When you leave your home country, visitors insurance can keep you protected from illnesses and injury abroad. A good travel medical insurance plan can help international travelers avoid many travel disasters, including those that are not related to emergency health issues.
Visitors insurance covers the following 8 important benefits:
- Emergency medical care
- Emergency medical evacuation
- Repatriation
- Trip interruption
- Baggage loss
- Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D)
- Political or Natural Disaster Evacuation
- Travel assistance services
1. Emergency Medical Care, Including Sudden Illness or Injury
Visitors insurance may cover medical care such as doctor's visits, x-rays, surgery, medication and more when a traveler is outside their home country.
2. Emergency Medical Evacuation
When the host country cannot treat your injuries or illness, travel medical insurance can arrange and pay for you to be transported to the closest medical facility that can.
3. Repatriation
In the unfortunate event that a traveler dies on their trip, visitors insurance can pay the costs of retrieving the body and returning it to the home country. Not only that, the insurance provider can negotiate with authorities, fill out the required forms, and make the necessary arrangements to return the traveler's body for burial.
4. Accidental Death and Dismemberment Coverage
Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) coverage can cover expenses relating to an accident on a traveler's trip leads to their death or causes them to lose their limbs eyesight or hearing. AD&D coverage can be purchased as an add-on to many visitors insurance plans.
5. Losses Due to Trip Interruptions
A trip interruption occurs when a traveler is called home in the middle of their trip to handle an emergency such as a parent falling ill or a natural disaster striking their principal place of residence. When an emergency happens and a traveler is forced to return home immediately, trip interruption insurance may reimburse the remaining pre-paid trip expenses and help them with the unexpected costs of last-minute travel up to the plan limit.
6. Losses Due to Baggage Mishaps
Bags are lost, stolen, destroyed, and damaged all the time during travel. Visitors insurance offers baggage loss coverage, so the traveler can be reimbursed for their losses even if the bag is stolen away from the airport. Airlines typically offer very little compensation when they lose or damage a bag, so having visitors insurance can make a big difference.
7. Political or Natural Disaster Evacuation
In addition to emergency medical evacuation, there are other non-medical reasons you may need to be evacuated while you travel. Visitors insurance includes evacuation coverage for natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. It also can cover you in the event that there is political unrest or military action in the country you're visiting.
8. Travel Assistance Services
This benefit is extremely valuable when a traveler is stuck and doesn't know what to do. When the hotel is overbooked, or the flights are cancelled due to a strike, or your child is running a fever, travel assistance services can help you find alternative lodging, book flights and train tickets to get you home, locate a local doctor, and even provide language translation assistance when necessary.
Travel medical insurance plans also offer many other useful benefits, including the following coverage:
- Common Carrier Accidental Death
- Emergency Dental Treatment
- Return of Minor (underage) Children
- Local Burial or Cremation
- Personal Liability
- Acute onset of a pre-existing condition coverage
For more benefit details, learn what visitors insurance covers.
For help with comparing travel insurance plans visit us at VisitorsCoverage.