1. What if you get sick while traveling abroad?
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2015/06/what-if-you-get-sick-while-traveling-abroad/index.htm[4/20/2016 12:56:56 PM]
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SMART TRAVELER
What if you get sick while traveling abroad?
How to get and pay for the treatment you need
Consumer Reports Money Adviser: June 2015
By Christine Young
You’ve reserved your flights and hotels, got your passport, and maybe even selected your wardrobe. But if
you’re traveling abroad, have you planned what you’ll do if you become sick or injured? Where you’ll go for
medical treatment, how you’ll pay for it, and how quickly you’ll be able to get back home?
If you can’t answer those questions, you’re not alone, says Julie Loffredi of InsureMyTrip.com, a travel-
insurance comparison site that recently surveyed 800 travelers. “Most people don’t know if their insurance
covers them outside the U.S.,” she says.
The answers can be tricky. Though most big health insurers advertise coverage for emergency and urgent care
abroad, “their standard policies offer only the bare minimum,” says Devon Herrick, Ph.D., a senior fellow and
health economist at the National Center for Policy Analysis. “A life-threatening emergency visit may be
covered,” he says, but you might have to return to the U.S. for follow-up care.
That’s why your trip preparations should include calling your health insurance carrier to find out what coverage
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