What travel medical insurance covers
The essentials: medical care and hospitalisation abroad up to the sum insured, medical repatriation, and extended-stay expenses if you cannot return on the planned date. Most policies add pure travel covers: lost or delayed luggage, cancellation, transport delays and private civil liability.
The medical limit is the key figure when comparing. For Europe, moderate limits are usually enough; for the United States, Canada or Japan — where a day in hospital is billed in thousands of euros — it is wise to go for high limits, €100,000 and up.
When it's mandatory
For those coming to Europe: the Schengen visa requires medical insurance with minimum cover of €30,000, valid throughout the Schengen area and including repatriation. Without the insurance certificate, there is no visa.
For those travelling from Spain: countries such as Cuba, Russia, Algeria or Ecuador require medical insurance for entry, and the list changes over time. And even when the destination does not demand it, travelling without medical cover to countries with expensive private healthcare is one of the few genuinely large risks that can be covered for very little money.
Isn't the European Health Insurance Card enough?
The EHIC is free and worth carrying always, but it covers less than people think: it only works in the public healthcare systems of the EU and some associated countries, under the same conditions as a local citizen — which can include whatever co-payments are normal there — and it covers nothing outside Europe.
Above all: the EHIC does not include repatriation or medical transport back to Spain, which is precisely the most expensive item in a serious mishap abroad. Travel insurance and the EHIC do not compete: they complement each other.
Repatriation: the cover nobody checks and everybody needs
A medical evacuation by air ambulance from another continent can cost tens of thousands of euros — more than all the medical care combined. Repatriation cover pays for that transfer, the return of travelling companions and, in the worst case, repatriation of the deceased — another process as expensive as it is hard for the family to manage.
If you have funeral insurance, check its international transport cover before duplicating it; if not, the travel policy's repatriation cover is non-negotiable.
How to get it
Tell us your destination, dates and who is travelling, and we will prepare the policy with the right limit for the country — with a visa-valid certificate if you need one — the same day. For frequent travellers, we also price the annual multi-trip policy, which usually works out cheaper from the second or third trip onwards.