Travel Insurance: What You Need to Know About Emergency Evacuation Coverage
Can you imagine anything worse than enjoying a vacation in a foreign country and having to be evacuated due to a medical emergency? To say that it would ruin your trip is an understatement. It can also be very expensive. That's why it's important to purchase a comprehensive travel insurance plan when leaving the country.
What is emergency medical insurance?
Very often people buy travel insurance to protect themselves for flight interruptions or baggage loss while in transit, but a big part of travel insurance is also related to medical emergencies.
Full coverage travel medical insurance will ensure you have access to the best doctors who speak your native language as well as cover the costs of procedures, accommodations, supplies and medications while you're in a foreign country.
Why do I need to purchase emergency evacuation coverage?
What would happen if you were in a city or country that couldn't offer the services needed for your injury? What would you do? You would need to be evacuated to a nearby hospital that could help and that can be expensive.
Emergency evacuation coverage helps cover the costs of all the expenses mentioned above, as well as the cost of transportation to the new facility if needed. Our standard government-provided health care doesn't provide adequate coverage for medical emergencies overseas; that's why it's important to purchase your own private travel medical insurance plan.
What happens if I need to be evacuated?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, regular travel health insurance from your credit card or group benefits plan do cover some health care costs that can happen while abroad, but both the quality of care and the maximum dollar limit for coverage may not be enough. That's why purchasing additional private travel insurance that includes emergency medical emergency evacuation coverage is a must.
"Medical evacuation from a resource-poor area to a hospital where definitive care can be obtained may be necessary. The cost of evacuation can exceed $100,000. In such cases, medical evacuation insurance would cover the cost of transportation to a facility where adequate care can be provided."
Companies who work in medical evacuation are very specialized and have superior resources and experience to regular hospitals and treatment centers. If you're travelling to a remote area of the world you may want to inquire about medical resources in the area, such as hospitals as well as nearby doctors. Of course, you never know what type of medical emergency can occur so you can't be prepared for everything, but it's a good idea to know your surroundings as much as possible.
The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions says that travellers should look over their policy before leaving and check for 24-hour physician-backed support and emergency medical transport as well as the agreement to directly pay the hospitals and medical professionals.
If you're planning a trip, use our online insurance comparison tool to get quotes on your comprehensive travel insurance.