By Gregory Nassief, Founder & CEO, Six Kind
If you become seriously ill while traveling abroad, you may wait 10 to 45 minutes—or longer for your travel insurance provider to answer the phone. And if someone eventually does answer, it likely won’t be a medical professional. It will be a call center employee reading from a script.
In 2023, 35% of travelers reported delayed or failed emergency responses from their travel insurance provider, according to a Global Rescue Coalition analysis. During a medical crisis, that delay can cost not only time—but health outcomes. In some cases, it costs lives.
The U.S. State Department is direct in its warning:
“The U.S. government does not pay for medical evacuation… You should be prepared to arrange and pay for any emergency services yourself.”
— U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Travel insurance doesn’t arrange help. It reimburses costs—after you’ve paid them, after you’ve filed the claim, and after someone has reviewed the paperwork.
This is the difference between reimbursement and response.
What Travel Insurance Offers—And Where It Stops
To be clear: travel insurance plays a role. It protects financial exposure. Providers such as Cap Travel Assist offer more robust policies than many traditional insurers, including 24/7 assistance and medical evacuation coordination. But even these enhanced offerings are bound by two realities:
- Evacuation is not guaranteed. It is contingent on pre-approval and a third-party determination of what qualifies as “medically necessary.”
- Real-time coordination is not included. Most insurers do not engage directly with hospitals, speak the language, or guide the traveler or family through the logistics.
A 2022 study in the Journal of Travel Medicine reported that nearly 30% of travelers experienced care delays due to insurance-related complications, ranging from claim validation to coverage disputes (JTM, 2022). Meanwhile, a 2023 benchmark report from the U.S. Travel Insurance Association noted that evacuation coverage is not standard in most base travel insurance plans and is often sold as an add-on (USTiA, 2023).
The CDC’s Yellow Book echoes these findings:
“Evacuation coverage may be excluded from standard travel insurance plans and should be purchased separately… Even then, the traveler is responsible for understanding the limits of that coverage.”
— CDC Yellow Book, 2022
In short, you are responsible for your own care—unless you’ve arranged for something more than a policy.
What Six Kind Does Instead
Six Kind is not insurance. We are a concierge global advocate, purpose-built to act when you are 150 miles or more from home—whether you’re across the country, across the ocean, or navigating a crisis far from support.
We don’t ask for pre-approval. We don’t send you to a switchboard. And we don’t process claims after the fact. Instead, we provide direct, human coordination—immediately.
Our services include:
- Hospital and physician coordination, removing the burden of navigating care in an unfamiliar system
- Multilingual translation and logistics support in real time
- Family communication, including outreach, updates, and transport planning
- Medical evacuation, included in all Six Kind Travel and Executive Membership plans, with no need for supplemental policies or insurer sign-off
- Continuity of care, ensuring that what starts abroad doesn’t stop when you arrive home
Where traditional insurers require documentation, diagnosis codes, and internal review to authorize transport, Six Kind initiates evacuation based on medical need and urgency, not bureaucracy.
Every Six Kind membership includes access to case managers and global response specialists trained in complex cross-border coordination. In a crisis, we secure air ambulances, ground transport, hospital admission, medical briefings, and ongoing family contact—often in a matter of hours.
In this way, we don’t just move people. We move fast.
Real Outcomes, Not Promises
Consider a recent case: A university student in Colombia sustained a spinal injury in a hiking accident. Her travel insurance provider required multiple layers of documentation and an internal risk assessment before approving hospital transfer.
Six Kind was contacted within hours of the incident. Our team spoke directly with the attending physician in Spanish, activated a medical evacuation team, alerted the student’s parents, and arranged for her transfer within three hours. We also coordinated her return to care at a U.S. facility, completing a continuity plan that insurance would not have touched.
Another client—a business traveler in Dubai—suffered a cardiac episode. His family tried to reach the insurance company. They were told to await a callback. Six Kind was contacted directly. Within 90 minutes, we had a cardiologist on-site, the spouse on the phone, and an emergency flight on standby.
These are not isolated stories. This is how we operate.
Government Guidance Confirms It: You’re On Your Own
Travelers often assume that insurance or an embassy will step in when something goes wrong. But every official source—from the CDC to the U.S. State Department—says otherwise.
