Travel Insurance Review

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Surviving a Flu Pandemic and 6 Steps to Prepare for Flu Season Travel

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Steps to Prepare for Flu Season TravelUnfortunately, like many other natural disasters, a flu pandemic is impossible to accurately predict although there are some warning signs we can all pay attention to – including the fact that the WHO and others are closely watching the H5N1 flu virus strain for its potential to mutate into a human-to-human transmissible disease.

Travelers who could be caught in a pandemic include:

  • Private U.S. citizens residing abroad
  • U.S. citizens working overseas
  • Students studying abroad
  • Even short-term visitors and tourists

Understanding what happens in a pandemic and knowing your options is critical to surviving. First, we’ll start with some facts.

The type of flu matters

Seasonal flu (the common flu) season occurs every year. Seasonal flu causes headaches, fever, sore throat, coughing and exhaustion for most patients, and it’s easily spread from person-to-person through contact with respiratory droplets. Infected people sneeze and cough, releasing droplets in the air, and others get sick by breathing those droplets in or by touching their eyes, noses, or mouths after touching surfaces contaminated with the droplets. This flu is easily prevented by getting an annual vaccine.

On the other hand, pandemic influenza or pandemic flu is a worldwide outbreak of the flu caused by a new flu virus to which humans have little or no immunity. Because the flu virus is highly adaptive, experts believe that a flu pandemic is very likely to occur in the future. A pandemic flu virus would be spread just as easily and could cause a large number of people to get ill and die. The relatively recent avian flu outbreaks in Southeast Asia remain largely contained geographically and limited in scope, but if the virus were to mutate into a fully transmissible human pandemic virus, it would spread worldwide and affect all populations.

Flu pandemics are recurring events

On average, a pandemic has occurred every 30-40 years over the last 400. During the 20th century, there were three flu pandemics:

  1. 1918 causing approximately 40 million deaths
  2. 1957 causing over two million deaths
  3. 1968 causing approximately one million deaths

Public health experts estimate that should a flu pandemic occur, 90 million people in the U.S. alone will become ill and over 200,000 may die as a result of a moderate pandemic flu scenario. If you’ve seen the movie Contagion by Warner Brothers, you have a pretty good idea of how quickly the abrupt surge in illness and death can overwhelm health services and cause significant social disruption and economic loss.

The national flu pandemic response strategy

The national response strategy to a flu pandemic has been fully documented by the Department of Homeland Security. Strategic actions to be implemented upon confirmation of the first human outbreak include such actions as:

  1. Implementing screening mechanisms to limit the spread of a pandemic flu
  2. Restricting travel to and from travel from the affected areas
  3. Diverting inbound international flights with suspected pandemic flu cases
  4. Closing the borders between countries entirely

In addition, the federal government’s ability to respond to lend aid to U.S. citizens who are living and traveling abroad in the event of a pandemic may be limited because travel into and out of an affected country may not be possible, safe or medically advisable.

What occurs during a pandemic

During a pandemic, the following is likely occur:

  1. Social disruption could be widespread – this includes services provided by hospitals, banks, stores restaurants, hotels, and more. In addition, those services that remain open may raise their prices sharply.
  2. Being able to work could be difficult – businesses may close to halt the spread of the disease, and those affected may have to work from home, use paid leave, or plan for the potential loss of income.
  3. Schools may be closed for an extended period of time – if the schools are closed, those affected will have to arrange alternative childcare or stay home with their children.
  4. Public transportation services may be disrupted – not only because there is a shortage of workers, but also to quarantine affected areas and stop the spread of the disease.

If you’re traveling outside the U.S. this means that you may not be able to get back home; ditto for those who are traveling inside the U.S. and reside abroad. If you are traveling, you may have to be prepared to stay longer than you originally planned even though services where you are could be severely limited and prices could be difficult to afford.

