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Travel insurance for overseas medical expenses

Find out what you’re covered for when it comes to overseas medical expenses.

Travel insurance for overseas medical expenses

When planning your next holiday, the top priority is to have fun, enjoy the great outdoors, and relax and unwind. However, there’s always a chance your trip can go from great to not-so-great if you end up needing urgent medical attention. If the worst happens, nib offers cover for overseas medical expenses in case you need to see a doctor or a dentist, or if you end up in hospital, or an unexpected injury or medical incident means you need to be evacuated to the nearest medical facility or repatriated back home.

To find out what you’re covered for when it comes to overseas medical expenses and some other valuable information and tips, read below.

What’s covered on nib Travel Insurance’s overseas medical expenses?

nib Travel Insurance offers cover for overseas medical expenses on:

  • International plans: Comprehensive, Essentials and Annual Multi Trip plans

We will cover you for:

  1. Reasonable and necessary emergency medical, hospital and ambulance expenses overseas. This may be due to a sudden illness or injury on your trip or relate to an existing medical condition. nib automatically offers cover for 40+ existing medical conditions and you can apply to add specified medical conditions that isn’t automatically covered for an additional premium (not available on the Essentials plan).
  2. A return economy class airfare and reasonable accommodation for a friend or relative to travel directly to you, if you are hospitalised with a sudden, life-threatening injury or illness during your trip.
  3. Dental treatment expenses you incur arising from an injury to healthy natural teeth and which cannot be delayed until your return to Australia.

Travel insurance tip 1: if you develop a new medical condition (or the symptoms of one) after you buy your policy but before you depart on your trip, you must check with your medical practitioner that you are fit to travel and get written confirmation.

Some other medical areas we offer cover for include:

  • Covid cover and overseas medical expenses: if you contract coronavirus on your trip, all of nib’s international travel insurance plans include cover for overseas medical expenses. Check your Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) as cover is subject to our terms, conditions and exclusions around existing medical conditions. To find out more on what we cover for Coronavirus-related events read our COVID-19 coverage article.
  • Medical evacuation and repatriation: cover is available for this benefit under the Comprehensive, Essentials and Annual Multi Trip plans. We may cover you if you have to interrupt your trip after it has begun because you’ve suffered an illness or injury while on your trip and based on the recommendation of a medical practitioner appointed by us, you need to be evacuated or repatriated.
  • Existing medical conditions: we can automatically cover you for more than 40 medical conditions. If your existing medical condition is on the list of automatically covered conditions, and you satisfy all the criteria related to that condition, you’re covered for events that arise from that condition as part of our standard cover.

What’s covered will depend on the plan you purchase, so it’s worth considering the following questions:

  1. How fit and healthy am I and do I need to get sign off from my doctor before attempting any physically demanding outdoor activities and sports?
  2. What, if any, existing medical conditions do I have and are they covered?
  3. Am I travelling with someone who is pregnant or needs medical attention and will they be covered?
  4. How much cover will I need for my specific travel needs and anyone else travelling with me?

Travel insurance tip 2: all treatment must be provided by a qualified and registered medical practitioner in the country you are being treated in. Where you need treatment for an injury by a physiotherapist, chiropractor or osteopath, you may have the first six treatments without asking us. Any treatments after that must be with our consent.

Grab your nib travel insurance today.

How do I get medical assistance?

Our experienced specialists can be contacted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help you in the event of an emergency and to liaise on your behalf with our in-house medical team.

nib International Assistance will also work closely with the claims department, which will assess your entitlement to financial assistance.

Our team is connected with a global network that provides:

  • Medical care
  • Medical transfer to a hospital or repatriation to Australia where necessary
  • Guidance and support even if your loss may not be covered by the policy
  • Access to general policy and coverage advice
  • Access to translation services.

What’s not covered on nib Travel Insurance’s overseas medical expenses cover?

Travel insurance is designed to help for those unexpected events that can take place while travelling. Some things we don’t cover include:

  • Any medical, hospital, dental or ambulance expenses you incur in Australia.
  • A loss arising from your evacuation or repatriation that is not medically necessary or that is undertaken without our consent.
  • A loss arising from any existing medical condition that you or a member of your travelling party suffer from, which is NOT automatically covered, which you did not disclose, and which is not an accepted Specified Medical Condition.
  • Any illness or death that arises from a metastatic or terminal prognosis that was made prior to the issue of the Certificate of Insurance.
  • A loss arising from any condition for which you have declined treatment or further investigation recommended by a medical practitioner.
  • Medical expenses arising from you travelling with the intention of receiving medical treatment.
  • Travelling against the advice of a doctor.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I choose not to get cover for my existing medical condition?
While we automatically cover you for more than 40 existing medical conditions which may exist at the time you buy your policy, if your condition is not automatically covered, and you haven’t added it as a specified medical condition, then you’re not covered for any claim that arises from that existing medical condition. There are many terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions that relate to existing medical conditions. Read your policy carefully and contact us if you have any queries.
Am I covered if I’m pregnant when travelling overseas?
If you’re pregnant at the time you buy your policy, or fall pregnant afterwards, you’ll have cover under the benefits of this policy for any event that arises from your pregnancy, provided that the event that causes your claim is covered by your policy, is a pregnancy-related illness and occurs up to the end of the 26th week of your pregnancy. We don’t consider pregnancy to be an existing medical condition. However, pregnancy-related illnesses, such as hyperemesis (severe morning sickness), gestational diabetes, and any other pregnancy-related illness, must have first developed unexpectedly after you bought your policy.
What do you define as an illness and an injury?
We define ‘illness’ as ‘any disease or sickness affecting the body or mind.’ We define ‘injury’ as a ‘bodily injury that is caused solely and directly by external and visible means as a result of an accident and which does not result from an illness’’.
Am I covered for any dental procedures while travelling overseas?
We offer cover for some dental treatment expenses you incur arising from an injury to healthy natural teeth and which cannot be delayed until your return to Australia. We will pay expenses which we believe are reasonable and necessary to treat the pain. However, there is no cover for damage to dentures or dental prostheses. We also don’t cover dental expenses arising from gingivitis, decay, normal wear and tear or the normal maintenance of dental health. Also, there is no cover for crowns, caps, whitening, cleaning, scaling, creation of a new dental bridge or dental implants.

The above features and benefits are a summary of cover only. Cover is subject to the full terms, conditions, limitations and exclusions outlined in the Product Disclosure Statement.

Medical/evacuation benefits provided for up to 12 months from the date of illness or injury; medical expenses incurred in Australia are not covered.

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