- The State Department explicitly states that it “does not pay for medical evacuation.”
- The CDC Yellow Book warns that even expanded insurance often lacks practical evacuation services.
- The Journal of Travel Medicine confirms that insurance delays are among the leading contributors to poor care outcomes abroad.
Six Kind exists because these systems leave too much to chance—and to you.
What You Can Do Now
If you’re planning a trip—whether for business, education, family, or leisure—I urge you to read our free eBook, “What to Do If You’re Sick or Injured Abroad.” It’s an essential tool we created to help you understand the difference between coverage and care.
In this short, fact-based guide, we outline:
- What travel insurance actually covers—and doesn’t
- What actions to take before and during a medical emergency abroad
- How Six Kind works across borders to protect you and your family
- Why “having a policy” is not the same as having a plan
The eBook is free. The insight is practical. And if something does go wrong, what you’ve learned could be the difference between panic and progress.
Final Thought: Someone Must Show Up
Travel insurance is designed to reimburse expenses—not to respond in the moment you need help most.
Six Kind is designed to respond—fast, across borders, with real people, real power, and no pretense.
In the worst-case scenario, a claim number will not move you.
We will.
Download the eBook. Know the difference. Travel protected.
FAQ: What Travel Insurance Really Covers — And Doesn’t
Q1. What does travel insurance really cover during overseas medical emergencies?
Most travel insurance reimburses you after the fact: trip interruption, lost luggage, emergency medical treatment up to a coverage limit. It does not guarantee real-time international medical crisis response. That means no immediate bedside coordination or physician-to-physician handoff abroad.
Q2. Does travel insurance cover travel medical evacuation abroad?
Sometimes, but coverage is conditional. Evacuation benefits usually require insurer pre-approval and a judgment of “medical necessity.” This can delay evacuation during critical overseas medical emergencies. Even premium policies from Allianz, GeoBlue, or Cap Travel Assist note that services must be approved in advance.
Q3. What are the most common travel insurance exclusions?
The most frequent exclusions include pre-existing conditions, high-risk activities such as scuba or trekking, pregnancy-related complications, and evacuations that don’t meet narrow policy definitions. The CDC’s Yellow Book warns that evacuation coverage is “often excluded from standard policies and must be purchased separately.”
Q4. In a medical crisis abroad, who actually coordinates care?
Not the insurer. Most policies outsource to call centers staffed by non-medical personnel. They authorize reimbursements but rarely coordinate care. Hospitals, translation, and family communication are left to the traveler. That gap in real-time coordination is often where Six Kind is called in.
Q5. Why isn’t insurance alone enough for international medical crisis response?
Insurance is a financial product. It reimburses expenses, but it doesn’t act. Government guidance is clear: the U.S. State Department states it “does not pay for medical evacuation.” The NIH confirms that delays in care coordination are a top contributor to poor outcomes abroad.
Q6. How does Six Kind work with insurance policies?
Think of it as complementary. Insurance may reimburse costs. Six Kind ensures the evacuation, hospital coordination, and logistics actually happen—without waiting for insurer approvals. Afterward, members can submit eligible costs for reimbursement from their policy.
Q7. How fast can medical evacuation be arranged abroad?
Insurer-led evacuations can take days due to paperwork. Six Kind initiates evacuation within hours, based on physician assessment and urgency. In one case, a student injured abroad was transported within three hours—while her insurance provider was still requesting documents.
Q8. What should I do before traveling to improve my chances in an overseas medical emergency?
Verify your policy’s evacuation terms and exclusions. Keep copies of your coverage in digital and paper form. Share your medical history and itinerary with someone you trust. Add a real-time response partner like Six Kind, which coordinates medical evacuation abroad without insurer bottlenecks.
Q9. Will embassies or governments arrange medical evacuation?
No. The U.S. State Department states it will not pay for or arrange medical evacuation. Embassies may provide local hospital lists but will not coordinate flights, medical teams, or logistics. You are responsible for arranging these services yourself.
Q10. What’s the biggest misconception about travel insurance and emergencies?
That having a policy equals having a plan. Insurance provides reimbursement. Six Kind provides response. Without real-time coordination, even “covered” benefits can arrive too late.