6 Steps to prepare for flu season travel

Travelers heading out during flu season should use the following steps to prepare for their trip:

  1. Check the health risks for your destination before you plan your travel.
  2. Purchase your travel insurance early to have the longest possible cancellation window.
  3. Read your plan carefully to understand what it covers (and what it doesn’t).
  4. Pack antivirals in your emergency travel medical kit.
  5. Stay connected on your trip – keep up with the news and stay in touch with family (they’ll likely know more about what’s going on than you do).
  6. Know how to find local medicare on your trip.

See our facts about travel insurance and the flu.

Additional sources of information:

Top 10 Items Stolen from Rental Cars

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Top 10 Items Stolen from Rental CarsGetting robbed while you’re traveling is not only a hassle, it can leave a traveler feeling jittery, suspicious, and apprehensive.

Whether you’re on a business trip or a vacation, having to stop and make a police report, call the rental car company and your travel insurance provider, then replace the items that were stolen from your rental car can be even more time-consuming and daunting simply because the area is unfamiliar.

If you’re in a foreign country, the local rules and unfamiliar language may be additional barriers that make the process more difficult.

While the first and most obvious rule is to do everything you can to prevent rental car break-ins and theft, knowing the most popular items to steal from a rental car can make it easier to know what to leave at home or lock in your suitcase at the hotel and what you can safely take with you.

Top 10 Items Stolen from Rental Cars

Recently, a few insurance companies released lists of which items thieves most prefer to steal from cars, including rental cars.

The top items stolen from cars include:

  1. GPS devices – portable GPS devices are useful when traveling in unfamiliar territory, but even if you put the device itself in your bag or hide it in the car, the mounting device left in the open (or the imprint of the suction cup) can be reason enough to break into the car.
  2. Laptops – again, even if you store the laptop in a nondescript bag and carefully hide it under the seat, a strap or power cable left in the open can clue a thief in to it’s presence and inspire them to break into the car.
  3. Car stereos – most rental cars don’t have fancy car stereo systems, but stereos remain one of the most often stolen items from any car because they’re quick and easy to de-install and they’re easy to resell.
  4. Portable entertainment – lots of families with young children rely on portable entertainment like game devices and DVD players to keep kids quiet on a trip. These devices are also easy to carry and easy to resell, which explains why  thieves like them too.
  5. Music players – most people don’t carry a lot of CDs along with them anymore, but they will carry their entire music collection on an MP3 player or iPod. A pre-loaded music player is a tasty treat for thieves.
  6. Wallets and purses – we can’t stress this enough, but never store your wallet or purse in the car – keep it with you. Even a closed glove compartment is a hint to thieves that something may be stored in there, and locked glove compartments are very simple to break open with a knife or screwdriver.
  7. Cell phones – cell phones, especially smartphones, are easy targets for thieves. These days, however, your phone may have a lot more on it than just a bunch of numbers to call. If you do mobile banking or access email, for example, an enterprising thief now has access to that information.
  8. Cameras – again, these are highly portable, highly re-sellable items that can be converted to quick and easy cash by an enterprising thief.
  9. Coats and clothing – oddly enough these items are very tempting to thieves, and not for their resale value (which is likely not much). Coats and outer clothing left unattended in a car is valuable not for itself, but for what items may be left in the pockets. Things like keys, money, identification, etc. are often left in pockets and these are valuable tickets to greater rewards.
  10. Bags of new purchases – shopping bags filled with purchases or souvenirs are especially tempting to thieves because the items are new and they can be resold quickly.

What can you do to protect yourself?

As an insured traveler, you have a few options to protect yourself from financial losses that result from items being stolen from your rental car. Unfortunately, however, neither the rental car coverage with your travel insurance plan nor your credit card travel protection will reimburse you for the loss of personal items stolen from a rental car.

Car rental collision coverage reimburses you for the cost of repairs if your rental car is broken into, but it does not cover items inside the vehicle. See our review of car rental coverage for further details.

There are, however, some alternatives for travelers seeking some protection from financial losses due to stolen items:

  • Your baggage coverage will reimburse you for the value of stolen baggage and personal effects anywhere you are during your trip. If your stuff is stolen from a rental car, you’ll have coverage up to the policy limit to get replacement stuff. See our review of baggage coverage for full details.
  • Your homeowner’s or special articles policy back home is another option for special articles like electronic gadgets, computers, and cameras. Most homeowner or rental policies allow you to schedule items worth a minimum value on your homeowner’s policy. The best thing about this coverage is that it doesn’t have a lot of exclusions.

