Travel Insurance Doesn't Do Everything

Many people think that a travel insurance policy works the same way as their regular health or medical insurance plan. While travel insurance does include health and medical coverage, if you start with the assumption that it will work the same way as your regular health insurance plan, you are making a big mistake.

Here is a typical request we commonly get: I want a Travel Insurance Policy that will guarantee my admittance to a hospital and pay my bill directly, and have air evacuation back to USA if ever needed.The answer we always give is "Sorry, but you can't get a travel insurance policy that will do all that." Here's why not:

- Insurance plans are reimbursement policies

This means you pay for your medical treatment & prescriptions up front and are reimbursed after filing your claim. Sometimes the insurance company will pay the medical claim directly, but it's on a case-by-case basis. Also, some plans can guarantee payment directly to the medical facility, but not all plans will do this.

- Many travel insurance plans will cover air evacuation if needed

The key is "Medically Necessary". "Medically Necessary" means that your transport to another medical facility is necessary in order for you to get treated for the medical condition you have if the medical facility or in is inadequate to take care of you.

- You can get guaranteed medical transportation membership plans

If you want guaranteed emergency transportation to the hospital of your choice, there are plans that can cover you for this. They're all membership plans. A membership plan means that unlike a travel insurance plan, you usually don't have to have a medical necessity guard be transported to the hospital of their choice. However, you still need to be hospitalized as an inpatient because these types of plans are all hospital to hospital transfers.

Since the emergency transportation membership plans are not insurance plans, they usually don't pay medical costs (just the transport). Travel insurance pays medical costs. You can use supplement your medical transport membership plan with a regular travel insurance plan for all its extra coverages.