Travel Insurance Covered Benefits
The primary benefit consideration for most people purchasing a travel insurance policy is the health insurance benefit. These medical benefits will cover non-excluded treatments for illness or injury that occus during the benefit period of your policy. Reimbursement of covered medical expenses is based on Usual, Reasonable and Customary rates for the region of the world in which you seek medical treatment. Typical covered medical expenses include hospital room and board, intensive care, nursing and professional services, operating room charges, diagnostic testing, anesthesiology, out-patient surgical facilities, physician visits, medications and ambulance transportation. Certain travel insurance companies may allow treatment for a pre-existing condition when acute care is required. An example of this might be an asthmatic that has an asthma attack and needs the emergency care of a physician. Acute care of a pre-existing condition, if available, will often have benefit limits much lower than those offered for emergency medical care not associated with a pre-existing condition. You should review and understand all of the exclusions on your travel insurance policy before accepting coverage.
Some travel insurance policies may offer additional hospital indemnity benefits. Under this benefit, the insurance company will pay a set daily fee directly to the insured for any nights spent in the hospital. This benefit is in addition to any hospital charges that are also eligible medical expenses.
Dental insurance is available with some travel insurance plans, but usually only for emergency dental treatment. The maximum payable benefits for dental care will have a maximum benefit not related to and much lower than the medical maximum limits for your policy.
An emergency medical evacuation benefit will cover the cost of transporting you to a qualified medical facility if the hospital you are at is not capable of treating your illness or injury. The insurance company will usually determine which facilities are capable of treating your illness and this choice of alternative facilities is not the decision of the insured person. In some cases, it may be necessary to return to your home country for appropriate medical treatment. This is referred to as medical repatriation. The cost of emergency medical evacuation or repatriation can be extremely expensive. For this reason, many insurance companies may place a separate maximum coverage limit on this benefit.
Accidental Death or Common Carrier Accidental Death are supplemental benefits that you may find available on many travel insurance policies. In the event of the death of a person insured under the plan, the insurance company will pay a set amount to the beneficiaries listed on the policy at the time of application. As with any life insurance policy, certain restrictions may apply to the payment of this benefit to the beneficiaries and some causes of death are excluded.
If the insured does die during their foreign travels, the family will most likely require that the bodily remains be returned to the home country. Most travel insurance companies account for this occurrence by offering a repatriation of remains benefit. As with other supplemental benefits on a travel plan, this coverage may have maximum benefits limitations.
If, during your travels, you suffer an illness or injury that requires prolonged hospitalization, the insurance company may offer an Emergency Medical Reunion benefit. Under this benefit, the insurance company will cover the travel costs of a family member or friend from your home country to be at your side and to accompany you on your return trip home.
An optional benefit available from some travel insurance companies is Hazardous Sports Coverage. Under the standard travel insurance policy, activities that are considered dangerous are often excluded from coverage. If you plan of participating in certain sports, such as mountain climbing, motorcycle riding, skiing, hang gliding, sky diving or bungee jumping, you may want to pay for this optional coverage if it is available.
Our How-To Guide for Choosing Travel Insurance covers additional topics that are important to consider when comparing travel insurance quotes.
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