The Pros and Cons of Missed Connection Coverage

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Pros and Cons of Missed Connection CoverageMany travel packages include a range of non-refundable clauses, and the airlines have limited responsibility to compensate travelers who experience a missed connection. (See our FAQ on how travel insurance covers missed connections.)

As hotels look to further trim their costs, they’ve created additional restrictions for travelers by allowing online booking sites to fill up the rooms in their hotels – but only with non-refundable reservations.

When a traveler misses a portion of their trip due to a missed connection through no fault of their own, what options do they have? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of missed connection coverage to understand this little-known benefit a little better.

We’ll start with a definition: missed connection coverage reimburses an insured traveler for flight change fees and unexpected transportation costs in the event of a missed connection due to a carrier delay or bad weather.

Pro #1 – Get reimbursed for non-refundable trip costs

Let’s say you are on a flight that will make a stopover before heading on to your final destination. That stopover – originally less than two hours – turns into an overnight ordeal as a snowstorm grounds all flights.

Eventually, you get to your destination, but in the meantime, you lost two nights of non-refundable lodging and a prepaid evening show.

Depending on the travel insurance plan, missed connection coverage reimburses the insured (up to the limit) for prepaid, non-refundable trip costs for the unused portion of your trip.

Pro #2 – Get reimbursed for unexpected transportation costs

Let’s say you’re on a flight that has to make an emergency landing due to equipment malfunction. While you are waiting and the airline works to get an alternate plane to pick up the passengers and take everyone to their intended destinations, your cruise ship leaves the dock without you.

Instead of being out thousands of dollars in cruise costs, travel insurance will reimburse you (up to the plan limit) for the unexpected transportation costs (usually air and/or water) so you can catch up to your cruise in the next port.

Con #1 – Some plans limit missed connection benefits to cruises

Some travel insurance plans limit their missed connection coverage only to missed cruise departures, so travelers who are not taking a cruise, but lose a portion of their trip due to a missed connection are simply out of luck.

Con #2 – There are other restrictions to missed connection coverage

As with all insurance coverage, there are limits and restrictions to understand, so it pays to read the description of coverage carefully. In the case of missed connection coverage, here are the key points to note:

  • The reason for your missed connection must be a covered reason. For example, you can’t wander into a comfortable lounge during a layover, fall asleep and expect to have travel insurance pay up when you miss your next flight.
  • You must allow enough time in your planned itinerary to reach your next flight or cruise.
  • Any refunds you receive from other suppliers, such as the airline, will be deducted from your claim benefit.
  • The benefits received as a result of a missed connection claim can’t duplicate those provided by travel delay coverage.
  • The benefit amount for a missed connection is limited by the plan’s definition.
  • The missed connection is determined by the number of hours you are delayed as defined in the plan.

Missed connections are no fun and they put a traveler in a really tough spot, so avoiding them is ideal. The best way to protect yourself from having to endure a missed connection? Allow plenty of time in your itinerary and don’t book tight connections.

See our full review of missed connection coverage for more details.

How Much Travel Medical and Evacuation is Enough?

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How much travel medical and evacuation is enough?Two recent, and devastating, media stories:

are prompting this post.

In at least one of the cases, the injured traveler will be held liable for at least $20,000 in foreign medical costs. In both cases, the traveler did not have travel insurance that covered emergency medical evacuations and in both cases, their families and friends are trying desperately to raise the funds necessary to transport them home and to cover their medical care.

Unfortunately, these are not uncommon stories. They happen frequently and just as unfortunately, those travelers and their families could have been spared the heartache and fear with a very affordable travel insurance plan.

Some travelers get bogged down by determining how much coverage is enough, so let’s review the following steps to determine how much coverage you need on any trip you take in the future.

