You may become ill or have a medical emergency while traveling. Therefore, you should obtain a travel medical insurance policy covering diseases, injuries, and unexpected medical conditions while traveling, especially outside the country, and emergency medical cases that include ambulance service, doctor’s bills, hospital fees, operating room, and other costs. There are usually two types of travel health insurance programs available:
General Travel Health Insurance Plans – This type of travel health insurance covers the costs of medical and dental emergencies while traveling.
Comprehensive travel health insurance programs – This type of insurance covers the costs of emergency cases, including flight cancellations, delays, emergency medical evacuation, loss of baggage, and more. These comprehensive programs also provide emergency medical benefits to the insured.
Why do you need travel health insurance?
The UAE is a world-famous tourist destination more than 15 million people visit annually. Visitors to the country may be required to obtain travel health insurance that covers the entire period of their stay to protect them from unexpected medical conditions such as accidents, diseases, and other emergencies.
The UAE is famous for its excellent health services system, but these services are unavailable to non-Emiratis. If you become ill or have an accident during your visit to the country and do not have a health insurance policy, you may incur exorbitant medical expenses. Therefore, it is recommended that travelers obtain health insurance before heading to the UAE to protect themselves in any medical emergency.
Travelers’ health insurance benefits
In addition to covering the costs of medical emergencies, travel health insurance benefits include:
Covering the costs of lost belongings while traveling
Travel health insurance covers the costs of lost belongings, such as the loss of checked baggage, passports, and other charges that may occur during travel to help travelers mitigate financial losses arising from such incidents.
Compensation for medical expenses
In addition to emergency medical coverage, travel health insurance benefits include reimbursement of accident or medical expenses up to the maximum limit stipulated in the policy, providing financial support to travelers who may need medical attention during their travels.
Covering the costs of changes to the itinerary
Travel health insurance compensates for losses that may occur before the start of the trip due to unforeseen circumstances, including health problems, cancellation of reservations by the hotel or airline, etc. This feature helps passengers recover their financial losses if their flight is canceled or delayed.
Personal liability coverage
Travel health insurance covers damages that may be caused by the insured to a third party, such as damage to property or a person, during an international travel trip. Thus, this feature of travel health insurance programs protects travelers from the legal and financial liabilities that may arise due to unintentional harm they may cause to others during their trip.
What does travel medical insurance cover?
Travel medical insurance is usually designed to cover various medical expenses that may occur while traveling abroad. The scope of coverage and the benefits covered may vary by insurance companies and programs. Below we show some of the basic coverages offered by the most prominent travel medical insurance providers:
● Emergency medical costs – This cover includes the costs of emergency medical treatment, hospitalization, and transportation to the nearest medical facility.
● Medical evacuation – This cover includes transportation costs to the nearest appropriate-medical facility or a medical facility in the traveler’s home country in case of a medical emergency.
● Emergency Repatriation – This cover covers the costs of repatriating the insured person or his remains in the event of his death while traveling.
● Trip Interruption or Cancellation – This cover includes reimbursement of non-refundable flight expenses if the traveler sustains a covered illness or injury that prevents him from continuing his journey.
● Lost or stolen baggage – This cover includes compensation for lost or damaged baggage.
● Accidental death and amputation – This cover includes a lump sum payment for accidental death or amputation while traveling.
It should be noted that travel health insurance differs from general health insurance and does not cover the costs of preventive treatments or routine medical care.