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What does travel health insurance cover?

In short

It pays for acute treatment abroad: doctor, hospital, prescribed medicines, transport to hospital, emergency dental pain treatment and the medical flight home. It does not pay for planned treatment, dentures, glasses or, usually, conditions already under treatment. One sentence decides how good a policy is: repatriation when it is medically sensible, not only when it is medically necessary.

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What does travel health insurance cover?

What it costs

Published invoice amounts and transport costs, as of September 2026. They show which sums stay with you without cover.

Example	Typical range
Outpatient doctor's visit outside Europe	about EUR 150 to 500, in the USA over EUR 800
Hospital day outside Europe	about EUR 1,500 to 5,000, in the USA up to EUR 10,000
Intensive care per day	about EUR 3,000 to 15,000
Appendix operation	about EUR 5,000 to 25,000, in the USA EUR 30,000 to 50,000
Helicopter rescue from a Greek island	about EUR 5,000 to 15,000
Air ambulance from the USA to Germany	about EUR 60,000 to 80,000
Intensive-care transport from the Canary Islands	around EUR 75,000
Intensive-care transport from the Americas	around EUR 200,000
Intensive-care transport from Australia or New Zealand	around EUR 400,000

Guide values as of September 2026 from published cost examples. The limits for dental treatment, repatriation of remains and search and rescue in the table are guide values from our quoting practice and differ in every tariff. What your contract pays is written only in your own policy wording, and we read it through with you.

Worked example

Broken leg while hiking in the USA

A published cost example, calculated with a tariff without a deductible and with repatriation included.

Helicopter rescue	EUR 12,000
Emergency room and X-rays	EUR 3,500
Operation	EUR 25,000
Three days in hospital	EUR 12,000
Flight home with medical escort	EUR 15,000
Total invoice	EUR 67,500
Paid by German public health insurance	EUR 0, there is no agreement with the USA

With medical costs and repatriation uncapped, the travel health policy reimburses the full EUR 67,500. Watch the rescue item: search and rescue often has its own limit, EUR 12,000 in one published tariff. Anything above that you pay yourself. Worked example using published guide values.

What is covered and where the limits sit

Cover applies to unforeseen, acute treatment: the doctor's visit, the hospital, prescribed medicines and dressings, transport to the nearest suitable hospital and the journey home if treatment has to continue there.

The limits are not in the brochure, they are in the policy wording (Bedingungen), and that wording is in German. Look for three numbers: the cap on medical costs, the limit for dental treatment and the limit for search and rescue.

Benefit	Covered	Typical limit
Outpatient treatment by a doctor	yes	no cap, or a six-figure limit
Inpatient treatment in hospital	yes	nearest suitable hospital, room class depends on the tariff
Prescribed medicines and dressings	yes	only for the acute treatment, no stock supplies
Ambulance to hospital locally	yes	to the nearest suitable hospital
Medical flight home	yes	in many wordings only once it is medically necessary
Emergency dental pain treatment	capped	pain relief and simple fillings, often up to about EUR 500
Dentures, crowns, bridges	no	excluded
Repatriation of remains	yes	transport home or local burial, often up to about EUR 10,000
Search and rescue	depends on tariff	separate limit, often about EUR 5,000 to 12,000
Planned treatment, check-ups, spa cures	no	excluded
Condition already under treatment	capped	acute deterioration usually yes, planned continuation no
Glasses, contact lenses, hearing aids	no	in some tariffs only after an accident
Pregnancy	capped	depending on the tariff only up to about week 36
Alcohol, drugs, intent	no	benefit reduced or refused entirely
Treatment in your home country	no	there your normal health insurance applies

Medically necessary or medically sensible

This is the decisive point and it costs almost nothing in the premium. Medically necessary (medizinisch notwendig) means the transport must be unavoidable because local care is not sufficient. As long as the hospital abroad can treat you, you stay there.

Medically sensible and reasonable (medizinisch sinnvoll und vertretbar) means the transport is defensible and does you good, even if the local clinic could manage. That is how you get home to your family, your language and a follow-up you can organise. With the narrower wording you end up arguing over a medical opinion at the worst possible moment.

What is not paid or only partly paid

Everything planned is excluded: the operation you travel abroad for, the check-up, the spa cure, dentures, new glasses. Treatment in the country where your health insurance applies is excluded too, so a German policy does not cover treatment in Germany.

Pre-existing conditions are capped: an acute deterioration is usually covered, the planned continuation of ongoing treatment is not. Diving, climbing, motor sport and similar risks sit in the exclusions or need an add-on. With alcohol, drugs and intent insurers reduce or refuse the benefit. Pregnancy is covered only up to about week 36 depending on the tariff, and childbirth itself is not a travel claim.

Why the European Health Insurance Card is not enough

The card on the back of your German health card (Europäische Krankenversicherungskarte) works in the EU, the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It gives you the state system's care under the rules of the country you are in. Whatever a local resident pays out of pocket, you pay too: co-payments, prescription charges, surcharges.

Three gaps are large. Private doctors and private clinics fall out entirely, and in holiday resorts those are often the practices that open first. The flight home is never paid. And outside the card's area it simply does not apply, so in the USA or Thailand German public insurance pays nothing.

Point	European Health Insurance Card	Travel health insurance
Where it applies	EU, EEA, Switzerland, United Kingdom	worldwide depending on the tariff
Private doctor or private clinic	no	yes
Local co-payments	you pay them	usually reimbursed
Medical flight home	no	yes
Repatriation of remains	no	yes
Emergency line around the clock	no	yes

Step by step

Find the repatriation clause in the policy wording and look for the word sinnvoll.
Note the limits for dental treatment, repatriation of remains and search and rescue.
Check whether your sport is excluded, for example diving or climbing.
Raise any pre-existing condition before the trip and get the answer in writing.
Save the emergency number, call before treatment starts and keep every invoice.

Checklist

Repatriation when it is medically sensible and reasonable
Medical costs without a cap, or at least a six-figure limit
No deductible
Emergency dental pain treatment included
Repatriation of remains and search and rescue with usable limits
Your sport not excluded

Common mistakes

Relying on the European Health Insurance Card and ending up in a private clinic
Choosing a tariff that pays the flight home only once it is medically necessary
Continuing ongoing treatment on holiday and hoping for reimbursement
Starting expensive treatment without calling the emergency line first

Questions and answers

Frequently asked

Does travel health insurance always pay the flight home?

No. Many tariffs pay only once the transport is medically necessary. Good tariffs pay as soon as it is medically sensible and reasonable. That is the most important difference in the small print.

Is the European Health Insurance Card not enough?

No. It applies only in the EU, the EEA, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, only with state providers and only on the terms of the country you are in. Co-payments, private clinics and the journey home stay with you.

Are pre-existing conditions covered?

An acute deterioration usually yes. The planned continuation of treatment on holiday, and trips taken in order to be treated, are excluded.

Does it pay at the dentist?

Only pain treatment and simple fillings, often with a limit. Crowns, bridges and dentures are excluded.

What about sport?

Ordinary holiday sport is covered. Diving, climbing, motor sport and similar risks are excluded or need an add-on, depending on the tariff.

Does it pay if alcohol was involved?

Never in cases of intent. With alcohol and drugs insurers reduce or refuse the benefit depending on the wording. Tariffs differ widely here.

Am I covered in my home country?

No. In the country where your health insurance applies, that insurance takes over and the travel policy does not. If your policy is German, Germany is not abroad.

Are the documents and the claim process in German?

Usually yes. Some insurers offer English service, but the German wording is what counts in a claim, so ask us when a clause is unclear.