Determine how far you’re traveling

The cost of medical care and emergency medical transport is determined by a limited set of factors: the patient’s condition and their location.

More specifically, the treatment for a patient with massive internal injuries on remote mountain in South America is going to cost more than a patient with food poisoning in Cozumel. In the latter example, medical treatment could be received locally. In the first example, the insured would likely have to be airlifted to a nearby hospital where initial treatment to stabilize their condition could be administered before a second evacuation could take them to their home country and back into their own health insurance network.

Either way, if you’re going a long way or to a place where medical care is very expensive (like the U.S. and Canada), you’ll need a little more coverage.

Determine the coverage you have already

Some U.S. health insurance plans have coverage outside the U.S., but most don’t. While Medicare doesn’t cover seniors for medical treatment outside the U.S. borders, many Medicare Supplement plans have some coverage for emergency medical treatment.

How do you determine the coverage you already have? You’ll have to pull out your plan’s description of coverage and read it.

If you can’t figure out whether you have coverage in the country you want to visit, call your insurance company and ask them specifically how much you will have to pay for an emergency room visit with a broken nose in the country you want to visit. You’ll have a much better idea what coverage you need after a question like that.

Determine what medical care will be available

In some countries, medical care – even for foreigners – is covered by the taxpayers of that country, although some of those countries are currently considering requiring travelers to show evidence of medical coverage upon entering the country. Most countries expect the patient to bear at least some, if not all the cost and that’s where medical insurance comes in handy.

So, how does a traveler determine the availability and quality of medical care where they will be traveling?

The U.S. State Department’s country-specific pages are a great source of this type of information. For example, here’s what it says about Mongolia’s medical care:

Medical facilities in Mongolia are very limited and do not meet most Western standards, especially for emergency health care requirements. Many brand-name Western medicines are unavailable. The majority of medical facilities are located in Ulaanbaatar. Medical facilities and treatment are extremely limited or non-existent outside of Ulaanbaatar. Specialized emergency care for infants and the elderly is not available. Doctors and hospitals usually expect immediate payment in cash for health services.

Good to know ahead of time: When you receive medical care in a foreign country, you are typically required to pay the bill immediately (often before treatment). This is true even with some travel insurance plans although some providers will pay the medical facility directly.

Define your personal risk

Not all travelers are alike. Some travelers are content to lie on comfortable chairs by the pool and read books; others need the adrenaline rush of jumping off high bridges on bungee cords. Of course, there are all the ranges in between as well as those one-off situations where a traveler decides to try something new on a whim.

Here are some of the risk factors to take into account:

  • Will you be participating in activities considered ‘high-risk’, like hang-gliding, para-sailing, skiing, SCUBA diving, and more?
  • Will you be traveling to a remote location where medical care is extremely limited?
  • Do you have any pre-existing medical conditions that could be affected by your travel?
  • Are you traveling to a location known to have specific medical risks, like malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever, and more?
  • Are you carrying medications that may be difficult to replace in a foreign country if lost or stolen?
  • Are you older or in frail health?

Combine your trip factors with common sense

Now that you’ve thought through your trip factors, let’s combine those with a little common sense. Lots of travel insurance policies will give you high limits, but you may not need that much coverage and every dollar of coverage means less in your pocket on your trip.

When it comes to emergency medical evacuations, not many medically necessary evacuations cost more than $100,000 or $200,000. For example, a medically equipped air transport for a traveler who suffered a heart attack and fell into a coma in China to return to New York recently cost $183,000. In this case, it was a long-distance trip with a patient who had a known medical condition. According to the website set up to help one of the injured travelers mentioned at the start of this post, the cost for her medical transportation from Croatia to Toronto is reported to be $93,550 U.S.

When it comes to travel medical care, severe injuries or illnesses will of course cost more than mild ones so depending on your age, your current health, and the risks where you are traveling you may need a little more or a little less. Luckily, you don’t have to leave this decision up to a judgement call or a coin toss.

Our travel insurance comparison tool gives you some guidance:

How Much Travel Medical and Evacuation is Enough?

