This is a comprehensive overview pro-guide article we compiled for must-know information on travel health medical insurance.
Whether short, long, or ex-pats. Travel Medical Health Insurance is one of the last things we thought about that much and normally just pay it and get it over with.
We should have covered this topic a long time ago as it’s such an important part of overlanding and travel. But better late than never?
Travel medical health insurance or in other words International Private Health Insurance must be one of the most important things to arrange for a trip and must be calculated as part of the cost and total expense of a trip. It is not really a negotiable thing, no matter how long you are travelling, it is a must-have.
In some ways, we have been fortunate that we came away without serious injuries, accidents and illness while travelling. Here and there along the way, our luck ran out. Now in hindsight, done that and got the T-shirt, we can offer some advice and tips on adventure travel and why it’s absolutely essential to have Travel Insurance
Obviously, there is the option to not purchase cover. Save the money and when things really go pear shape start a Go Fund Me campaign, freeload on parents and friends or beg and play on people’s emotions on social media to help you solve your own problems.
An often discussed topic around a BBQ or gathering with friends, overlanders and travellers made us realise that many travellers had a huge misconception about what travel health insurance and medical cover truly entails.
Done that got the T-shirts – Personal experience
In the USA I had a tooth filling come out which resulted in a US$250 new filling! Now bear in mind to replace a filling in most other countries like France, Holland, South Africa and Mexico as examples would cost around US$40-60. This time around we had World Nomads coverage. The USA is NOT the place to get sick.
On the same trip, we received the devastating news of my mother’ terminal illness and had to fly back home. World Nomads paid all our flights and expenses. No BS no quibbles!
Roughly 6 months later in Mexico Elsebie managed to tear three ligaments in her knee. Luckily close to Guadalajara which is the second biggest city in Mexico. If we didn’t have coverage we would pay a deposit of US$16’000 for the operation. In the end, she spends 3 days in the hospital and had to enjoy the hospitality of the city of Guadalajara for 8 more weeks. The bill was close to US$20000. If we did not have that cover we were on our way home.
→So, let me explain what is travel insurance and travel medical insurance.
Same as life insurance, house and car insurance, travel insurance offers the benefit by protecting you against the unforeseen. You want protection against unforeseen accidents and illness with potentially massive cost implications.
The type of travel health insurance we are talking about is not the typical Credit card bank insurance or Travel insurance you buy with your flight ticket. They offer very limited protection and are more suited for the tourist on a 2 week holiday with private health cover back home that will still kick in when they are abroad.
Travel medical health insurance, what is it then?
There are basically two parts to it. Travel insurance is not automatically health insurance. Many of the insurers do not offer all in a complete package.
→The first part is typically for when your laptop or camera is stolen, or luggage lost or having to cancel your trip to fly back home due to death in the family. It normally covers trip cancellation, loss of personal belongings, and trip interruptions. Sometimes these policies will also include some evacuation cover.
→The second part is the medical health insurance for sudden illnesses and accidental injuries. Stuff like, when you break your leg or an arm falling down the steps of the Eiffel tower while taking a selfie, unforeseen massive tooth infection, get food poisoning eating bad street food or your appendix decide it had enough and wants out. The concept behind it is to offer help in the event of an accident and unexpected events that are outside of your control and incidents you can not plan for.
Some respected companies offer legal assistance and translation services. Obviously, you are not looking for trouble but as they say shit happens. Having access to legal assistance is incredibly valuable when in need of a liaison between your embassy’s consular authorities and local government.
→Evacuation and rescue insurance. This is also one of the most important aspects of the cover travellers need. What will happen and who will pay when you need to be flown back home due to an injury or sickness. Few travel medical insurance does not include that cover into their plans. It is separate travel insurance you need to buy. If you use GARMIN or SPOT for example as a tracker the coordinating company GEOS offers a cheap yearly cover when rescue is needed and it is not paid by the insurance cover. There are some excellent companies around with similar plans.
Also when being rescued from remote places have its own complications and we cover that in this article:
Not all countries will rescue you for free! Many will charge you for the services and those can quickly increase especially when helicopters are involved.
Do your research first!
