Travel

Many international travelers today don’t think they need international travel medical insurance because they don’t realize their company insurance, travel insurance or personal medical insurance may not be valid outside of the United States. And this goes for government-funded health insurance too. Check to see what your health insurance or travel medical insurance policies cover. Make sure to read the fine print and the exclusion clauses.

Most comprehensive insurance policies offer three types of coverage - financial reimbursement for trip cancellation or lost baggage, medical coverage and emergency medical transportation and they differ from standard travel insurance policies. The cost of international travel health insurance policies depends on the type of coverage you need, your destination, your age and gender and the cost of the trip.

International trips or trips abroad are generally more expensive so you should consider getting additional insurance for any trip outside of the mainland USA, especially one with nonrefundable deposits.

There are a number of unforeseen circumstances that can interrupt your vacation or even cancel it, such as an unexpected illness, bad weather, a sudden death in your family or even a job change or jury duty that you can’t leave.

Any time that you have nonrefundable deposits or purchases you should have travel insurance. You should consider buying international travel medical insurance if you have invested a lot of money in your vacation or if you can’t cover any unexpected medical costs or emergency costs at you arrival destination.

If you’re traveling by yourself or with your family at an additional cost to you or if you’re traveling to areas that have known catastrophic events such as natural disasters, extreme political turmoil or health advisories, you should have international travel medical insurance. Or if you have an existing medical condition that is cause for concern, then by all means get insured properly.

You don’t want to be sitting in a hospital emergency room in another country and find out that you’re not covered by any of your other insurance policies. And Medicare doesn’t cover any eligible U.S. citizen traveling in Canada or Mexico either.

One of the most important reasons to buy international travel medial insurance is for getting emergency transportation out of an undeveloped country and into a country with proper medical facilities. It can easily cost $20,000 to get airlifted out of a foreign country. International travel medical insurance may seem cheap after an experience like this.

Oftentimes people think when they have travel insurance that they are fully covered for international travel or they think they are covered on their health insurance policy for medical expenses. This is usually not true.

Make sure to read your existing policies thoroughly especially the fine print and the EXCLUSION clauses to fully understand what you have and don’t have. There is a big difference between travel insurance policies and international travel insurance policies. And make sure to get several quotes to get the best low cost international travel insurance. It’s important to think ahead and it can be a tough decision for some but you can’t buy international travel medical insurance when you NEED it!

Save money with free low cost international travel medical insurance tips and find the best affordable or low cost travel health insurance online go to a nurse’s website http://www.InternationalTravelMedicalInsuranceGuide.com for advice and how to save money on international travel medical insurance quotes

If you are an expatriate planning on long-term residence in Japan you can, after a one-year stay, become a part of Japan’s national health program. Until that time, however, you’re going to need Japanese overseas travel insurance.

Some of the Japanese overseas travel insurance options include not only trip or annual medical emergency coverage for travel but also disability insurance, personal liability coverage and term life insurance. Japanese overseas travel insurance’s medical coverage with some plans offers full (100 percent) reimbursement for prescription medicine, medical care for diagnostic purposes, hospital stay and even surgery. You’ll also be covered in case of terrorism and an evacuation to your home residence in the event of medical or terrorist emergency.

One firm whose Japanese overseas travel plan we perused offered coverage for those over 80 years old, difficult to find. The minimum coverage time period for this plan is one week (seven days) with a one-year maximum, although it can be renewed for a total of three consecutive years of coverage. Coverage varies according to your age. You must be at least two weeks old for any coverage. If you are under 70 years of age you can choose coverage limits that range from $50,000 to $1 million. Folks between 70 and 79 are excluded from coverage that exceeds $50,000, while those 80 or older can only be covered to a maximum of $10,000.

Let’s look at a couple of quotes to see the variation in cost for age, children, number of travelers, and participation in sports. We’ll also look at the cost for non-U.S. citizens. The first quote is for a single U.S. resident 18-29 years of age traveling along for one year and not wanting the rider for sports coverage. A $1 million ceiling for Japanese overseas travel insurance coverage, with a $250 deductible, is $576. Reducing the ceiling doesn’t seem like nearly as good a deal - the premium is $504, although increasing the deductible to $1000 reduces the cost to $403.20. That same Japanese overseas travel insurance coverage for non-U.S. citizens is several hundred dollars more.

For a couple both 30-39 years old with two children traveling with them, Japanese overseas travel insurance does not come cheap. Assuming U.S. residence and a $500,000 ceiling with $500 deductible the hefty price tag for this coverage is $1814.40. While this may seem excessive, consider the cost of medical coverage for one or more of you, or for emergency evacuation. You’ll probably come to the conclusion that Japanese overseas travel insurance is inexpensive as compared to the alternative.

Steve Cogger is webmaster of the 1 Happy Traveller website. Visit the site today to receive all of the information on travel insurance you could possibly need.