If you’re going to be traveling out of the country, you’re going to need travel medical insurance. You can get a plan for about $20 or less a week, and it’ll help cover your medical needs while you’re gone. This kind of medical insurance is necessary because your regular plan isn’t likely going to cover you while you’re on spring break in Cancun or while you’re ministering to the natives of New Guinea.

Traveling internationally is risky. You might need to be hospitalized, and those costs can go up fast. In some cases, you might even need a medical evacuation. That’s going to put a serious dent in your finances.

In addition, this medical insurance can include regular travel insurance. That’ll help with lost luggage, referrals to an embassy, a lost passport or other documents and certain types of travel emergencies, as well. You can get plans that have low deductibles, high deductibles or no deductible, too, depending on how secure you want to be and how much cash you want to lay out.

Medical insurance for traveling is available for most people. You can usually get a plan that will last for anywhere between a week and a year. If you’re going to be traveling for longer than a year, there are other types of medical insurance you can look into as well.

There are a number of significant and expensive costs covered by this type of insurance. It will cover hospital charges. It will cover physician and medical specialist charges. It will cover diagnostic fees, such as x-rays or labs. It’ll cover prescription drugs. It’ll cover ambulance charges, too. It’ll even cover medical evacuation if the physician recommends it.

There are some things that are usually excluded from this type of medical insurance. Pre-existing conditions generally aren’t covered. Neither are congenital conditions. Maternity is excluded, as is mental health treatment or substance abuse treatment. There are other services, including treatments for STDs or dental treatment, that probably aren’t covered too, depending on the particular policy.

You also have a limited amount of time to ask for payment. In most cases, you’ve got about 60 days from the time that your international travel medical insurance expires to make a claim.

If you’re going to be traveling, you need to minimize your risk. The last thing you need is for a trip to ski in the Alps to turn into a medical liability of thousands of dollars.

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