Just to make the point about the cost of travel insurance plans, we used these trip factors:

  • One 38-year old traveler from California
  • Visiting Chile for one week
  • No pre-existing medical conditions, trip cancellation, or hazardous activities

and found many plans with at least $50,000 in medical coverage and at least $100,000 in evacuation for less than $10.00:

How Much Travel Medical and Evacuation is Enough?

Wherever you go, having travel medical and evacuation coverage is simply a no-brainer. As they say, don’t leave home without it.

Visitors to Yosemite Warned after 2 Hantavirus Deaths

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Visitors to Yosemite Warned of Hantavirus DeathsThe Yosemite National Park recently confirmed the deaths of two park visitors as a result of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS).

Park officials are now warning visitors of the risks of hantavirus, which is a rodent-borne virus. HPS is contracted through contact with the urine, droppings or saliva of infected rodents, particularly deer mice.

Most infections occur as a result of breathing in small particles of mouse urine or droppings that are stirred up into the air.

Symptoms of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS)

The symptoms of HPS are flu-like and include fever, aches and chills, but the disease can progress rapidly to a life-threatening illness. The symptoms can occur from one to six weeks after exposure. Early medical attention is critical to your survival as the disease progresses rapidly to severe difficulty breathing.

Where HPS was found at Yosemite

Yosemite National Park has identified the Curry Village Signature Series Cabins (those numbered in the 900s) as the location where visitors contracted the disease. All reported cases were contracted in mid- to late-June this year in that location only.

The park closed and cleaned a large number of the tent cabins and increased rodent-proofing efforts. In addition, Yosemite National Park has set up a public information hotline (209) 372.0822, for individuals to call for additional information. The park is also contacting visitors by email to alert them to the symptoms and all visitors to the park now receive a brochure about the virus with details on how to protect themselves.

HPS Prevention

The following are the steps recommended by the Yosemite National Park and the California Department of Public Health to prevent HPS:

  1. Keep food stored in tightly sealed containers and off the floor of tents
  2. Minimize storing luggage and other materials on the floor
  3. Avoid stirring up dust and do not touch live or dead rodents
  4. If there are signs of rodent droppings in your cabin or room, contact housekeeping immediately

See the Yosemite park alert for additional information.

8 Insurance Tips for Traveling Seniors

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Insurance Tips for Traveling SeniorsEvery year more baby boomers retire and when asked about their retirement goals, well over half of all retiring seniors say their plans are to travel.

That means over 80 million older adults will be traveling in 2012 and that number will continue to rise as more retire.

Senior travelers have a different set of concerns than younger travelers do. Sure, you may no longer be required to return to work to handle a business meeting or care for a sick child, but there are other risks you can encounter.

As a senior traveler, it’s important to manage those risks for your health, your family, and your financial security.

See the following insurance tips for traveling seniors before you make your next travel plans, and be sure to share these tips with other senior travelers you know!

1. Check your Medicare supplement plan for travel benefits

Some time ago, the Medicare Supplement plan providers caught on to the fact that traveling seniors were putting their health at risk when they traveled outside the borders. After all, Medicare by itself doesn’t pay for health care received outside the U.S. So some of the Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage plans began including travel medical benefits, including international emergency health care.

Before traveling, seniors should check their supplemental plan’s travel benefits by reading the explanation of coverage for details. If they have limited or no medical coverage where they are traveling, a travel medical plan can fill in those gaps.

2. Recognize the limits of evacuation and repatriation

A medically necessary evacuation can cost as little at $25,000 or as high as $100,000 or more depending on where you are, how far you have to go, and what medical personnel and treatment you need in-flight.

Evacuation coverage provides the funds for and coordinates medically necessary transportation to a medical facility or back home after you’ve been treated. Evacuation coverage typically encompasses repatriation too – that’s the coverage necessary to coordinate and pay for getting an insured traveler’s body home should they die on their trip.

Evacuation coverage would have helped this injured traveler and his family, but it’s important to note that evacuation and repatriation coverage doesn’t work inside your home country. So, if the bulk of your travel will be inside the U.S., this coverage may not be useful to you.

