4 Medical Travel Risks You May Face While Abroad
One of the best aspects of traveling is leaving your worries back at home. In order to truly leave your worries behind, it is important to account for the medical risks of traveling in foreign countries. In order to adequately plan for unexpected costs and health dangers, consult travel insurance services to help you prepare. It might be easy to dismiss these risks as highly unlikely, but adequate preparation is the key to smooth travels. Here are four real-life scenarios to think about before planning your next big trip abroad.
1. Receiving a huge bill from a foreign hospital
Hospital visits are not usually planned, but accidents happen daily at home and abroad. Imagine that you are enjoying a sight seeing trip in Europe, and you are injured by a car while crossing the street. Depending on the severity of your injuries, you could end up spending multiple nights in the hospital. If your health insurance policy from home doesn’t travel with you, you will likely be stuck with an enormous medical bill.
2. Needing a medical airlift
Let’s say you are on a hiking trip in the mountains, enjoying the picturesque views, when suddenly, you lose your footing and slide down a rocky slope. You are in an isolated part of the wilderness, a welcome escape, but you are now also 200 miles from the nearest adequate medical facility. In this scenario, if you undergo a serious injury such as a broken leg, your only choice is to be airlifted. After treatment, you could be on the hook for up to $45,000 for the emergency helicopter trip.
3. When an emergency happens, you don’t know where to turn
If you experience an accident in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language, this unexpected turn of events could become your worst nightmare. Imagine you don’t know how to locate a hospital, call an ambulance, deal with medical payments, or arrange transportation home after a debilitating medical emergency. Even if a hospital is found, how will you know you are getting adequate care? Obtaining travel insurance prior to your trip will save you the stress of dealing with the accident on your own.
4. Losing your prescription medications
Prescription medications are required by many Americans to manage health issues. One of the biggest worries among travelers is something happening to their much-needed medication. Airlines commonly lose luggage, and even if your bag isn’t lost, it could be damaged in flight. Even if your bags get safely to your destination, tourists are easy targets for theft. It’s also possible that in all of your fun, you could simply lose or misplace your medications. Do you know what you would do to replace them if lost or damaged in a foreign country? Having travel insurance and a plan will help you better understand the cost and procedure of replacing medications in a foreign country.
These risks are more common than most travelers realize. This is why it is important to acquire sufficient protection before your next travel adventure. Call (800) 647-4589 or 01 (480) 821-9052 to learn more on the benefits of travel insurance.
