What is travel health insurance?

When my husband and I first started our journey to begin living and traveling abroad as a family we had no idea we needed travel health insurance. We always purchase travel insurance to protect our trips due to events beyond our control to protect us from financial losses if we need to cancel our hotel or flight reservations but investing in travel health insurance is also just as important. Travel health insurance is essential if you plan to live and travel abroad as a digital nomad family as it covers you in the event of emergencies, accidents, and necessary medical care.

What does travel health insurance cover?

When you’re traveling you never know what could happen and you don’t want to be financially devastated in the event of a serious medical emergency or accident. Depending on the provider, travel health insurance can cover incidents like a scooter crash in Thailand, dengue fever in Bali, or an ear infection in Vietnam, and now even care related to COVID 19. Travel health insurance covers accidents, emergencies, and necessary medical care when you're traveling abroad from your home country. For example, we recently had to visit the emergency room during our time in Portugal for our daughter due to a high grade fever after she caught a viral infection. With our travel insurance we were able to submit our claim directly through our online portal for reimbursement for our visit through our travel health insurance provider, Genki.

Which travel health insurance company is the best?

Myself and my family are currently covered through Genki. I chose to Genki specifically because they offer: 

• Treatment at any locally recognized healthcare provider around the world

• 24/7 hotline for emergencies and hospital stays 

• A close friend or family member to visit if you have to stay in a hospital for more than five days

• Coverage of transportation costs to the nearest hospital that fits your medical needs

• Bringing you to your home country if your recovery takes a long time

• Bringing mortal remains to their home country or a burial abroad is covered up to the amount of the repatriation costs.

• Check-ups up to the 12th week of pregnancy, two ultrasound examinations, treatment for complications, labor including birth assistants & midwives, and postnatal care up to €50,000

• Emergency dental treatment 

• Medically necessary medication, remedies, and dressing material.

• Coverage for treatment of COVID-19 without cost limit

• Coverage in every country (with limited coverage in your home country)

Where can I sign up for travel health insurance?

If you’re interested in signing you and your family up for travel health insurance you can check out Genki for more information on their offerings and coverage.