3. Make arrangements to carry medications

Travelers can carry their medications in a carry-on or in their checked luggage, but at least some (if not all) of their medication should be carried with them in case of lost luggage. Medications should always be carried in the original bottle with the prescription label to avoid problems at the border if the bag is searched.

Seniors who take prescription medications daily can order a 90-day supply ahead of time through mail order to be sure they have enough on hand for longer trips. Combine the full supply you need for your trip into a single prescription bottle to save room in your luggage.

Some frequent travelers also like to carry a copy of their prescriptions as well in case they need to get refills while they are away from home.

4. Consider a pre-travel medical exam

Before traveling outside the country, seniors should see their doctor for a pre-travel exam (ideally at least 4 weeks prior to their trip) to:

  • Assess their general fitness for travel
  • Identify and prepare for any potential medical problems, such as altitude sickness
  • Identify any potentially necessary vaccinations
  • Get prescriptions for diseases they may encounter on their trip, like malaria

If the senior has any pre-existing medical conditions or their doctor makes a change in their medication, that traveler will need to purchase a travel insurance plan with a waiver for pre-existing medical conditions.

5. Carry your basic medical info and a travel medical kit

All travelers should carry a personal emergency medical kit – particularly one that meets the needs of the traveler and the medical issues they are likely to encounter at their destination.

In that travel kit, you should also carry your basic medical info. Your basic medical information includes:

  • The name, phone number, and email of your primary doctor
  • The name, identification number, and phone number of your medicare supplement plan
  • The name, identification number, and phone number of your travel insurance plan
  • A list of allergies and medications

See this travel safety tip: What’s in your Travel Medical Kit for more details.

6. Decide on annual versus per-trip coverage

Many travelers who travel often throughout the year find that an annual plan saves them time, but it’s important to run the numbers to be sure it will also save you money. Having the same coverage for every trip you take during the year means:

  • Less time researching travel insurance for each trip
  • Less time putting together the travel documents for each trip
  • One travel assistance hotline to call – all year long

The key, of course, is to look at where you plan to travel and how many trips you’ll be taking during the year to see if the cost savings work to your advantage. This is where using our travel insurance comparison tool is a great help.

7. Determine your cancellation risk

Many travelers, including senior travelers, are loathe to purchase trip cancellation coverage. After all, it can be expensive and you have no intention of cancelling your trip anyway.

Unfortunately, there are certain situations when it can be helpful, including:

  • If a member of your family gets sick, injured, or dies
  • If a hurricane or natural disaster strikes your destination
  • If a terrorist attack occurs at your travel spot
  • If your home is damaged or burglarized before or during your trip
  • If your passport is lost or stolen before your trip

No one plans for any of these disasters to happen – especially when a trip is planned – but they do happen and paying a little extra to ensure that you can get all those pre-paid trip costs back is often worth it. See our post on What determines my total trip cost for details on what to insure and what to ignore.

8. Remember that getting home may be critical too

Even if you decide not to purchase trip cancellation coverage, consider a plan with trip interruption coverage. Trip interruption coverage reimburses a traveler for their unused trip costs if they have to abandon their trip and return home for a covered reason (see #7 for some of the reasons).

Trip interruption coverage also provides reimbursement for and helps an insured traveler make emergency flight arrangements, secure transportation and hotels, and even returns them to their trip once the emergency has been handled.

While trip interruption is usually bundled with trip cancellation, many travel medical plans also include trip interruption.

See also:

Safe and Healthy Travel for Senior Citizens from the CDC

Young Toronto Woman Injured and Stranded in Croatia with No Way to Get Home

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Young Toronto Traveler Stranded in Croatia without Travel InsuranceAnna Leibenko, a Toronto resident of just 24 years, is stranded in a hospital in Croatia after falling from a boat and hitting her head. Unconscious at the scene of the accident and suffering internal bleeding, Anna is now on life support and in a coma with internal bleeding and numerous head and face fractures.

