What you should know about foreign travel and health insurance
When you travel outside your health insurer’s regular provider network, your insurer may not pay your medical bills, except for emergency care. Before you travel abroad, check with your health insurer to make sure you understand the rules in your policy. In some cases, especially if you plan to travel for an extended period to study or work, you may want to buy additional coverage.
Medicare doesn’t cover medical charges you incur outside the U.S. Other health insurers also may exclude or severely limit coverage for medical treatment you receive outside the U.S. You may want to buy additional health insurance to cover yourself while you are traveling.
If you are traveling abroad for a short time, such as for a vacation, insurers offer reasonably priced policies. Insurers may sometimes link this coverage to your purchase of other types of coverage at the same time — such as trip-cancellation insurance that includes medical coverage. Vacation insurance policies also typically cover only short-term travel — such as two weeks. If you think you might stay outside the country for any length of time, be sure to specify any long-term coverage needs.
Oct 28, 2008
What you should know about foreign travel and health insurance
Oct 8, 2008
Travel Insurance
Travel Insurance
Travel insurance can protect you against financial loss if you are forced to cancel, delay, or interrupt your vacation. It can protect you against the loss of non-refundable travel costs, such as airfare, hotel, and tour expenses. Other types of travel insurance offer you protection against loss due to medical emergencies, damage to personal property, and even a death that may occur while on vacation. When you are planning your travel arrangements, it’s also a good time to evaluate your need for travel insurance.
Types of Travel insurance:
- Trip Cancellation – Reimburses you for pre-paid travel expenses if you cannot take your trip because you or a family member becomes sick or dies.
- Travel Delay – Reimburses you for pre-paid expenses if you cannot take your trip due to a travel delay, such as a flight delay or cancellation.
- Trip Interruption – Reimburses you for pre-paid expenses if your trip is cut short because you or a family member becomes sick or dies, or due to any other misfortune listed in the policy. Covered reasons might include bad weather, airline strikes, terrorism, bankruptcy, jury duty, or fire or flood damage to your home.
- Medical/Health – Reimburses you for emergency medical and dental expenses because you are sick or injured while traveling.
- Medical Evacuation – Provides you with emergency transportation to take you to a hospital in the area where you are traveling, or if specified in the policy, for transportation back to a hospital near your home.
- Accidental Death – This coverage is usually split into three parts:
2 - Common Carrier: Covers death or dismemberment while you travel on public transportation such as a plane, ferry, train, bus, or taxi.
3 - Accidental Death: Covers death, or if specified in the policy, dismemberment at any time during a trip.
- Baggage Loss – Reimburses you for lost, stolen, or damaged personal items. If you buy baggage insurance, review the policy for the list of property it does not cover. Some of your property may exceed the limits allowed. Also, if you fly, baggage loss usually doesn’t cover personal items an airline may lose or damage.
- Rental Car Damage – Reimburses you for damage or loss to a rental vehicle. Check with your insurer, you may already have this coverage through your auto insurance policy. If so, you may not need the “collision damage waiver” that rental car companies offer. This coverage does not provide liability protection.
Check your other policies for coverage - Before you buy travel insurance, review the policies you have now. If you have life, health, or homeowners insurance, you may not need to buy certain types of travel insurance. Read your policy and speak with your insurance company or agent to find out what personal property and medical coverage you have to cover you while you’re traveling. If you use a credit card to pay for your trip, ask what insurance benefits are available through your credit card company.
Look at the refund policies - Also, before you buy travel insurance, check the refund policies. Some policies will refund your money if you cancel months in advance, but few will offer any refund if you cancel at the last minute.
Ask for recommendations - If you’re working with a travel agent you trust, ask about his or her experiences with any recommended travel insurance companies. Ask if their customers filed claims, and if the companies paid those claims. If you’re planning an adventurous vacation, such as skydiving or scuba diving, ask if the insurance will cover those activities.
Review the policy - Travel insurance polices are not all the same. Before you buy, be sure to review the policy, especially the list of covered reasons for canceling your trip. For example, a travel insurance policy may not reimburse you if you decide not to make a trip because a conference was canceled.
Ask about pre-existing health conditions and age limits - Some policies cover pre-existing health conditions if you buy the coverage within a week or two of booking your trip. Others won’t pay for pre-existing conditions or they charge higher premiums to cover them. Some insurers also charge more for older travelers.
