Travel is a wonderful experience and great fun. But if you get sick or injured while you are abroad, the costs can be enormous -- unless you have travel insurance. If you have a pre-existing medical condition, it is vital to ensure that any health costs associated with this condition are covered by your medical, travel or supplemental insurance during your trip.
Function
Travel insurance covers your medical costs while you are abroad. Most developed countries provide health care to their citizens and legal residents for free or at reduced cost. However, these services are not usually available at the same free or reduced cost to visiting foreign citizens. Although reciprocal health care agreements exist between certain different countries -- for example, between member countries of the European Union -- travel insurance can help you cover health care costs in a foreign country.
Types
If you have private health insurance, this might be valid when you travel to other countries. According to the U.S. Department of State, you should ask your insurance company -- before you leave the United States -- whether your policy applies outside the country and whether it covers emergencies such as foreign hospital stays or medical evacuation. If your existing policy does not provide sufficient coverage, you should consider purchasing separate travel insurance that will cover these costs even if they are associated with your existing medical condition or conditions. You can buy an annual travel policy or a policy to cover a single trip of limited duration.
Considerations
If you have pre-existing medical conditions, certain travel insurance companies might not sell you an insurance policy. A company might either simply decline your application for insurance coverage or offer you coverage only for medical expenses unrelated to your existing condition or conditions. The fact that you have pre-existing medical conditions is likely to increase the premium rate on any travel insurance policy.
Misconceptions
If an insurance company excludes a pre-existing condition from your travel insurance coverage, you can buy a travel insurance policy with an exclusion for your existing health condition and then purchase a separate, supplementary policy that specifically covers only the health condition excluded by the primary policy. Associations related to your excluded health condition often can offer advice on such supplemental coverage; for example, the American Heart Association can give you information on supplemental insurance for an excluded heart condition.
Warning
When applying for travel insurance with a pre-existing health condition, you must be completely honest in your answers to the insurance company's questions. If you misrepresent your medical history, this could be grounds for cancellation of your policy. If you were already overseas and needed medical care, having your policy canceled due to misrepresentations during the application process probably would leave you liable for the cost of your health care.
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