International travel medical insurance provides coverage for emergency medical expenses, emergency medical evacuation, repatriation of remains, trip interruption, accidental death & dismemberment and more while traveling outside the home country. Many private and government sponsored domestic health insurance plans provide excellent coverage within the United States. However, they are not intended to provide comprehensive coverage while traveling abroad. Many domestic companies don't provide any medical coverage for international travel and the ones that do provide the coverage have quite limited coverage, with a high deductible and co-insurance. They are usually not experienced or equipped to deal with different languages, currency conversion, time zone differences, international claims administration and usually don't cover emergency medical evacuation, repatriation of remains or emergency reunion.

On page 3 of the U.S. passport, the U.S. State Department clearly advises the passport holders that Medicare and most U.S. health insurance companies don't provide them medical coverage while abroad. Before traveling, make sure to find out the exact benefits or lack of benefits your current health insurance provides while traveling abroad. Many health insurance plans offer little or no medical coverage while traveling domestically outside your coverage area, and often offer no coverage when you travel outside your home country.

You should carefully review your homeowner's insurance policy to find out the amount of international travel insurance they provide. Homeowner's and rental insurance policies often have high deductible in case of lost or stolen baggage when traveling.

Travel insurance from the credit cards is usually limited to coverage for flight accident, car rental damage or for accidental death and dismemberment while traveling. Also, such protection is available only when you pay for travel with that particular credit card. Most credit cards don't provide any coverage for travel medical expenses, emergency medical evacuation or trip interruption.

International travel insurances are specifically designed to provide excellent coverage for international travel. As international travel health insurance companies specialize in this business, they are able to provide you the services you need, when you need them the most. Travel protection plans also offer worldwide 24 hours emergency assistance in multiple languages. They are usually able to help you get access to legal assistance, prescription drug refills, emergency cash, and much more.

You can purchase travel health insurance any time up to the departure date or even after departing for your trip. In most policies, coverage can start as early as the next business day or any future date you specify. As we have a large portfolio of international medical insurance plans, we have many options for anyone traveling abroad from any country or residing any country. You can also purchase the international travel insurance on behalf of any relative, friend, employee or anyone else. Single trip health insurance plans do not require you to have primary medical insurance in your home country to be covered by international health insurance.