Travel Health Insurance

Just as carefully as you plan your route, look for accommodation and read about landmarks and activities you plan on doing on your trip, it’s also good to inform yourself about health insurance and health risks in areas you’re travelling to. By following these steps, you can brush off any unpleasant thoughts you might have about travel and simply enjoy your trip.

STEP 1: Familiarise yourself with health risks in the country

Before you go, check which diseases are prevalent in the area you’re travelling to and think about activities that are part of your itinerary and that could potentially lead to an accident or an injury, as well as how you can best avoid such risk.

On Travel Health Pro website, you can click on a specific country using the interactive map and gain a lot of useful information about health risks and recommended vaccination.

STEP 2: Make sure you have travel insurance

Everyone with health insurance in any of the EU member states can apply for the European Health Insurance Card that is valid in all EU member states, the EEA, Switzerland, Australia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. You need to apply for the card at least four working days in advance on the ZZZS website. If the European Health Insurance Card cannot be issued in time, you can visit your competent institution to provide you with a Provisional Replacement Certificate that serves as a replacement for the card and is issued immediately upon application.

You can also avoid any unnecessary costs of health services by buying commercial insurance with medical assistance abroad from various insurance companies that offer travel insurance.

Supplemental travel insurance offers a more comprehensive coverage of health services (e.g. treatment in private health institutions, transport of the insured person to a health institution abroad or, if necessary, to their home country, legal assistance, overcoming linguistic barriers, assistance to relatives etc.) and even makes it possible to avoid any unpleasantness when services require direct payment.

There’s also a very special travel health insurance – World Nomads insurance. You can read more about it here.

STEP 3: Gain information about methods and procedures of using health services abroad

Before starting your journey, it’s always good to do some research on how you can use health services abroad, so as to avoid any unecessary costs or delays when time is of the essence. When buying a supplemental health insurance from one of the above insurance companies, you will receive an insurance policy, which usually comes with a phone number that must be called immediately or no later than a few days after falling ill or sustaining an injury, and the support centre will then provide more information on further action.

STEP 4: Taking medicine with you

Even though your luggage is usually full of clothes, electronic gadgets and other necessary travel items, you should still dedicate at least a small portion of your luggage to your medicine. What you take with you completely depends on how long you’re going to travel, the situation in the country you’re traveling to, and your health condition. If you’re taking medicine with you, they should be labelled and in their original package (in order to avoid any unpleasantness at border checks). It’s also good to consult your doctor about possible health risks before travelling.

Things to consider taking with you:

• health insurance card, certificate of vaccination and certificate of health insurance coverage (card or e-document);
• fever and pain relief pills;
• diarrhoea relief pills;
• pills to relieve constipation;
• motion sickness relief pills;
• insect repellents (or antimalarials if necessary);
• rehydration salts;
• allergy medication;
• sunscreen;
• first-aid kit, and
• other medications the traveller uses (for some medications and medical aids your doctor needs to issue a signed confirmation, so as to avoid unnecessary complications at border checks).