Travel health insurance for the USA

The USA is the perfect place for adventures! However, America also has one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world. That's why good insurance coverage is indispensable protection while on vacation. We explain everything you need to know about travel health insurance for the USA.

A surfing course in California, a road trip to the Grand Canyon, skiing in the Rocky Mountains – there are many exciting adventures to be experienced in America! But before you go, you still have to organize a few things. In addition to the ESTA travel authorization, you definitely should also remember to take out travel insurance for the USA.

While it is generally advisable to have health insurance when traveling abroad, it is especially important in the US as health care costs in North America are staggering. In general, doctors' offices and clinics are very well-equipped and up to date in the United States. However, a visit to the doctor, emergency medical treatment, or hospitalization can easily cost several hundred – if not several thousand – dollars.

Drug prices in the United States are among the highest in the world. The cost of ambulance transportation should also not be underestimated, as the distance to the nearest clinic is sometimes very long in the large area of the United States.

Therefore, if you become ill or injured while on the other side of the Atlantic and you do not have travel insurance for the USA, you will have to pay for any medical treatment, ambulance transportation, or hospitalization costs out of your own pocket.

Travel health insurance for the USA is an important protection against high health costs that may arise in the event of a medical emergency while you are on vacation.

In general, travel medical insurance covers the costs associated with necessary medical treatments. Specifically, these are:

• Medical check-ups
• Medical treatments
• Search, rescue, and recovery costs
• Ambulance transport after medical emergencies
• Hospitalization
• Medications
• Medical equipment (bandages, plasters, etc.)
• Emergency dental treatment
• Return medical transport to the home country

Depending on the insurance provider and the tariff, travel health insurance for the USA may include additional benefits. However, it is also possible that certain benefits are not yet included in the international health insurance for the USA that you have chosen. Such additional benefits may include:

• Treatments of COVID-19 infections
• Visits of relatives during hospitalization
• Supervision and transportation of minors
• Supervision and transportation of pets
• Transport of luggage in case of repatriation

If your holiday plans include doing extreme or high-risk sports such as climbing, diving, or skiing, it is often necessary to take out additional insurance (e.g. special sports insurance or travel accident insurance) that includes treatment costs and reimbursement for sports equipment in the event of an accident.

Since there are a large number of providers of travel health insurance, you must carefully review the terms and fees of the various policies and weigh up which insurance best suits your individual needs. The packages offered and their costs vary from provider to provider.

You can usually take out travel health insurance online within a few minutes. Since some providers allow you to indicate the current date as the start of the insurance, you can theoretically purchase the insurance shortly before your trip.

However, we recommend that you organize your travel health insurance for the USA well in advance of your holiday. This will give you enough time to inform yourself about the different providers, tariffs, and services and thus find the best offer for your personal travel plans.

Providers of travel health insurance usually determine the cost of their policies individually. The personal situation and travel plans of the customer are the decisive factors for the price. The following factors can affect the insurance fee:

• Amount of coverage
• Amount of deductibles
• Number of insured persons (e.g., when traveling with children)
• Age of the insured persons
• Pre-existing conditions of the insured persons
• Planned activities in the USA
• Duration of the stay in the USA

Depending on the provider, travel health insurance can often be taken out either for a single journey or for several journeys within one year. If you opt for the annual tariff, it is usually automatically renewed for another year if you let the cancellation period (usually 1 - 3 months) elapse.

For longer stays in the USA of about eight to ten weeks at a time, e.g. for a semester abroad or a round-the-world travel, a classic travel health insurance is usually not sufficient and you have to take out a long-term insurance. Therefore, make sure that the maximum validity of the travel health insurance for the USA corresponds to the duration of your trip.

Are you in the middle of planning your holiday? Once you have found the suitable travel health insurance, there are still a few more items on your to-do list for a carefree holiday. For example, have you bought a travel adapter and a SIM card for the USA yet?

Take a look at our other travel guides and you will be perfectly prepared for your upcoming travels:

• Entering the USA
• Flight delay compensation
• Luggage lost during a flight

Do you also have your ESTA authorisation ready? Then let your adventure in the USA begin!