Health insurance is important during a trip. In case of serious accident or health problem it will help you pay the hospital bill or the rescue. As you can imagine, a hospital stay can be very expensive. Let me clear some points about this issue :
A possible travel insurance : World Nomads is a simple and flexible travel insurance.
- Disclaimer : World Nomads provides travel insurance for travellers in over 100 countries. As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is information only and not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
The difference between Travel Insurance and Health Insurance
Usually the term “Travel Insurance” includes the “Health Insurance” part and also insurance related to the transport in the trip like : cancelations of flights and stolen items. There may be cases of Insurance companies calling a “Travel Insurance” a product that doesn’t cover the health part (and you don’t want that), so make sure you know what it covers.
The important part is the Health Insurance
Personally, I don’t like the “Transport part” of the insurance. I don’t like it because cancelations of flights and stolen items is something I can deal with by myself. On the other hand I will surely need help in case of a grave accident. With some insurance companies, they just don’t give you the choice, their product is a bundle of both types of insurances. I guess it can be handy in some cases.
The Travel Health Insurance is for travelling, it is not a permanent health insurance
The travel health insurance is intended to give you emergency assistance during your trip, it is a short-term insurance (although it can lasts for months). Once you return to your country of residence (after an accident or health problem), it is expected that your main health insurance will continue to take care of you. A travel health insurance may accept to insure you (for a trip) even if you don’t have a main insurance in your own country, but they will not be responsible for you, once they brought you back to your country, after an accident or ilness.
There is a self participation part
With most insurance plans (especially the basic ones), in case you decide to make a claim (and it is not an emergency), you are supposed to participate in the payment with a small amount of money (for example 100 $). This is intended to discourage people from submitting claims for minor issues (and indeed, it happened to me to visit a doctor in my travels, for example a stomach ache, I just paid the small bill and continued with my life).
There is a special type of Insurance for risky sport activities
If you intend to practice special kinds of sports during your travel, sports that are more risky than a normal behaviour, like for example diving, then you should choose a special Insurance plan, that is a little bit more expensive.
Different Insurance plans
Every insurance company, will usually propose several plans. The more expensive plans will include more coverage and sometimes less “self participation”. One type of plan is for risky sport activities. There is also a price difference, according to the age of the person (after a certain age, it becomes more expensive) and also if there are pre-existing health conditions.
Riding a Motorcycle
Many tourists are renting a motorcycle while travelling in Asia (and elsewhere), the shops are not asking questions, they collect your money and give you a motorbike. Everything is fine unless you are involved in a road accident. It turns out that, by law, you need a driving license in order to ride a moto abroad, even in countries like Thailand and Vietnam. So, the health insurance company could make you problems with the claim because you were acting against the law (If you want to act by the law in that matter, you should before your trip, convert your local driving licence into an international one, for a certain period. Some car licenses include a motorcycle license for small cylinders, up to 125 cc usually). If you decide to ride a moto after all, then drive slowly, put an helmet and avoid wet roads. It is not just motorcycles. Any illegal activity may be an excuse for the Insurance company for not paying you.
Luckily, you will pay the insurance company and you will never need them
I am paying during years for travel insurance, and luckily I never needed any assistance and never submitted a claim. Most travellers are like that. Try to avoid problems during your trip, so that you will not need the insurance company and you will be happy just to pay them.
Insurance companies don’t like to pay
Be prepared. All insurance companies don’t like to pay big sums to customers, it is also true for car insurance companies and also for house insurance companies and also for travel insurance companies. In case of need, you will need to “fight” and play smart and be patient in order to receive the money from your insurance company. If your health case is totally clear like for example you got “altitude sickness” in the Himalayas mountains and you were evacuated by local medical authorities to a hospital, so the insurance company will probably pay all the expenses without any problems. On the other hand if your case is a little bit ambiguous, your insurance company may try to avoid some payments and you need to prepare yourself. See how, in the next point.
How to prepare yourself for a claim with the insurance company
- Before your trip, know what your insurance covers and what not (read the policy). No one likes to read the small prints of insurance companies (I think so) but you must make sure that later on, your insurance company will not point you to a paragraph in which it is stated that your specific case is not covered by the insurance.
- Before your trip, declare to the insurance company any health problem that you may have in the form that you have to fill. It is better to receive a higher quote for the insurance than later be refused over a claim, because of undeclared previous illnesses.
- In case of health related need, contact the insurance company as soon as possible, before using any medical assistance (except a case of emergency, of course).
- The first reason is that they can help you choosing the right way to proceed, they have some knowledge and experience after all.
- The second reason is that specific Insurance companies may collaborate with specific hospitals and not with others, and so they prefer you to use their “networks”.
- The third reason is that you don’t want to give your insurance company any pretext for not paying you.
- Be very, very bureaucratic. When you get medical assistance abroad, ask for receipts with signatures. Ask the doctors to fill a paper with recommendations and justification for treatments. You want to protect yourself from possible excuses from the Insurance company for not paying you.
- If you are making a claim related to the “transport part” of the trip (not health), like a stolen camera for instance, you should be prepared to prove your case. You need to take pictures of all your items before the trip, get signed documents from the police etc.
Who is paying the cash to the hospital ?
In case you are wondering, it depends on the case. If it is an emergency case or a big expense, then the Insurance company may pay directly to the hospital, you just need to present the copy of the insurance to the hospital. For less severe cases, you may be required to pay the bill (for example for a dentist) and later submit the refund request to the Insurance company.
A Possible Travel Insurance
World Nomads is a simple and flexible travel insurance.
- Disclaimer : World Nomads provides travel insurance for travellers in over 100 countries. As an affiliate, we receive a fee when you get a quote from World Nomads using this link. We do not represent World Nomads. This is information only and not a recommendation to buy travel insurance.
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