Others have asked the important question of country of origin because it has impact on policy costs and basic insurability. Most suppliers that we have researched provide "add on" insurance which extends coverage outside of the home country. As also noted, medical care in some countries is relatively inexpensive but not always so. After an
accident in
Mexico, the hospital costs were about US$1000/day.
We are from
Canada where
health care access is heavily subsidized. We have used the
health care system in a variety of countries (Mexico,
New Zealand, Indonesia) and our experience is that it is of high quality but not necessarily
cheap. So we always have two kinds of insurance:
i. insurance that will cover costs in the event of illness or
accident in the country we happen to be in (outside of Canada). The best supplier that we have found for that is World Nomads. Costs are reasonable and they are responsive, helpful and pay the bill. They are based in
Australia, focus on "travelers" but can only cover citizens of certain countries. Also, they will not cover someone past their 66th birthday. We now use a different supplier that is more expensive and more trouble but we believe that insurance is important so we put up with the hassle and cost;
ii. evacuation insurance. If medical care is not adequate where illness or an accident occurs and it is determined that the patient needs to go somewhere else, evacuation insurance is a very good idea. DAN Boater Insurance does this for an exceptionally reasonable
price. I believe that it is only available for Americans and Canadians. We used their services about 2 years ago and they were excellent. They also have a medical insurance package but it is only available to Americans.
International travel risk management was a part of my job for about ten years. The most important thing that I learned from that
work is that bad things can happen anywhere. Being prepared, including insurance, is a very good idea.
Good luck
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