May 11th, 2010

Welcome to our first Jackson Benefit Services, Inc. blog.

We'd like to share with you some information that came out of the AHIP Hi-Wire Newsletter about how Travel Insurance can be crucial to your next trip.

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Plane tickets, check. Passport, check. Medical evacuation insurance? It's probably not something most people think about when packing for a vacation.

But Louise Robbins says she'd probably be bankrupt without it. The University of Wisconsin library educator and her husband, Robby, were in southwest China last summer when Robby slipped and fell backward on a hotel walkway made of the region's famed red marble.

Their regular health insurance covered many expenses, but not flying him home on a jet specially equipped for transporting critically ill patients and medical equipment. The cost exceeded $100,000.

"We would have been lost" if not for the medical evacuation insurance, Louise Robbins said.

With summer vacation season approaching, experts say there are several ways international travelers can protect themselves against medical emergencies -- from registering in advance with the State Department, which can help locate doctors abroad and arrange emergency medical flights, to buying supplemental insurance or stand-alone medical evacuation policies.

Thousands of American travelers each year are flown home with medical assistance because of health emergencies. Car accidents and heart attacks are among the most common reasons.

"Americans have the concept that when they travel, their health insurance travels with them," said Dan McGinnity, vice president for North America for Travel Guard, which sells travel insurance.

But most regular health insurance plans don't cover costly evacuations. And finding that out after an emergency can be catastrophic.
Travelers should check their policies to see what kind of expenses are covered, said Susan Pisano of America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade association. Most will pay for emergency care outside the United States -- but for leisure travelers that often doesn't include medical evacuation.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends considering supplemental health insurance, including medical evacuation, if your existing policy is lacking.

According to the U.S. Travel Insurance Association, another trade group, Americans increasingly have been buying travel insurance; more than $1 billion was spent in 2008. Most covered things like unexpected trip cancellations — disruptions caused by the erupting Iceland volcano have prompted a flurry of recent business. But growth also has been strong in policies covering medical emergencies and evacuation, the group says.

Short-term travel policies typically cost about 4 percent to 8 percent of the total per-person trip price.