In a medical emergency, time is a critical factor to successful treatment. A personal medical profile is a single place where the medical professionals who are treating a traveler can obtain access to a traveler’s medical history, pre-existing conditions, current medications and contact their current health care providers back home. Access to that information can make the difference between timely and effective emergency medical treatment and disaster.

A number of travel insurance plans include a feature that lets you put together a travel medical profile.

In addition to your travel itinerary, you’ll want to include the following in your profile:

1. Personal contacts – relatives and friends who can be contacted in a medical emergency. Be sure to identify the order in which they should be contacted in case the first person on your list is traveling with you (your spouse perhaps?).
2. Medical care provider contacts – the doctors who actively treat you and who will have your current medical records. If there are multiple doctors, list them by which condition they are treating.
3. Insurance information – not just the travel insurance plan, but also current health care insurance information, including plan and member numbers.
4. Full medical disclosure – list your pre-existing conditions, including speech, memory, hearing and other non visible conditions that someone treating you in an emergency situation will need to know, such as heart conditions or diabetes.
5. Complete medical history – including allergies, blood type, current medications and immunizations.

For additional information see this Traveling Smart topic from UStiA.

Which plans have this option?

We found two companies offering plans with the exclusive Global Xpi Service.

1. Global Alert’s plans: Essential, Preferred, and Preferred Plus.

2. MH Ross’s plans: Asset, Bridge, and Complete.

That all-American of travel plan – the road trip – qualifies for excellent travel insurance protection from one company: Access America (now known as Allianz Travel Insurance). The plan is called Drive Protection and it’s more than the typical car rental protection plan because it covers your own vehicle or a rental vehicle.

Remember, even if you have health insurance coverage, that coverage is limited when you are out of the coverage network area. So, if you live in California, for example, and take a road trip to see the Rocky Mountains, you will likely be outside your health insurance network. If you become ill (food poisoning from that roadside diner perhaps) or get injured in Idaho, you’ll be paying out-of-network costs for your medical care. Out-of-network care costs can be as high as four or five times what you would normally pay for in-network care.

The Access America Drive Protection plan provides secondary coverage to your own automobile insurance, which means it covers your automobile insurance deductibles (up to $500), out-of-network medical expenses, and it has cross-country roadside assistance. Two adults are automatically covered under the plan, kids under 17 are free, and additional adults can be included for a minimal charge.

This unique plan includes some package-like benefits including baggage coverage, trip cancellation, interruption, travel delays and travel accident AD&D. This coverage will even return your vehicle if you are injured or hospitalized and can’t get it back home.

See our full review of Access America’s Drive Protection plan, including details, limitations, and where to buy.

We know it can be hard when you’re in the throes of planning a trip and trying getting everything – flights, tours, cruises, and more – lined up with school and work schedules, the thought of travel insurance can get pushed to the side.

Please don’t wait.

We recommend purchasing your trip insurance as soon as possible after making your initial trip deposit. Why? Because many important benefits require that you purchase your travel insurance plan within a certain number of days (anywhere from 10 to 21) from when you make your initial trip deposit – which is simply your first purchase toward your travel plans, whether that be your flight, reserving a car, or putting down a deposit on a cruise.

If you don’t purchase your plan within the time frame guidelines, you won’t have the coverage available to you on your trip. Plus, and we hate to say it, but it’s true: if you purchase a plan with time restrictions too late, you’ll be paying for coverage you can’t use.

Each travel insurance company has their own time frame for these early purchase, but our travel insurance coverage guide lists the time frame for each of the coverages that require early purchase, such as:

• ‘Cancel for any reason’
• ‘Cancel for work reasons’
• Pre-existing medical coverage

At Travel Insurance Review, we strive to be the best resource for travel insurance, helping consumers like you understand, locate, and purchase the coverage you need. Please don’t wait to purchase your trip insurance plan because the coverages listed above can save you from significant financial losses on your trip.

Read more about when to buy your travel insurance plan too.

Simply have to climb Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, soon? Got a caving and kayak trip in Thailand on your bucket list? What about a Colorado river rafting expedition through the Grand Canyon in your own country?

Unfortunately, in nearly every travel insurance plan, you’ll see exclusionary language like this:

The following exclusion applies to all coverages:
mountain climbing, bungee cord jumping, skydiving,
parachuting, hang gliding, parasailing or travel on
any air supported device, other than on a regularly
scheduled airline or air charter company;

That exclusion was copied out of Travelex’s very popular Travel Select plan, but this type of language is nearly universal in all travel insurance plans. In fact, in Travel Guard’s most popular plan – the Gold plan – you’ll see this language under General Exclusions:

This plan does not cover any loss caused by or resulting from:
mountaineering where ropes or guides are normally used.
The ascent or descent of a mountain requiring the use of
specialized equipment, including but not limited to pick-axes,
anchors, bolts, crampons, carabineers, and lead or top-rope
anchoring equipment;

So what is the average thrill-seeking adventure traveler to do?

