Whenever you are taking an international trip, whether for leisure or for business, it is important to consider purchasing the best international travel insurance for your needs, as it is designed to provide coverage for a lot of things that may go wrong regarding your trip.

Travel insurance plans come primarily in two varieties:

• Trip cancellation insurance: In case you need to cancel or interrupt your trip due to a covered reason.
  While on your trip, it also provides many benefits, including emergency medical coverage and more.
• Travel medical insurance: Primarily focused on emergency medical coverage while on your international trip.
  
  Read more about trip insurance vs travel medical insurance.

Trip Frequency

If you will be traveling abroad frequently for short trips, you should consider purchasing annual multi-trip travel insurance. However, if you will be taking just one trip for now, you should consider purchasing single-trip travel insurance.

Trip Length

Trip cancellation insurance plans are most suitable for trips up to 30 days. On the other hand, travel medical insurance plans are suitable for any trip ranging from 5 days to 1 year and even longer. Travel medical insurance plans typically provide a wide choice of policy maximum and deductible. Trip cancellation insurance instead typically provides one medical policy maximum with no deductible but also covers prepaid, non-refundable trip costs in case you need to cancel your trip for one of the covered reasons mentioned in the certificate wording.

Activities

If you will be taking part in sports activities including adventure sports, hazardous sports, or extreme sports, you should look into the details of various insurance plans to make sure that the activities you are planning to take part in are covered by the foreign travel insurance you purchase. More information.

Baggage

Depending on what you are taking with you on your trip, you may want to consider the benefit limit for loss of checked luggage. While some travel insurance plans may provide coverage of several thousand dollars, many limit the coverage to $250.

Destination

Healthcare facilities are not excellent everywhere in the world. Even in developed countries, you may be on a long highway, in the forest, or on top of mountain, where immediate healthcare facilities for serious health conditions may not be available. Therefore, it is very important to buy travel insurance that provides a high amount of emergency medical evacuation, which provides transportation to the nearest place where adequate care can be given. In the unfortunate event of the traveler’s death, repatriation of remains coverage can be very helpful to grieving family members.

Emergency Medical Coverage

Coverage for emergency medical treatment is the most important part of any travel insurance coverage. Even if you have health insurance at home, it may not provide any coverage in a foreign country. Even if those health insurance plans do provide any coverage, it would be considered out of network, which means a much higher deductible, higher coinsurance, and a higher out-of-pocket maximum. Additionally, the domestic health insurance company may not be experienced in dealing with foreign healthcare providers and different languages. Therefore, travel insurance with international travel health insurance benefits can provide very valuable emergency medical coverage.

Such medical coverage is meant to generally provide the coverage for any new medical conditions, injuries, or accidents that may occur after the effective date of the policy. It is not meant to cover routine maintenance of pre-existing conditions, elective procedures, maternity, or any type of expenses that are expected.