Don’t assume your health insurance, homeowners insurance, Medicare, Medicaid or credit card policies will cover you when you travel internationally. In many cases, they do NOT. Travel insurance covers everything from trip cancellation or interruption, to medical expenses, to lost or damaged luggage, and more. Traveling without sufficient coverage is a gamble that could end up costing you some serious money.

A travel medical plan will primarily protect you in case of a medical incident. While the plans do offer trip protection benefits such as loss of luggage and trip interruption, they are typically at a lower level than what you would find in a trip protection plan. The main benefit of a travel medical plan is high levels of medical coverage, in many cases up to $5,000,000, the ability to choose the deductible you want, and high levels of emergency medical evacuation benefits.

A trip protection plan will reimburse you for your non-refundable, prepaid trip costs for a list of covered reasons (such as weather, sickness, injury and more) if:

In many cases, your health insurance may not provide coverage when traveling internationally. This means you'll be responsible for the bill if you get sick or injured on your trip. Considering that 3 out of every 100 travelers experience an unexpected (and expensive!) illness, medical emergency or accident, travel medical is a must when traveling abroad.

U.S. territories are not considered part of the United States for many travel medical insurance plans. This includes Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If you're visiting one of these locations, you should definitely consider travel medical coverage.

When it comes to choosing a provider, look for one that offers a variety of programs, outstanding customer service, understandable and affordable policies, a vast network of international doctors and hospitals, and 24/7 emergency assistance to travelers.

There are several types of travel insurance, including:

The sooner you can purchase your travel insurance policy, the better. With many providers, you can purchase travel insurance up until the day before you travel, but it's best to buy at least within a few days of making your initial trip deposit, especially for a trip protection plan. For trip protection plans, certain benefit options are available only if you buy the insurance plan within a specified number of days of your initial trip deposit. For travel medical plans, your policy goes into effect that day after you purchase it. For trip protection plans, the trip cancellation benefit begins the day after you buy, and all other benefits begin when you depart on your trip.