Check on government advisory pages what risks are attributed to different countries. The Foreign Office in the UK, Buerau of Consular Affairs in the US, Dept of Foreign Affairs in Australia etc. Most insurances will not cover ‘red’ or conflict areas or areas where the countries specifically advise against all travel.
→Travel medical insurance does not cover pre-existing conditions and is not a substitute for health insurance back home. If you get sick while tripping for sure, travel insurance will cover you. It will not, however, cover medication for an ongoing chronic disease or a medical condition you had before signing the policy.
→If ever you absolutely have to read the fine print, it is with insurance policies. Not because they are generally dodgy but because most people’s expectations and understanding are different. Yes, for sure most of us rarely read any fine print and accept out of goodwill the conditions in the contract are not biased and would take us to the cleaners or leave us wallowing in cow shit.
Always ask upfront for the policy terms and documents to read through. The sales documents can differ from the policy you receive in the end. And it is easier to ask questions upfront than trying to cancel a policy once paid.
Never lie on an application form.
That is the quickest way insurers will repudiate a claim, and they have a cunningly good ability to find out about that kind of stuff. Always be truthful and state what you will be doing. Not about what you will do and not about any pre-existing condition or problems you are aware of.
As an example, this is a condition from one of the insurers: The following hazardous activities are excluded: playing professional sports and/ or taking part in motorsports of any kind; mountaineering, including potholing, spelunking or caving; high-altitude trekking over 2,500 meters; skiing off-piste or any other winter sports activity carried out off-piste; and Arctic or Antarctic expeditions. If you know you will be partaking in any sports or adventure-type activities rather speak to them and make sure they can maybe accommodate the activity.
→Cover differs from country to country for citizens and companies. For example, UK residents using motorcycles over 125cc won’t be covered by some travel medical insurance companies World Nomads included. Also, the USA is one of the most expensive medical injuries that will not be covered.
As an example in South Africa, our private medical insurance covers us for 90days outside of the borders. We only need to buy a cover after that. Some other countries have different rules. Make sure those rules apply to your country and in conjunction with the insurance companies rules and guidelines.
I had the fortune to work in the insurance industry for 17 odd years prior to our traveling life and I know this all too well. Life insurance will pay out as the policy was underwritten before acceptance. Travel and medical insurance are different and they will follow the fine print and if outside of their policy wording and meaning they will probably not pay. Because it ain’t in the wording or part of the terms of conditions. It is the plain and simple contract they follow.
Let me say this again, read the fine print!
Take the time, sit down with a cold one and go through the policy document. Phone a friend, talk to somebody that is clued up on the lingo to help you make sense of it but read the bloody fine print!
Make sure you understand the fine print for you as a person and from your country of residence and where you will be travelling to. In the end, it is you who will sit with injuries and no money when the bovine faeces hits the fan.
We have been with World Nomads for over three years and have a claim history with them. They do as they say and travellers can recommend them for sure.
Some questions you need to ask:
- Is the medical cover only in-hospital treatment or does it cover small out-of-hospital procedures? There are hospital plans or full cover, make sure to ask about the options and differences.
- Very important – are there any treatment limits, ie, how long will they pay if you are in ICU?
- Does it cover any dental procedures or only pain relief? Check from tooth fillings to jaw operations.
- Do they only stabilize you and send you back home for treatment or do they only cover treatment in the country till you recovered?
- Do they pay upfront for the hospital or must you pay and ask for reimbursement? This can be problematic when a procedure costs 20000us and you do not have reserves for such events. Or hospitals ask for an upfront security deposit.
- Do they cover repatriation and MedEvac?
- Do you have the option to decide where you want to be treated for more serious illnesses?
- Do they cover follow-up treatments needed for injuries sustained? For example, physiotherapy on knee injuries.
- Do they cover accommodation while you are recovering, or for your partner or spouse?
- Do they cover injuries due to the mode of transport you will be using? This is more complex when riding a motorcycle – be VERY careful!
- Do they cover you ‘off-road’ or in rural areas?
- Do they cover you above a certain altitude?
- Ask what adventure activities are covered and which are not.
- Will they allow you to renew your policy or do they force you to take out a new policy?
- Can you take out cover (or renew) when you’re already abroad?
- Will they repatriate your vehicle if you are flown back to your country of citizenship for medical treatment?
