Travel insurance for international lives

A single-trip policy is aimed at one journey. An annual multi-trip policy is aimed at several journeys in a year, each of which still has a maximum length. The annual label does not turn the contract into cover for living abroad. Compare the longest trip you will actually take with the duration in the wording, and compare who must be resident where.

Travel medical sections commonly describe emergency treatment, a hospital, an ambulance, and sometimes repatriation. They often require you to contact an assistance line, or to seek authorisation before treatment that is not an emergency. Ordinary check-ups, care you already planned, and treatment after you have gone home to live are different questions. Ask what “emergency” means in that policy, and what happens if you cannot call first.

Policies describe an overall limit and, often, a smaller sub-limit for valuables, electronics or any one item. Unattended property is a frequent point of dispute: the wording says what “unattended” means. A claim typically needs evidence of ownership and of the loss — a report, receipts, or both. Ask which items need to be named separately, and what happens if they are in a car or a hotel room. No figure is stated here.

Skiing, diving, other adventure sports, motorsports, business activities and manual work are commonly treated as something you must add, or as something the policy excludes. “Holiday” does not tell the insurer you will be off-piste, underwater, or working. Name the activity. Ask whether the policy covers it, and what changes if you do it anyway.

A policy can require you to be resident in a particular country, and to be travelling away from it with an expectation of return. If you have moved, the country on the application may no longer be the country you live in. Ask whether residents of your current country can buy the policy, and whether a trip “home” is the journey it describes. Eligibility is the insurer’s decision.

Ask which adults and children are named, whether a child travelling with one parent is included, and what happens if people travel on different days. Dependants are easy to assume and easy to leave off a schedule. Age can change both price and eligibility; this page states no age. If one person has a medical history, ask whether that history is looked at on its own.

Medical evacuation is moving you to treatment, often to a facility the insurer considers suitable. Repatriation is bringing you home, which can mean after treatment or, in some wordings, after death. Either can require the insurer’s agreement. Local hospitals may be able to treat you; the policy may still prefer a move. Ask who decides, who pays the transport, and which country “home” is in the contract.

The clauses that remove cover are as important as the sections that grant it. Common themes — not a list that applies to every policy — include alcohol or drugs, activities that were not accepted, events you already knew about, medical conditions that were not declared, and destinations a travel advisory or the contract itself sets aside. Ask for the exclusions that meet your trip. Do not treat a country as excluded, or as covered, because a website said so.

Ask them of the policy for this trip, not of a general description of travel insurance.