Steps to evaluate your health insurance policy for travel medical coverage

February 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

travel medical emergencySome health insurance carriers in the U.S. do provide some level of coverage for medical emergencies that occur while traveling abroad. It’s important for travelers to carefully examine their current health insurance coverage against their planned itinerary to determine which medical services, if any, will be covered if you get into an accident or become ill while traveling outside the U.S.

The following are the things to consider:

Another consideration is whether there is a toll-free number the traveler can call 24-hours a day for plan information and/or to speak to a representative.

While Medicare and Medicaid will not cover services outside the U.S., some traveler insured by more liberal plans may find that they have some coverage available outside the country.

Typically, even if you are covered abroad, you’ll have to pay for your care out of pocket and submit a claim with the receipts and medical records for reimbursement. That being said, an injured or ill traveler should not wait to contact their health insurance provider until after they return. The sooner you can get in touch and let them know that you are in trouble, the better.

You don’t have to travel overseas to encounter health dangers

January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

traveler diseases in AmericaMost Americans are far more careful when they travel overseas than when they travel domestically, but there are a number of health concerns within our borders that can lead to serious illness. In addition, as the recent tragic death of freestyle skier, Sarah Burke, has made clear, accidents can happen anywhere and those accidents can be very, very expensive.

Some of the more common dangers travelers experience, however, are diseases such as the following:

  1. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever – most common in the Southeast and South-Central regions (particularly in Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Tennessee), this is a tick-borne illness that occurs primarily in Spring and Summer. Immediate treatment with antibiotics can prevent progression of the disease and the potentially fatal outcome, but early detection is typically hard.
  2. Lyme Disease – the country’s most common tick-related illness, Lyme Disease occurs usually in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states as well as northern California. Early treatment with antibiotics can lead to full recovery, but the initial symptoms resemble the flu.
  3. West Nile Virus – transmitted by mosquitoes, most cases of West Nile go undetected as there are usually no symptoms. When and if symptoms do begin, there is little to do but wait it out. Some cases get sever and require hospitalization. Outbreaks can occur anywhere mosquitoes are active.
  4. Influenza – because the flu is easily transmitted in confined spaces (such as airplanes and trains), and because the strains change and adapt, this respiratory illness is a seasonal menace and sometimes kills those affected.
  5. Traveler diarrhea – one of the most common travel diseases, it’s associated with severe vomiting, fever and abdominal pain. Sometimes due to bacterial causes, such as Salmonella, or viral causes, such as norovirus, or parasitic causes, such as Giardia, this is a highly common problem.

Prevention for these common US-based diseases includes:

  1. Wearing insect repellent
  2. Examining yourself and others for ticks after outdoor activities
  3. Annual flu vaccines
  4. Good hygiene: washing your hands thoroughly and often, cooking food properly, and peeling or washing produce
  5. Avoiding untreated or unsafe water

If you are traveling in the U.S. from another country, it’s important to have travel medical insurance in case you have to visit a medical clinic, or worse, you have to be medically evacuated to a hospital for care.

If you are a U.S. citizen, check your health insurance plan to find out whether you will be paying out-of-pocket costs if you experience a medical emergency where you are traveling.

 

 

4 Steps for Assessing Your Travel Medical Needs

January 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

travel medical insuranceMany travelers want to know how to accurately assess their travel medical needs. Below are the steps you should follow to assess your needs, then make the right travel medical insurance purchase.

Start by doing an accurate assessment:

  1. Examine your current medical insurance plan. Check whether travel medical insurance is available with that plan and find out if that travel medical coverage is primary or secondary. In most cases, your health insurance plan is primary at home and, if travel medical coverage is available, it is secondary outside the country. That means you will have to pay for your medical costs when you travel and apply for reimbursement after. See our page on understanding primary vs. secondary medical coverage for more information.
  2. Determine your medical transportation coverage. In most cases, your need for transportation back home is covered through emergency ambulance services, but medical transport and medical treatment are two distinct sections of a travel medical plan, so you’ll need to look for both. The costs for emergency medical transportation can be quite high, and if you don’t have coverage, you’ll have to foot the bill yourself. See this story on one traveler who encountered a horrific situation on a vacation to Mexico. If you’re taking a Mediterranean cruise or a trip to China, your emergency transportation costs could run into the tens or hundreds of thousands, depending on the situation.
  3. Rate your own health. If you have a pre-existing medical condition, such as heart disease or diabetes, then traveling without travel medical coverage and failing to get a pre-existing medical condition waiver is a recipe for disaster. Even if you’re very healthy, if you’ve visited a doctor in the past 180 days, you should be careful that a recurrence of the condition that caused you to see the doctor won’t reemerge because that situation won’t be covered by your travel medical insurance.
  4. Determine your travel activities and relative risks. If you plan to bungee jump off a bridge on your trip, then you will want to be sure that you have a waiver for high adventure activities with your travel insurance plan. Most travel insurance plans specifically exclude activities like hang gliding, skiing, parasailing, whitewater rafting, and more, but purchasing either an adventure travel insurance plan or a plan with a waiver for adventure activities will provide the coverage you need.

Then, purchase a plan to cover those needs:

  1. If you want your travel medical plan to pay the hospital and medical facilities directly, then you’ll want to be sure that your travel insurance plan offers primary medical coverage.
  2. If you want protection for emergency medical transportation, then you’ll want to think about how far you will have to travel to get back home and have enough coverage. Remember, with a travel insurance plan, you’ll have coverage for medical transport to an appropriate medical facility and also back home after you’ve adequately recovered.
  3. Depending on your current health, you’ll want to purchase coverage that will cover your medical costs if you experience the recurrence of a pre-existing medical condition. Any condition for which you’ve sought treatment in the past few months can be considered a pre-existing condition.
  4. Depending on your current health, you’ll choose a travel medical plan with enough coverage for the risks you are taking

Worst-case travel scenario: your prescription medicine is stolen or lost

January 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

emergency prescriptionObtaining emergency medications can be difficult for many reasons and one of those is as simple as different medicines used for the same treatment in different countries, or medications having different names in other countries.

