How Medical Travel Insurance Works

Whether you're a seasoned globe trotter or a first-time international adventurer, travel health insurance is an important part of planning your time abroad. Travel health insurance picks up where your standard coverage leaves off, which is usually at the border.


This page:

  • Explains why travel medical insurance is such an important policy

  • Describes what to look for in a good travel insurance plan

  • Helps you quickly find a policy tailor-made to meet your needs

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Who needs travel insurance?

Any American who will be traveling abroad in the next year should look into buying travel medical insurance. That's because most standard health plans, including Medicare do not cover medical expenses incurred while abroad.

If you're one of the lucky few whose regular coverage extends to health care outside the US, travel health insurance isn't quite as vital. (Although even then, a travel insurance policy offers some important coverage extensions you may not want to be without.)

For the rest of us, travel medical insurance is a fairly inexpensive coverage that can bring peace of mind to an international adventure at the very least, while the benefits having health insurance in a foreign country when you need it are most profound.

What a travel health insurance policy covers

This varies a lot, of course, but common coverages include: both emergency and non-emergency medical expenses, medical evacuation, prescription drug coverage, and some death benefits. More expensive policies will include emergency dental coverage. A lot of policies also cover medical treatment needed on domestic trips.

Travel medical insurance usually comes with other benefits, too, that will be helpful to you when visiting a foreign land. A good insurance company will offer its members health and security information about travel destinations, medical translation assistance (for drugs, and medical terms and phrases), and even access to a global "network" of physicians.

The benefits of having the medical help you need when traveling abroad are clear. Now, you need to handle your coverage options, too.

Choosing your travel medical insurance policy options

Most travel health insurance companies will offer a several coverage options. The biggest choice is policy length. Travel polices usually come in two varieties: extended coverage (usually a year in length) for multiple trips and more limited one-trip policies.

Multiple-trip travel health insurance policies are ideal for the frequent traveler. This policy doesn't have to be renewed for each trip out of the country, and it's a very economical way to get the coverage you need, too.

However, most insurers will limit an extended policy's duration per trip. This means that the policy might expire temporarily after 60 days abroad, and then come back into effect for the next trip.

The other option is a simple one-trip travel health insurance plan. If your time abroad is going to be reltatively short (three weeks or less), and you're sure you won't be leaving the country again during the following year, this is probably the right choice for you.

Getting travel insurance quotes online

The internet is an ideal market for a consumer product like travel medical insurance. Doing online research and completing the application proccess is fast and easy, and you need not bother with health insurance agents if you prefer not to.

After all, when all is said and done, travel health insurance is a relatively inexpensive and simple policy that you really shouldn't lose any sleep over.

Online insurance is a very competitive market, so you can feel confident that you're getting a fair shake. Try eHealthInsurance for quick and fast (about 20 seconds!) online quotes. eHealthinsurance is the internet's largest health insurance marketplace, and their process couldn't be simpler.

Remember that policy premiums are not final until the application process is fully completed, so be sure to include all you the information as best you can for an accurate quote.

You, of course, are under no obligation to buy until you agree to pay the premiums and sign on the dotted line. All quotes are 100% commitment-free.

Get a travel health insurance quote from eHealthInsurance now.