Travel Health Insurance: It's Easy to Get and Cheaper Than You Think | Health Insurance Blog
Of the concerns people have when the topic of world travel rears its exciting head, few feel as severe as the concern of getting sick or hurt in a foreign country without any form of health insurance to take care of the problem. Compared with the fear of running into serious health problems abroad, the concern of not knowing where to travel, or the worry about getting scammed, or insecurities surrounding your ability to make money necessary to travel all seem trivial. None of those fears can kill you- getting sick or hurt abroad without any form of health insurance can.
Most forms of health insurance are nationally based. They are domestic, meaning the insurance you use at home will do little for you abroad. Thankfully, getting health insurance while you're traveling, or insurance that will cover you as you travel, is a lot easier than you think, and it doesn't need to cost an arm and a leg.
An Important Question
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to acquire health insurance that will keep you secure and feeling good during your travels, you need to ask yourself a single critical question- do you plan on traveling to one country or multiple destinations?
The answer to this question will determine what sort of insurance you will need. If you're traveling all over the place, you need more comprehensive, far-reaching insurance. If you're traveling to a single city or country and setting down roots for a few weeks or months, you only need to get valid health insurance within that country.
Even though you should avoid overly-detailed travel planning to figure out the answer to this question before you leave home, it is a good idea to plan your health insurance needs.
Single-Country Insurance Strategies
As far as insurance goes, if you're traveling to a single city or country, you have it easy-- though you must act fast for peace of mind and safety's sake. You should purchase local insurance the first day you arrive.
Doing this ensures you're protected no matter what happens; resolving to buy insurance on your first day in a new country is also the best way to ensure you get it done. It's easy to put off chores and busy work, the less sexy travel elements, when you're excited to be in a new country and itching to start exploring. Getting all the boring stuff out of the way as soon as possible protects you against the dangers of procrastination- dangers that are potentially lethal when it comes to medical coverage.
But how, exactly, can you find local insurance?
Well, you have two options.
- You can spend hours trying to research local medical coverage plans online, often browsing through poorly translated websites in an attempt to compare one program with all the others. Or,
- You can take the easy route and ask an employee at your hostel or hotel what local health insurance they have and what insurance they think you should sign up for. Then find out if their insurance coverage is available to visitors. Hospitality workers are there to help you out, and the more personally owned and operated your lodgings, the better the chances of receiving some good advice from them.
Multi-Country Insurance Strategies Owning local insurance in addition to global insurance is almost always a good idea. After all, it's a safe bet local hospitals will accept your local insurance card, but there's no guarantee local hospitals will receive your international coverage. That being said, you have little choice if you're traveling to many different locations. Getting the most comprehensive global health insurance you can afford would be best.
When it comes to global health insurance, you have a couple of options at your disposal.
1) First, you can look at your existing domestic health insurance and determine whether it provides any worldwide coverage. The bigger the insurance carrier, the more likely it will provide something for you when you're crisscrossing the globe. If you need to know where to look and are unsure about your current coverage, you should get on the phone with a representative and ask questions.
If your current coverage doesn't help you overseas, you need to ask whether your carrier provides any plan to help you as you travel. If there's an upgrade to your insurance available and the promotion covers you abroad, pay a little extra to ensure you're secure. Acquiring traveler's insurance is easy, but ultimately it's a lot easier to stick with the carrier you already have than to unnecessarily jump ship.
2) If your current carrier does not provide travel coverage while traveling and does not offer any upgrade, add-on, or package that will cover you abroad, then you need to locate a new carrier.
You can either switch to a large carrier that provides a wide range of insurance options or signs on with a page specializing in traveler's insurance.
3) Travel Health Insurance is a LOT more common and a LOT cheaper than you'd think. It's okay if you find travel health insurance considerably less expensive than what you're paying for your existing domestic coverage. Not only that, but travel health insurance tends to be highly flexible. You can purchase insurance for a single trip, you can buy insurance for trips of varying lengths (such as 30, 60, or 90 days), and you can purchase insurance for those times you're going to travel indefinitely.
So how cheap can travel health insurance be? How does less than $1,000 a year sound to you? Compared with the average $300-$500/month you'd pay for your health insurance if your employer's travel insurance does not cover it, this represents a good deal.
What Types of Travel Insurance Do You Need?
When you start researching travel insurance, you'll soon realize many types of insurance cover a different corner of the traveler's experience.
- The average traveler must purchase the most comprehensive Travel Health Insurance. But if you're traveling to snowboard the alps or something else that may be considered risky, then Hazardous Sports Insurance is also worthwhile.
- Evacuation Insurance might make sense to help get out of countries if political or environmental situations turn ugly, but only if you are in a country where you reasonably assume you could be evacuated by helicopter.
- You can purchase Identity Theft Protection if someone swipes your passport and credit cards.
- You can purchase Cancellation Insurance to ensure you end up at your destination even if your airline messes with your reservations or some other unforeseen problem arises.
Whether you purchase these different forms of insurance or not depends a lot on where you're going and what you plan on doing there.
But after you settle the issue of travel insurance, what's keeping you from finally taking that trip you've always dreamed of?
#travelinsurance,#besttravelinsurance,#healthinsurance,#travelmedicalinsurance,#howtobuytravelinsurance,#travelinsuranceexplained,#travelhealthinsurance,#cheaptravelinsurance,#insurance,#travelinsurance2022,#cheapesttravelinsurance,#expathealthinsurance,#healthinsuranceexplained,#travel,#healthinsurance101,#internationaltravelinsurance,#whatistravelinsurance,#besttravelinsurance2021,#worldnomadstravelinsurance