Why Travelers Need Emergency Medical Assistance with Their Travel Insurance

Travel Support services are an integral part of Generali’s travel protection plans, providing 24/7 help for a wide range of travel emergencies. But where they really shine is when a traveler needs assistance in a medical emergency.

In those critical situations, assistance from our Travel Support specialists can:

• Connect travelers to medical resources
• Help find treatment facilities
• Help them navigate through often confusing international medical systems
• Help them use their travel medical insurance
• Help them return home

These are all important services, so let’s look at them in more detail.

One of the biggest problems many travelers face when they have a medical emergency is they don’t know where to start to get medical treatment. They don’t know where doctors or hospitals are, or how to actually access care.

Generali’s assistance team has years of experience dealing with medical providers in every corner of the world. They have phone numbers, email addresses, and emergency contacts, so together travelers can take that first step of getting connected to care promptly and confidently.

Sometimes the ask is even more basic: Where is the nearest medical facility? Travelers could look up that answer on Google Maps, and the answer may be satisfactory … but the care may not be.

The simplest question may actually require a more nuanced answer, the sort of answer only a trained travel assistance specialist can provide.

Generali’s team of assistance professionals goes beyond the map to find travelers the nearest best care, staffed by English speakers, with the skills to address medical emergencies.

The American medical system might be confusing at times, but at least Americans have familiarity with it. They know what in-network and out-of-network means, and they understand the basic concepts of deductibles, copays and coinsurance.

However, how many American travelers understand how they can access care, get treatment, and pay for care in another country with a system that might be entirely different from what they know.

This can be especially difficult to navigate in a country when everyone but them has medical care provided for them at little or no cost. The assumption might be that if it’s free for that country’s citizens it’s free for travelers, too – and that assumption would be wrong.

In fact, an American traveler with a medical emergency might have to pay up front before receiving any medical care in many countries.

Not only does Generali’s travel assistance team understand the inner workings of most countries’ medical systems, they speak the language – and by that we don’t just mean French or Italian. We mean that Generali’s assistance experts know what’s important and what needs to be done to cut the red tape and connect a patient to immediate care.

Unless travelers have a working knowledge of the medical systems of every country they might encounter in their travels, travel protection can be worth what they pay for this service alone.

Though we always encourage travelers to read their travel insurance policy, we get it, it can be confusing. So when something awful happens and a traveler’s confronting a medical emergency, are they going to know how to use their medical travel insurance?

Fortunately, the travel assistance experts at Generali know how to put Medical and Dental coverage in the travel insurance plan, to work. They know what it covers and doesn’t cover, and how it might work with a traveler’s standard medical plan. They know the limits, and what to do if a traveler starts to approach those limits.

Travel medical insurance really isn’t much good in a travel medical emergency unless it’s put to use. Generali’s travel assistance team can work in consort with the claims and medical teams to get money where it needs to go, jump-start the claims process, and help ensure bills get paid, up to the policy maximum.

Unfortunately, some medical emergencies require a trip to be interrupted and a patient to be flown to a more appropriate medical facility or back to the United States for treatment.

Medical transport can be a complex issue, involving finding the appropriate transportation, finding space at an appropriate hospital, coordinating transport to and from planes, securing transportation for traveling companions, making sure luggage is not forgotten and much more.

The traveler, as the patient, or the traveling companion simply is not going to be able to handle all this on their own, in addition to dealing with the trauma of a medical emergency. 

Travel assistance is invaluable in these situations, making sure the patient is comfortable and everything goes off without a hitch.

Maybe a traveler thinks of travel assistance as simply an addition to their travel insurance plan. As you can see, it’s much more than that.

Here’s hoping your travelers never have to use it, but if they do, we’re here for you.

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