- If you have rescue/extraction cover, will they actually extract you unless there’s an official report/travel warning issued by your home country or the one you are traveling in? With COVID some companies excluded cover and repatriation.
Unjustified complaints & lazy consumers
Make no mistake the biggest amount of complaints I have heard over my 17 years of being in this industry are from consumers having a misconception and not knowing and understanding what they purchased. The rage then is loaded onto social media and the companies are unfairly accused of not paying.
As an example, if you need evacuation and you did not attempt to notify the company they have to pay up for a 100000us helicopter flip.
They use their own service providers with whom they have negotiated rates. World Nomad is, for example, not an evacuation and extraction company. GEOS does that. You can’t expect World Nomads to pay for that. World Nomads, however, will fly you home only if you ended up in the hospital and what falls in their cover.
It is therefore very important to understand the complaints you read on the internet and make sure it is legitimate complaints or unwarranted.
That all said, be very sceptical of reviews on the internet, some companies do pay for reviews and not all are true and reliable.
Rescue servicHes
Rescue and extraction services are normally subcontracted by the service providers and they will again liaise
with local emergency services in an area. If it is snowing and the local teams can not get to a person it is unfair to accuse them of not responding. They might also have other emergencies to attend to. In Chile it took 16 hrs to get to an injured hiker, the road and trek were just of such that it took the rescue team that long to get to them.
Normally the extraction and rescue company will make the call with the locals to use air transport if indeed warranted. That is why it is so important to try to have a two-way communicator device with you. They can make better decisions with more information, especially when venturing into remote places.
I have read about overlanders knowingly venturing into an area when they knew it was going to snow. They still went and had to press the SOS button. They were lucky to be rescued but have endangered the lives of the rescue team and possibly of others in need of assistance. One girl pressed SOS just to get rescue teams to help her pick up her bike on a road she could have waited for a passer-by. Yes, this actually happened.
It is advisable to always carry and ride with the unit with you and not attached it to the bike.
More medical travel insurance options:
Apart from World Nomads we have also used Regency Travel insurance, we have not claimed from them so we can not comment on that. Their pricing and package are a bit differently structured to the others and suited to our circumstances at the time. Our dear friend Suzie Bostock used Tokio Marine for their insurance traveling South America for 2 years. They haven’t claimed from Hccmis though so can not comment on that.
We had to move to a new insurer as World Nomads could not cover us while in South Africa. After some exhaustive searches, Elsebie got onto an impartial insurance specialist and spoke to Simon Wilkinson from NowCompare.com. Simon mentioned NowCompare.com works with all of the major insurers and has performed due diligence checks on all the companies they work with and recommend.
Keep asking questions, get information in writing and make sure the company knows what your activies and destinations will be.
From Suzie aka Avvida:
PLEASE NOTE: This is not an exhaustive list. There is a tonne of insurance companies that offer cover so look around. These are just the ones I found or people told me about (and thank you to the Horizons Unlimited community for their input). As the majority of those who offered information about their insurers were from the USA, UK, Australia and Canada, this is why several of the providers listed are limited to cover for those countries.
ADAC Gold – The site is primarily in German so I am guessing it is for germans, but it’s worth checking out. They have a membership programme (see THIS link) and also a travel insurance policy available on THIS link with upto 24 months worth of cover available from what I can tell. If you speak German you will be able to make more sense of it than me!
Allianz Global Assistance – Apparently available up-to two years of travel. As always, please check options if riding a motorcycle especially if over 250cc. The initial link is to the USA Allianz, but it is available in many countries e.g. Australia Allianz, UK Allianz, Canada Allianz. You can easily search online if there is cover available for your country of residence.
BCAA – For British Columbians only (insurance and breakdown cover available).
BUPA – Travel insurance and global health insurance for many nationalities.
Carole Nash – UK specialist Motorcycle travel insurance.
CGU Insurance – Travel insurance for Australians. Also, you can cover some pre-existing conditions for an additional premium. Various packages depending on the countries you plan to travel in.
Diver’s Alert Network – Offers travel insurance for the USA and Canadian citizens, a good option if you plan on diving during your travels.
GEOS – MedEvac and/or Search & Rescue cover, commonly purchased when you have an InReach or Spot device, but can be purchased even if you do not have one of these devices. Also, see the link at the bottom of this article for further information.
