Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is a viable option if you will not be residing overseas full-time. You can purchase travel insurance through your travel agent or over the internet.

An upside to travel insurance is that it often covers personal belongings and luggage. Travel insurance works best if you plan on staying in a country only a short time, for example, a two-week vacation in Italy or even, say, two months in South America.

Make sure you inform the travel insurance company if you plan to participate in high-risk activities, such as white-water rafting or mountain climbing. Many policies will cover you for injuries sustained during these kinds of activities but only if you have purchased (and paid for) the corresponding policy. It can be worth the extra expense. If you have an accident while scaling a rock face but don’t have coverage for high-risk activities, the insurance company will not cover your medical expenses from that accident.

Travel medical plans are as popular for their low cost as for their guaranteed issue. You won’t have to complete a lengthy health history, but coverage can be put into effect within minutes. Some travel medical plans will even pay for pre-existing conditions and have high age limits (even 80+ years old). Even at older ages, you’ll still be guaranteed issue with no medical questions. Depending on the time frame of your trip, it’s possible for you to be covered for short incidental trips back to the United States after you depart.

Many people buy a low-cost, short-term travel medical plan to give them time to settle in their new country to see for themselves what their other options would be locally. If you find a better option once you land, then simply don’t extend your travel medical plan after it terminates. If a travel plan expires, you simply extend it or purchase a second plan. All of this can be done online, no matter where you are located.

Often, a longer travel health plan (renewable up to two or three years) is purchased for those whose medical history prevents them from buying a long-term individual international major medical plan.