You may wonder why you should buy special travelers insurance for your vacation. It’s not just your investment you’ll be protecting; you’re also protecting yourself and your family. If you are involved in a car crash, injure yourself, lose your luggage during your trip, become ill, have to cancel your cruise, or are delayed en route and miss your connection, your ordinary health insurance policies may not protect you!

While it’s true that many cruise lines offer travelers insurance, and some credit cards include baggage protection and flight travel insurance, those policies are usually limited, and don’t protect you from many serious risks. For those travelers looking for cheap travel insurance, you should be aware that all travel insurance policies are not created equal. This is where Travel Insured International can help you.

Things to consider before you plan your vacation:

1. Who needs emergency travel medical insurance?
   Travelers medical insurance is designed for people who have medical coverage at home, but whose health plan doesn’t cover them while they are traveling. Emergency travelers medical insurance only covers emergency services abroad; once you get home, you’re on your own (or presumably, back under your regular home health coverage) for any necessary follow-up treatment or continuing care. Most health insurance plans and health maintenance organizations in the U.S. include their own provisions for emergency care while abroad, at least for trips of less than 30 days. Check with your current insurer or HMO before you purchase an emergency travel medical plan that duplicates your existing coverage.

2. What is Medical Evacuation (Medevac) insurance?
   Medevac insurance covers the cost of an air ambulance, attending physician and nurse, etc. if you are injured or so ill that you can’t return home (or get to a suitable medical facility) on a scheduled commercial passenger flight. Medical evacuations can cost tens of thousands of dollars. This is coverage for the really big problems such as a helicopter rescue. It makes sense to buy this coverage if you’re going on an “adventure” vacation, or to an area where you’ll be far from modern medical facilities.

3. Medicare does not provide for payment of hospital or medical services outside the United States.
   Medicare provides no benefits outside the United States, and Medigap only pays for emergency care during the first 60 days you are outside the U.S. This leaves retirees traveling for 61 days or longer with only two options: buy private coverage individually or through a group, or go without medical protection.

4. American Based HMOs and PPOs.
   HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations), while covering emergency room treatment anywhere, generally provide other coverage only through networks of doctors in your own state. PPOs (Preferred Provider Organizations) cover a greater portion of your medical costs only if you go to in-network doctors, and again, the networks are usually only local.