So, beyond the measures you do to protect yourself from a travel disaster, what happens if your prescription medicines (or your vitamins) are stolen or fall overboard, for example?

Travel insurance plans always have a travel assistance services and those folks can help you:

  1. Contact your doctor back home and have a new prescription sent to you.
  2. Work with a pharmacist or local doctor to convert that prescription into something the traveler can purchase to replace their other medicines.
  3. Contact a local doctor to have you examined and get a new prescription.

Does travel insurance pay for my emergency prescriptions?

It depends on the individual plan, of course, but in general:

  • If you have adequate travel medical coverage with your travel insurance plan, then the cost of those prescription medicines may be covered by your travel insurance plan.
  • If you did pack your prescriptions in your checked luggage and that luggage is stolen, the cost of replacing your prescriptions would be included in your baggage coverage.

How can travelers avoid a prescription medicine emergency?

For those who need to use prescription drugs on a regular basis, it’s important to make sure you have enough for the trip you are taking. This is especially important if your trip gets extended. Remember the travel disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcano?

We’ve always recommended that travelers carry their prescription medicines (in their original containers) in their carry-on (rather than in their checked luggage) because you’ll have it when you need it – even if your bag gets misrouted and ends up in another country or stolen.

Another important step is to make a copy of your prescriptions and carry those copies with you. Just like making a copy of your passport identification page, this can help you get replacements because your doctor’s phone number, the correct dosage, etc. is right there on the prescription.

Top 5 Nastiest Traveler Diseases

November 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

nasty traveler diseasesOne of the items most travelers would prefer not to include on a list of travel experiences is picking up a nasty disease. In the past, we’ve published posts on how to protect yourself from travel-related diseases, how to check the latest traveler’s health reports for your destination, as well as health concerns for travelers in underdeveloped countries.

The following are the top 5 easiest-to-get and worst traveler’s diseases we’ve heard about.

  1. Hepatitis A, which is one of the most common diseases contracted through poorly-cooked food, contaminated water,  and unsafe sex. While a vaccine is available, it’s always a good idea to make sure the food you eat is clean and well cooked.
  2. Montezuma’s Revenge, which is the common term for any case of traveler’s diarrhea and earned it’s moniker from travelers visiting Mexico. Of course, this hazard isn’t isolated to Mexico and can occur just about anywhere due to different levels of immunity to different types of bacteria sometimes found in food or water consumed by the traveler.
  3. Dengue Fever, which is well known in Thailand, the South Pacific and in Africa and spreading to new regions (see the official Dengue map). According to the CDC, dengue fever, also known as ‘breakbone fever’, affects as many as 100 million people every year and is spread by mosquitoes.
  4. Malaria, which is another disease spread by mosquitoes, is treatable if you get it and preventable if you prepare. You can request anti-malaria pills from your doctor prior to traveling in Asia, Africa, and South America where malaria cases are common.
  5. Lyme Disease, which is a danger particular to North America and spread by tick bites and presents itself as severe headaches and a fever. The best prevention? Bug repellent.

Of course, while not specifically a disease, parasites also present trouble for travelers. Parasites come in a variety of forms but generally tapeworms, intestinal parasites and amoeba are the most common. Humans pick up tapeworms and intestinal parasites from unwashed fruits and veggies or contaminated water. Amoeba can be found in natural mineral pools and they enter through the nose when a visitor submerges. So, know your water and food sources and have appropriate travel medical coverage. You know – just in case.

 

Any vacation may very well include a trip to the emergency room – are you prepared?

August 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Emergency room on your vacationA visitor to Longboat Key, near Sarasota, Florida, was recently bitten by a raccoon twice on the leg while showering beach sand off herself and her infant. The Ohio woman kicked the raccoon away, but it came back and bit her a second time before running into the surrounding sea grapes. A trip to the Sarasota emergency room revealed two puncture wounds to her right leg.You are probably already aware that your U.S.-based health insurance coverage will not likely cover you outside the U.S., but out-of-network medical care is also a problem for travelers who find themselves with a medical emergency. Every year vacationers find themselves in an emergency medical facility each year for dog bites, stingray stings, and more. The odds that you will visit an emergency room on your trip go up if you are also an adventure traveler. Many travelers have good health insurance coverage back home, but when traveling outside their health coverage network, the medical bill can be higher than they expect.

It’s for this reason that we recommend travelers – even those staying within their home country – get at least $10,000 in medical coverage with emergency medical evacuation benefits that can help you get you back inside your health insurance network for continued treatment. For a relatively minor incident that can be easily treated with an emergency room visit, you’ll have the secondary travel medical coverage you need to cover your out-of-pocket expenses after your primary health insurance covers their out-of-network portion.

Hint: If you need help understanding primary versus secondary medical insurance, please see this page.

As a quick comparison, we ran a travel insurance quote comparison for two travelers ages 38 and 42 traveling in the U.S. and we quickly selected two plans:

Travel medical insurance comparison

* Please note, we did not included trip cancellation in our plan selection.

As you can see, for just a little extra, you can have the secondary coverage you may need even if you already have health insurance. Adventure travelers enjoying activities such as whitewater rafting, or downhill skiing, or rock climbing can usually upgrade their coverage to include those activities. Either way, you’ll avoid a huge medical bill on your vacation.

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