Check out Travel Guard’s unique Adventure plan. It’s ideal for those who enjoy experiencing extreme adventures anywhere around the world. It covers all the benefits you expect in a high-quality travel insurance package plan, and a few extras for the adventure traveler:

• Enhanced lost baggage coverage up to $2,500 – in case your gear is stolen en route and you have to replace it.
• Enhanced baggage delay coverage up to $1,500 – in case your gear goes somewhere else and you have to get started on your adventure right away.
• High medical evacuation coverage – up to $500,000 – in case something does happen and you need medical care.
• Enhanced travel assistance services with comprehensive help for adventurers, including weather and travel advisories, help finding the next trail, closure and detour information.
• This plan even includes roadside assistance and reimbursement for license fees if you have to cancel your trip.

Adventurer travelers can also add some options to their travel insurance package, depending on their needs and the risks involved with their trip:

• Upgraded medical coverage limits (the base plan has $25,000, which may not be enough if you are outside your home country).
• Upgraded flight guard AD&D (the base plan has $10,000, which may not be enough).
• Optional car rental coverage and upgraded sports equipment coverage.

All in all, the Adventure travel plan from Travel Guard offers unique protection for those travelers who like to hang glide, kayak, SCUBA dive, para glide, ski, parasail, and more.

This is only a brief description of the coverage(s) available.

The Policy will contain reductions, limitations, exclusions and termination provisions. Insurance is underwritten by National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, Pa., a Pennsylvania insurance company, with its principal place of business at 175 Water Street, New York, NY 10038. It is currently authorized to transact business in all states and the District of Columbia. NAIC No. 19445. Coverage may not be available in all states.

U.S. citizens who are considering traveling during hurricane and typhoon season are encouraged by the U.S. Department of State to consider potential dangers and just plain inconveniences associated with hurricanes. Even inland areas far from a coastline can experience residual winds, tornadoes, and floods as a result of tropical storms.

See a recent message to U.S. Citizens from Jim Petit, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Overseas Citizens Services:

You can also check out the Department of State’s approved Traveler’s Checklist for hurricane season travel, which recommends steps such as researching the region you are visiting, packing an emergency supply kit, and protecting vital documents by keeping them in waterproof packaging or containers. Great idea!

If you’re traveling this hurricane season, which is from June 1st to November 30th for the Atlantic and Caribbean each year, check out our Hurricane Resource Center for travel tips, tools, maps, and more.

In some cases, you can recover vacation dollars when you or your traveling companion’s or a traveling family member’s vacation approval or written military leave is revoked. This type of coverage is included in the trip cancellation benefits of some travel insurance plans.

Let’s take a look at an example from the Gold plan from Travel Guard. The language looks like this:

“j) the Insured or Traveling Companion is required to work
during his/her scheduled Trip. He/she must provide proof of
requirement to work, such as a notarized statement signed
by an officer of his/her employer; In the situation of self employment,
proof of self-employment and a notarized
statement confirming that the Insured is unable to travel due
to his or her job obligations will be required;”

Notice that at least some proof is required, but then you’d expect that if you have to make a claim.

You may find help in the optional coverages

In some cases, however, you’ll find this coverage in the ‘cancel for any reason’ or ‘cancel for work reasons’ coverage, which is typically an optional rider.

In the description of coverage for Worldwide Trip Protector Gold from Travel Insured International, for example, we found coverage for this type of event under the optional ‘cancel for work reasons’ coverage. The language reads like this:

“You or Your Traveling Companion are required to work during the scheduled Trip. You or Your Traveling Companion must demonstrate proof of requirement to work, such as a notarized statement signed by an officer of Your or Your Traveling Companion’s employer;”

Almost always available for revoked military leave

In most travel insurance plans, you’ll find that coverage for trip cancellation includes being called into active military service or to provide aid in the event of a natural disaster. The language (in this case, from the Travel Insurance Services Elite plan) looks like this:

“(g) the Insured or a Traveling Companion being called into active military service to provide aid or relief in the event of a Natural Disaster;”

What’s the catch?

Make sure that you read the description of the plan to ensure that this type of coverage is available – and if it’s only available in the optional rider, make sure that rider is on your plan. The catch? Make sure that your trip costs fit within the maximum trip amount. For example, if your trip costs are $4,500, be sure that the trip cancellation maximum covers up to that amount. You don’t want to have a situation where the maximum trip cancellation amount is $2,000 because if you have to cancel, that’s the maximum you’ll receive back.