Find out about cancellation waivers - Cruise and tour operators may offer cancellation waivers. This means for a fee, they will reimburse you a portion of your cost if you cancel for any reason up to 24 hours prior to departure. Remember, waivers are not insurance policies and they are not regulated. Read all of the restrictions before you buy a cancellation waiver.
Apr 28, 2008
Avoid Malaria When Travelling and Backpacking
Avoid Malaria When Travelling and Backpacking
by Jean Andrews
Recently, a young woman travelling alone in Vietnam stopped taking her antimalarial pills because she was experiencing bad dreams. She teamed up with a female travel companion and they were both bitten by mosquitoes. Her companion had not taken antimalarial drugs, contracted malaria, and spent the rest of her trip very sick in hospital. She was repatriated home to continue her recovery. Luckily for the young woman who had stopped taking the antimalarial tablets she didn't contract the disease even though she had been bitten. However, the remainder of her trip was ruined because she was constantly watching for symptoms and terrified that she would also develop malaria.
Travellers should be aware that stopping antimalarial drugs, or not taking them at all when travelling to a country where there is a risk of malaria might cause a problem with a travel insurance claim. Travel insurance policies have a general exclusion regarding exposure to unnecessary risk. Insurers generally advise that travellers should behave as if they are not insured and exercise reasonable care to prevent illness. In cases like this, claims or assistance would be at the discretion of the Assistance Company or insurer.
There are many opportunistic bugs, parasites, and nasty diseases freely available to travellers. They strike when an unsuspecting tourist lets down their guard, but malaria is the one that tends to get the most press. Smart travellers will educate themselves and do everything possible to avoid contact with mosquitoes. To be fair, it is not the actual mosquito but the malaria parasite carried by infected mosquitoes that poses the danger. No matter how many precautions are taken, the potential to contract this potentially life-threatening disease will always exist when travelling to tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world
The type of malaria parasite depends on the country being visited and the time of year. The main trouble spots are North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, and Latin America. If embarking on travels to these areas it is essential to take steps to avoid contact with mosquitoes. Consult with a doctor, pharmacist, or visit a travel clinic several months before departure to find out which type of antimalarial will work best for the area of the world being visited. With the enormous amount of information available online about malaria and tropical diseases there's no excuse for anyone to say they did not know!
Some antimalarial drugs are available over the counter, but others need a prescription. Those with pre-existing medical or mental health problems, or who are particularly sensitive to drugs, would be wise to seek the advice of a medical professional well in advance of travel. Antimalarial drugs can produce side effects such as bad dreams, mood changes and sleep disturbances. However, it is not a good idea to interrupt or stop the treatment once it has been started, unless under the direction of a medical professional.
Antimalarial drugs are not a total guarantee against malaria because some of the bugs have built up a resistance. Therefore, external methods should also be used to prevent exposure to mosquito bites. Mosquito nets that have been impregnated with insect repellants should be used at all times for sleeping. The best way to be sure of always having access to a net is for people to take their own with them. The net should be impregnated with an insect repellent for maximum effect, checked regularly for holes, and rolled up when not in use so mosquitoes can't get inside. .
Mosquitoes are at their hungriest at twilight and throughout the night. It is advisable to spray rooms, and ideally there should be fine-mesh screens over all windows and doors if there is no air-conditioning. Clothing is an important factor in avoiding mosquito bites. There are special lightweight travel clothes on the market, which are designed for tropical climates. No one wants to wear long-sleeves or long trousers or socks in a hot climate but it is a good idea to cover up for maximum protection - especially at night. Mosquitoes are attracted to dark fabrics, so light colours should be worn - which are also cooler. Any other methods to keep mosquitoes away should be used, such as insect repellent skin creams or sprays, or alternative natural products.
Regardless of whether antimalarial drugs have been taken, if flu-like, feverish, or other symptoms occur during a trip, or following return home, medical attention should be sought immediately. The doctor should be informed which countries have been visited and that there is the possibility of exposure to malaria or other tropical diseases. Many travellers return from trips abroad each year with symptoms of malaria - and a handful of cases are fatal.
So, next time you see someone jump up and start swatting at an invisible assailant, the chances are they haven't gone mad but are trying to escape that high-pitched buzzing sound we all dread! More often than not we don't see or hear those sneaky little mossies until it's too late and we start to itch and scratch.
