Insurance - Our First World Trip

How could we be ready to deal with any medical emergency while traveling around the world? This was the number one concern of our family and friends. Accessing affordable medical care is still an ongoing issue in the US and the idea of getting sick is anxiety provoking as nobody can afford being ill. Getting sick while traveling around the world for more than a year is a predictable situation, regardless of how much we wished we could be in denial, we both knew it was going to happen.

So, we did extensive research on world medical insurances and overall we can say that it was a very frustrating process. We got to discover that two arms are only worth $25,000 dollars and that our health is just a business for someone else to benefit! We also found out that the insurances available will only cover in case of an emergency and they won’t cover the cost of preventive physical exams.

We looked at several different options that included full travel and medical insurance with companies such as Columbus Direct Insurance, Nicholas Hill Insurance Group, Travelex Insurance, and many more. Since our trip was going to be flexible, we decided that we did not need travel insurance and determined our best options were between three different worldwide medical insurance companies: World Nomads, Global Underwriters, and International Medical Group. After going back and forth on the different options and reading what each covered, or should we say what they DON’T cover, we picked Patriot Travel Medical Insurance from International Medical Group. The plan was particularly interesting to us because it allowed coverage for up to two years and an additional two months of coverage in the US after returning from our trip. World Nomads insurance came in a close second because it is catered to backpackers and includes great overall coverage that includes medical, and some trip interruption benefits. The main reason we went with IMG versus World Nomads was because of the cost. Although World Nomads does have more coverage, we decided to take the risk.