Why is it important to buy travel insurance for an international trip? Because the stakes are higher. You’re farther from home. Your trip is more expensive. And when you’re overseas, medical emergencies and other crises can be more difficult to resolve.
Travel insurance can help mitigate your risks by protecting you from common travel pitfalls. But what exactly does travel insurance do to help you? Here’s your guide to key travel insurance benefits for international travel. (Exclusions and limits apply. Please read your plan documents for details.)
Need travel insurance for your upcoming trip? See which plan works best for you.
Emergency medical and dental benefits
What they do: If you’re traveling and you experience a serious illness, injury, or medical condition, emergency medical and dental benefits can reimburse you for the cost of eligible medical care.
Why you need these benefits in international travel insurance: If you hand your U.S. health insurance card to a medical provider overseas, they’ll probably give you a funny look and ask for a credit card instead. Cash payment up front is often required when you’re receiving medical care in other countries. Medicare doesn’t provide coverage outside of the United States, except in certain rare instances.1Private insurance may not cover you, either; check with your insurance company before you go.
When you have emergency medical benefits, you don’t have to worry! Your travel insurance can reimburse the cost of care, up to your plan limit, and may even advance payment to the hospital or medical provider.
Read more: Travel Insurance With Emergency Medical Benefits: The Simple Guide
Emergency transportation benefits
What they do: If you have a medical emergency overseas and you need to be rushed to a hospital or other healthcare facility, emergency transportation benefits can pay for pre-approved, medically necessary transportation.
Your emergency transportation benefits also can:
- Pay to bring a friend or family member to your bedside, if you’ll be hospitalized for more than 48 hours
- Pay to send your dependents home, if they’re traveling with you and you’re hospitalized for more than 24 hours.
- Pay to transport you home after an illness or injury, once you’re well enough to travel. Repatriation may involve arranging a private air ambulance and/or a medical escort.
Why you need these benefits in international travel insurance: Spending $200 on a specialty dining upgrade during your cruise? That’s a fun travel splurge. Spending $20,000 on a medical evacuation from the ship to the nearest hospital? Not a fun travel splurge.
“Medical evacuation can be extremely expensive, costing more than $50,000 depending on your location and medical condition. Although some health insurance companies pay ‘customary and reasonable’ hospital costs abroad, very few pay for your medical evacuation back to the United States,” warns the U.S. Department of State.2
Emergency transportation benefits are especially important if you’re traveling in remote areas or in a country where medical facilities are substandard. In an emergency, contact 24-hour assistance and the Allianz Travel Insurance medical team will assess your case. If needed, we’ll arrange your evacuation to the nearest medical facility where you can receive high-quality care.
Read more: The Comprehensive Guide to Emergency Medical Travel Insurance
Trip cancellation benefit
What it does: The trip cancellation benefit can reimburse your prepaid, non-refundable trip expenses if you must cancel your trip due to one of the covered reasons named in your plan.
The Cancel Anytime upgrade (available in OneTrip Prime andOneTrip Premier) gives you even more protection. Cancel Anytime can reimburse 80% of your unused, pre-paid, non-refundable trip costs if you cancel your trip for almost any unforeseeable reason your plan does not already cover.
Why you need this benefit in international travel insurance: Traveling overseas is expensive. It would be devastating to lose all the money you spent on airfare, cruise fare, lodging and tours because you have to cancel the trip. Trip cancellation benefits can reimburse those costs, as long as you cancel for a covered reason.
Read more: 5 Tips For Dealing With a Trip Cancellation
Trip interruption benefit
What it does: Sometimes things go wrong during your trip, forcing you to head home early or stay at your destination longer than intended. The trip interruption benefit can help you deal with these unexpected wild cards in a few different ways.
- If your trip is interrupted for a covered reason, you can get reimbursed for the unused portion of your prepaid expenses, minus any refunds you receive.
- If the interruption causes you to stay in one place longer than you’d planned, then the trip interruption benefit can reimburse you for additional accommodation and transportation expenses.
- You can also be reimbursed for any extra accommodation fees, if you prepaid for shared accommodations and your traveling companion has to interrupt their trip.
- Following the interruption, if you end up paying extra to continue your trip or return home, travel insurance benefits can reimburse those expenses too.
Why you need this benefit in international travel insurance: Imagine you’re far from home and something catastrophic happens. Maybe a family member is hospitalized, and you need to rush to be with them. Or maybe a natural disaster strikes your destination, leaving you stuck. In situations like these, trip interruption benefits are priceless.
Travel delay benefit
What it does: When your trip gets delayed for a covered reason—such as a carrier delay, impassable roads, a traffic accident, etc.—this benefit can reimburse you eligible expenses for meals, accommodation and transportation. So if a blizzard grounds flights from Reykjavik and you have to stay there an extra day, the travel delay benefit could cover your hotel and food (up to the maximum limit in your plan).
The travel delay benefit also can reimburse any unused prepaid travel expenses (minus refunds). And if a covered delay causes you to miss the departure of your cruise or tour, your travel delay benefits can pay reasonable transportation expenses to help you catch up with your cruise or tour, or reach your destination.
Why you need this benefit in international travel insurance: A travel delay overseas isn’t just aggravating; it can be expensive, too. The travel delay benefit takes away the stress and the financial burden of an unexpected delay.
Baggage benefits
What they do: The baggage delay benefit reimburses you for the purchase of essential items (like clothing and toiletries) when your luggage is delayed by a travel carrier, hotel or tour operator for a specified amount of time. The baggage loss/damage benefit reimburses you for the actual price, actual cash value, repair or replacement, whichever is lowest, of lost or damaged possessions in your baggage.
Why you need these benefits in international travel insurance: Imagine boarding a Caribbean cruise with only the clothes on your back, because the airline misplaced your bags. Imagine arriving in chilly Oslo and discovering that your parka got stolen from your suitcase. The baggage benefits in your travel insurance plan can pay to replace the items you need.
Read more: The Airline Lost My Luggage. What Should I Do?
Rental car protection
What it does: The OneTrip Rental Car Protector provides primary coverage for covered collision, loss anddamage to your rental car up to $50,000.
Why you need this benefit in international travel insurance: When you rent a car overseas, the associated fees and surcharges can be exorbitant. In Europe, especially, you may be pressured into purchasing a pricey collision damage waiver that doesn’t even cover everything. The OneTrip Rental Car Protector gives you affordable, bumper-to-bumper, no-deductible coverage in most countries. (Exclusions apply; read your plan for details.)
Read more: The Savvy Traveler's Guide to Overseas Rental Car Insurance
24-hour assistance
What it does: When you need help, contact 24-hour assistance: by phone or on the Allianz TravelSmartTM app. Our team of multilingual travel experts can help you resolve almost any travel dilemma, big or small.
Why you need this benefit in international travel insurance: Experienced travelers know how frustrating it can be to try to solve problems in a foreign country. If you don't speak the language, it can be almost impossible to explain to police that your debit card was stolen, or get a pharmacist to refill your crucial prescription.
That's when atravel insurance policy with 24-hour assistance can help. No matter where you are in the world, you can speak with a specialist who can offer guidance in almost any situation, from locating lost baggage to getting emergency medical care. Every Allianz Travel Insurance plan includes 24-hour assistance.
Traveling overseas soon? Don’t wait to protect your trip! Get a quote today.
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