International health insurance plans have gained popularity over the years as more and more people who love to travel find the need for a medical coverage while they are in a foreign land. International health insurance provides broad coverage in the event of illness or injury.

So many health-related mishaps can happen while you are traveling in a foreign country, and since you are not a native of the place, you might not be eligible for government-sponsored health care. That is why if you travel overseas most of the time (either for business or for pleasure or maybe both), it is important that you have an international health insurance plan.

Basically, international health insurance offers two plans: the travel medical insurance and the expatriate medical insurance. Although these both provide coverage in the event of sickness or accident, the coverage vary on their length of the stay in the foreign country.

The travel medical insurance is the more popular type of international health insurance. This is a better option for those travelers who are making one tour or cruise and only stays in a foreign land for a shorter duration like seven days to twelve months. This usually consists of $1 million coverage for ordinary and emergency healthcare, home country coverage and trip interruption.

On the other hand, if you are an American who wishes to live in another country for an extended time, the expatriate medical insurance is the plan for you. It is essential to make sure that you and your family are covered in your new country. The advantage of this over the travel medical insurance is that this can be renewable annually and has a bigger coverage of up to $5 million.

Getting an international health insurance plan is indeed a wise move, whether you are traveling just for few days or for a longer duration. But see to it that what you choose is exactly the plan that will best work for your travel insurance needs.