Global Rescue – Provides medical, evacuation and security services, and is apparently available to all nationalities. They also provide travel insurance upto 90 days. If taking out Global Rescue cover, please use the link on the Horizons Unlimited page (click the link and scroll down the page about halfway) as this will benefit HU organisation.
HCC Atlas – Medical and MedEvac cover. It does not cover personal possessions like a standard travel insurance policy.
Holidaysafe – Full-on travel insurance package, with specialist motorcyclist policies available. Also, you can cover several pre-existing conditions for an additional premium.
IMG – Travel and medical insurance for many nationalities, both travellers and ex-pats.
MedJet Assist – MedEvac / medical transport cover. Also, see the link at the bottom of this article for further information.
Navigator – Travel insurance policies. (Currently, any cover options for motorcycling as the main mode of transport can only be taken out if departing from your country of residence, not if you’ve already left home).
NowCompare.com – Impartial advice and specialists in ex-pat medical / travel insurance for many nationalities. Click HERE to contact them for advice or a discounted quote.
Seven Corners – Travel and medical insurance. According to their website, they cover all nationalities, but again, please check you are fully covered before taking out the policy.
STA World Travel Health Insurance – Good for student, teacher or youth travellers with a ISIC/IYTC/ITIC card. Their policies without possession of any of these cards appear to be World Nomad policies (no good for UK citizens with Motorcycling as your mode of transport/motorcycle touring).
TID (Travel Insurance Direct) – A travel insurance for Australians. They also have a good page to outline what is covered and what is not. Click HERE for a link.
Trailfinders – A travel insurance for Europeans. Policy details are available here.
True Traveller – A travel insurance for Europeans, including cover for if you’re already travelling.
World Nomads – Full-on travel insurance package (WARNING TO UK MOTORCYCLISTS – They DO NOT currently cover UK or Irish citizens to travel by motorcycle as your main mode of transport or motorcycle touring, REGARDLESS of the size of a motorcycle and CANNOT be added at an additional cost).
Huge gratitude to Suzie from Overlander Health for her valuable and extensive research I used and scavenged for this article. Please give her some love and check out her website for everything to stay healthy as an overlander and traveller.
Travel insurance: Simple & Flexible
You can buy, extend and claim online, even after you’ve left home. Travel insurance from WorldNomads.com is available to people from over 150 countries. It’s designed for adventurous travellers with cover for overseas medical, evacuation, baggage and a range of adventure sports and activities.
7 things you should know about travel insurance from WorldNomads.com
- Trusted reliable underwriters
WorldNomads.com is backed by a suite of strong, secure, specialist travel insurers who provide you with great cover, 24 hour emergency assistance and the highest levels of support and claims management when you need it most. - Value for money with the cover you need
WorldNomads.com provides cover for what’s important for travellers from over 150 countries. By focusing on what you need and leaving out what you don’t, World Nomads prices are some of the most competitive online we have found. - Flexibility when you need it most
In case you meet that good looking guy or girl and on the spur of the moment wants to extend your island party you can extend. You can extend your policy or claim online while you are still away. You can even buy a World Nomads policy if you’re already travelling. - Cover for a range of adventure activities
From skiing & snowboarding in Austria to whitewater rafting in Namibia, WorldNomads.com covers a range of adventure activities. - World Nomads keeps you travelling safely
All WorldNomads.com members have access to up-to-date travel safety alerts, as well as travel safety advice and tips online through the World Nomads Travel Safety Hub. - More than just great value travel insurance
All WorldNomads.com members can learn the local lingo through a series of iPod & iPhone Language Guides and can stay in touch with family and friends with an online travel journal. - Commitment to exceptional customer service
We want to make sure you get the most from WorldNomads.com. You can find out more about why travel insurance is important for your trip. If you have any questions about your travel insurance or travel safety in general, please contact WorldNomads.com directly.
Disclaimer: World Nomads have added us to their affiliate program. Every time you use our blog to check rates we get a few cents which eventually allows us to buy one beer or lollipop. We have no affiliation with Regency or HCCMIS or NowCompare or receive any financial benefit from any….
I hope hope you’ll get both! 🙂
Thanks Paul, yes we are well and still enjoy the adventure. Currently in Chile 😉