How Much Coverage is Enough?
The Emergency Medical benefit is designed to reimburse travelers for any out of pocket costs associated with the treatment of an unforeseen illness or injury while traveling.
When traveling internationally, we recommend purchasing additional Emergency Medical coverage if your primary health insurance plan offers limited or no coverage where you are traveling, or if you do not have a primary health insurance plan.
The recommended amount of medical coverage depends on each traveler’s specific needs.
Some travelers may not need a large amount of medical coverage depending on what other insurance coverage they have, while others may. For example, for many U.S. residents, their health insurance plans will provide coverage, even out of state and country. However, those on Medicare generally do not have coverage outside of the U.S.
We generally recommend at least $50,000 of Emergency Medical coverage per person when traveling internationally, and at least $100,000 of Medical Evacuation coverage per person if traveling to a remote location.
Tin Leg’s Economy policy offers $100,000 in Emergency Medical coverage, and is our most affordable policy For travelers looking for more than $100,000 in coverage, our Standard policy offers $250,000, while our Luxury policy offers $500,000. All Tin Leg policies are Primary, meaning travelers are able to claim directly through Tin Leg, and save themselves the extra step of filing through any personal health insurance plans they may have.
The Medical Evacuation and Repatriation benefit comes hand-in-hand with Emergency Medical coverage, and is designed to cover the cost of transport for a traveler to the closest most adequate medical facility in the event of an unforeseen illness or injury.
The actual cost of a medical evacuation can vary greatly depending on the location of the patient, the nearest facility with the appropriate medical equipment, and availability of properly equipped aircrafts and crew. We have found that it can typically cost around $100,000 per person to be medically evacuated. For this reason, we recommend travelers consider a policy with at least this amount of coverage. When traveling to a more remote location or if taking a cruise, we recommend to have at least $250,000 of Medical Evacuation coverage. The Economy and Standard policies both offer this much coverage, while the Tin Leg Luxury policy offers $500,000 of Medical Evacuation coverage.