency medical removal from the country, trip delays, lost luggage covers up to a set price and includes sending the luggage onwards. You may find some more expensive policies are more comprehensive and this may appeal to you, but if you do not think you need some of the inclusions, then you may be able to get a lower priced policy.
There do tend to be some exclusions with medical travel insurance that you may need to be aware of. The more common ones are – prior medical conditions, pregnancy, adventure sports such as diving and mountain climbing, self caused injury or mental illness.
Before you take out your international travel medical insurance you should check all the details of the policy that you are considering. You do not want to be caught out and have your vacation ruined by unforeseen costs.
Dan Pucher Insurance is an independent Travel Health Insurance Broker offering personal and corporate solutions. When looking for Visitors to Canada Insurance and information on Canada Travel Insurance please give us a call.