Anna was taken by helicopter to the nearest hospital in Split, Croatia where she’s been treated, but administrators at the hospital have informed her family that she will be responsible for the cost of treatment if she is unable to deliver health insurance documentation. Unfortunately, Anna didn’t purchase travel insurance.

Anna’s family is now trying to raise the money necessary for an air ambulance to bring Anna home – reported to be $93,000 (CAD) – and to pay her medical bills, which are reported to be over $20,000 (CAD) now.

At Travel Insurance Review, these kinds of new stories are disturbing. It’s important for readers to understand that international travelers like Anna have access to compare travel insurance plans. A week’s worth of travel insurance for a Canadian resident visiting Croatia of Anna’s age would run less than $10.00 U.S. and have:

  • Emergency medical – $50,000
  • Emergency evacuation – $300,000 – $500,000

Travel insurance plans like these also pay round trip transportation for one person to visit the insured traveler in the hospital, so Anna would have someone familiar with her as she gains the strength necessary to be airlifted home.

 

Stranded and abroad? 4 Tips to Getting Home Safe

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Stranded and abroad? 4 Tips to Getting Home Safe If there’s any certainty to travel it’s this: travel is uncertain. Every year, travelers around the world are stranded by disasters abroad.

It can be difficult if not downright impossible to predict what events you may encounter when you travel. There are, however, some common sense strategies that travelers can use to avoid a worst-case travel disaster of epic proportions.

The following are 4 tips to getting home safely when you’re in danger of being stranded abroad.

1. Know before you go

Take a little time before you settle on your trip plans to know the risks before you go. Taking care to check the local weather conditions and the current travel warnings.

See the country-specific information available on the State Department’s website for safety and security risks as well as crime information. It’s a good place to start to learn about where you’re going before you get stuck.

2. Avoid total digital blackout

While it’s tempting to shut off completely and avoid current events, it’s still important to maintain some contact so you know what’s happening where you’re traveling should something go wrong. This is where you might consider the U.S. State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, or STEP, a useful tool.

When you sign up, you’ll indicate where you are traveling and when and you can add or delete trips based on your current travel plans. Once you indicate travel plans, you’ll receive the current information about the region to where you are traveling – helpful for #1 above.

During your travel dates, you’ll also receive travel alerts and travel warnings appropriate to your destination. STEP makes it easier for officers in the U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to contact you and those back home during an emergency. As they say, a well-informed traveler is a safe traveler.

3. Get out before the going gets bad

Some natural disasters hit without much in the way of warning, so this one is tricky. If you are aware of an impending risk, it’s better to evacuate early rather than waiting for others to evacuate you. This is where travel insurance plans with non-emergency medical evacuation coverage can be handy.

The covered reasons for non-medical, security, or political evacuations typically include:

  • Natural disasters – like a hurricane or earthquake
  • Civil uprisings, military coups, or political unrest
  • Identification as a persona non grata or being expelled from the country you are visiting

That last one is a bit peculiar, but in essence, it means you are officially asked to leave a country you are visiting.

It’s important to note that the travel insurance provider is the one to determine whether an evacuation is a covered event or not, based on the circumstances and the terms of your plan. In addition, you may not be evacuated immediately home, but to a place of safety first.

4. Take cover when it hits and be realistic

The Federal government does not automatically send out rescue teams for their citizens caught in disasters. Even when transportation is made available, it’s paid for by those who are rescued. In March of 2011, after the nuclear crisis in Japan, the State Department sent chartered planes to evacuate U.S. civilians who wanted to leave, but changing weather conditions caused delays.

Once a disaster hits, take cover immediately and pay attention to the orders from local authorities. You can’t assume that help will be immediately at hand when a disaster strikes, but if you’ve done your homework and purchased the right travel insurance, you can get in touch with the assistance services team for information and advice.

If you are unable to access the Internet due to blackouts or get through on your cell phone, having family members or friends back home with your travel itinerary and travel insurance documents on hand is a great backup.

Remember that SMS or text messages often get through when voice communications are jammed. In some cases, those back home have better access to information about unfolding events that you do on the ground, so stay in touch.