Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Though lack of health insurance may
prevent you from being admitted to a
hospital in nonemergencies, don't worry
about being left on a street corner to die:
The American way is to fix you now and
bill the daylights out of you later.
If you're ever hospitalized more than 150
miles from home,
MedjetAssist
(
&
800/
527-7478;
www.medjetassistance.com)
will pick you up and fly you to the hospi-
tal of your choice in a medically equipped
and staffed aircraft 24 hours day, 7 days a
week. Annual memberships are $225 indi-
vidual, $350 family; you can also purchase
short-term memberships.
Canadians
should check with their
provincial health plan offices or call
Health Canada
(
&
866/225-0709;
www.hc-sc.gc.ca) to find out the extent of
their coverage and what documentation
and receipts they must take home in case
they are treated in the United States.
Travelers from the U.K. should carry
their European Health Insurance Card
(EHIC), which replaced the E111 form
as proof of entitlement to free/reduced
cost medical treatment abroad (
&
0845/
606-2030;
www.ehic.org.uk). Note,
however, that the EHIC only covers “nec-
essary medical treatment.” For repatria-
tion costs, lost money, baggage, or
cancellation, seek travel insurance from
a reputable company (www.travel
insuranceweb.com).
As a safety net, you may want to buy
travel medical insurance, particularly if
you're traveling to a remote or high-risk
area where emergency evacuation might
be necessary. If you require additional
medical insurance, try
MEDEX Assis-
tance
(
&
410/453-6300;
www.medex
assist.com) or
Travel Assistance Interna-
tional
(
&
800/821-2828;
www.travel
assistance.com; for general information
on services, call the company's
World-
wide Assistance Services, Inc.,
&
800/
777-8710
).
Travel Insurance
The cost of travel
insurance varies widely, depending on the
destination, the cost and length of your
trip, your age and health, and the type of
trip you're taking, but expect to pay
between 5% and 8% of the vacation
itself. You can get estimates from various
providers through
InsureMyTrip.com
.
Enter your trip cost and dates, your age,
and other information, for prices from
more than a dozen companies.
U.K. citizens and their families who
make more than one trip abroad per year
may save money by buying an annual
travel insurance policy. Check
www.
moneysupermarket.com
, which com-
pares prices across a wide range of
providers for single- and multi-trip
policies.
Most big travel agents offer their own
insurance and will probably try to sell you
their package when you book a holiday.
Think before you sign.
Britain's Con-
sumers' Association
recommends that
you insist on seeing the policy and read-
ing the fine print before buying travel
insurance.
The Association of British
Insurers
(
&
020/7600-3333;
www.abi.
org.uk) gives advice by phone and pub-
lishes
Holiday Insurance,
a free guide to
policy provisions and prices. You might
also shop around for better deals: Try
Columbus Direct
(
&
0870/033-9988;
www.columbusdirect.net).
Trip Cancellation Insurance
Trip-
cancellation insurance will help retrieve
your money if you have to back out of a
trip or depart early, or if your travel sup-
plier goes bankrupt. Trip cancellation tra-
ditionally covers such events as sickness,
natural disasters, and State Department
advisories. The latest news in trip-cancel-
lation insurance is the availability of
expanded hurricane coverage
and
“any-
reason”
cancellation coverage—which
costs more but covers cancellations made
for any reason. You'll get back a substantial
