June 1, 2020
Due to travel restrictions, plans are only available with travel dates on or after
Due to travel restrictions, plans are only available with effective start dates on or after
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Ukraine; Belarus; Moldova; North Korea; Russia; Israel
Jamaica
Jamaica;
Emergency medical and dental benefits are one of the most important elements of a travel insurance plan. These can reimburse you for eligible costs of medical care for a sudden, unexpected illness, injury, or medical condition during your trip that could cause serious harm if not treated.
However, some travel protection plans include primary emergency medical benefits, while others offer secondary benefits. What’s the difference?
While on a Caribbean cruise you slip and fall down some stairs, resulting in a serious fracture of your ankle. The shipboard doctor provides first aid (for which the cruise line sends you a bill). Then you disembark in Nassau and are treated at the hospital there, which requires patients to pay out of pocket.
By the time you return home, you’ve paid thousands of dollars for emergency medical care. Luckily, you have a travel protection plan that includes primary insurance! You file a claim with your travel insurance provider and get reimbursed for all covered out-of-pocket costs. If your plan includes the trip interruption benefit, your plan also can reimburse you for the cost of your flight home and the unused portion of your cruise.
Plans with primary emergency medical benefits include:
Some plans with primary insurance may have a deductible. If so, that will be notated on the guarantee coverage letter sent to the hospital. You would be responsible for paying the deductible directly to the provider.
Same scenario, different process. If you have a travel protection plan with secondary insurance, then you would first file a claim with your health insurance provider.
Plans with secondary emergency medical benefits include all of our annual travel insurance plans:
Most plans with secondary insurance benefits will have a deductible.
If you get seriously sick or injured while you’re traveling, our top priority is getting you high-quality medical care as quickly as possible. It doesn’t matter if your plan has primary emergency medical benefits or secondary benefits; you’ll receive the same world-class assistance we’re known for.
Contact 24-hour assistance as soon as you can following a medical emergency. Our assistance team will arrange emergency transportation if needed, and will work directly with your medical provider/hospital to monitor your care. Depending on the scenario, we’ll arrange direct billing or advance medical payments so that you don’t need to worry about it.
If the hospital doesn’t accept our direct billing, we will activate our vast Allianz network and ask our local partners to assist. If the hospital should deny working with Allianz altogether, then you would need to make payment arrangements with the hospital and then file a claim to be reimbursed.
If you have secondary emergency medical benefits, you’ll first need to file a claim with your primary health insurer. Look for the claim form on their website, or call customer service. You’ll want to include as much detail as possible in the claim and also include itemized medical bills, receipts, diagnoses, etc.
You need to receive a decision from your primary health insurance company before submitting a claim to Allianz. Typically, an insurer will process the claim and give you a decision within 30 days.1
If your primary insurer pays the entire claim, great! If they deny it, or only pay a portion, that’s OK. It’s time to file a claim for secondary benefits with Allianz Travel Insurance.
The easiest way to do this is to file a claim online. Submit all the required documents, as well as the explanation of benefits (EOB) or the “refusal to reimburse” letter from your primary insurance provider. Don’t forget to file a claim for any other losses that a health insurance company doesn’t cover, such as trip interruption and repatriation (your transportation home following a covered medical emergency)—if your plan includes these benefits. We’ll do our best to rapidly process your claim.
If you can’t decide which level of emergency medical benefits you need, consider these questions.
Do you have a really high deductible on your primary insurance plan? You may want to purchase travel insurance with primary insurance, which usually does not require you to pay a deductible for covered emergency medical care. It’s important to know that secondary insurance will not reimburse the deductible you pay for your regular health insurance.
Do you have Medicaid or Medicare? Medicaid coverage doesn’t work out-of-state unless you experience a life-threatening emergency that requires immediate care. Medicaid doesn’t provide any coverage outside of the United States.2 So travelers with Medicaid can assume their secondary travel insurance benefits will function much like primary benefits.
Medicare generally does not cover health care while you’re traveling outside the U.S. (There are some rare and specific exceptions. For example, Medicare Part B may pay for services that you get on board a ship within the territorial waters adjoining the land areas of the U.S.3) If you’re traveling overseas, your secondary-coverage travel insurance will most likely act as a primary benefit and end up reimbursing your covered emergency medical expenses.
If you already know that your Medicare/Medicaid coverage won’t apply—because you were traveling overseas, for example—you don’t need to file a claim with Medicare or Medicaid. Just go ahead and submit a claim to Allianz Travel Insurance, along with a statement explaining that you’re insured by Medicare/Medicaid. This also applies to your supplemental insurance, as most supplementals will not provide coverage if Medicare does not.
Are you taking more than two trips in the next 365 days? Annual travel insurance can be a great way for frequent travelers to save money, because one affordable plan can protect every trip you take. While these plans provide secondary emergency medical insurance, you can see big savings up front on travel protection.
Are you traveling within the U.S.?
If your regular health insurance plan will cover you during your U.S. travels, then you probably don’t need a travel insurance plan with primary emergency medical benefits (unless your health plan offers limited benefits). You may not need emergency medical benefits at all.
Do you really hate paperwork? No judgment! If you just don’t have the patience to submit a claim to your primary insurance company and then a secondary insurance claim to your travel insurance provider, then make life easier for yourself: Get a plan with primary insurance.
Are you concerned about cash flow? It can take a long time to be reimbursed for covered medical expenses when you have to submit claims to both your regular insurer and then your travel insurance. Going back to our cruise-ship injury example, it’s possible that the bills for your care could total several thousands of dollars. Are you OK shouldering that cost while you wait for your claims to be processed? Or do you need to be reimbursed as quickly as possible?
On the fence? Just get a quote for both single-trip and annual travel insurance to find the plan that’s best for you.
View all of our travel insurance products
Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply. Please see your plan for full details. Benefits/Coverage may vary by state, and sublimits may apply.
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