Does Medicare cover you outside the U.S.?

Original Medicare abroad: very little

As a rule, Original Medicare (Parts A and B) doesn’t cover health care you receive outside the United States and its territories. There are only a few narrow exceptions: a medical emergency in the U.S. where the nearest hospital that can treat you is across the border; an emergency while you’re traveling the most direct route through Canada between Alaska and another state; and care aboard a ship within six hours of a U.S. port. Outside of those, care abroad is yours to pay for.

Medigap’s foreign-travel-emergency benefit

This is where many travelers on Original Medicare get some protection. Medicare Supplement Plans C, D, F, G, M, and N include a foreign-travel-emergency benefit. After a $250 deductible, the plan pays 80% of the billed charges for medically necessary emergency care that begins during the first 60 days of a trip, up to a $50,000 lifetime maximum. It’s genuinely useful — but note the limits: it’s for emergencies, not routine care; it ends after 60 days; and the lifetime cap is $50,000. Plans A, B, K, and L don’t include this benefit at all.

Medicare Advantage abroad

Medicare Advantage plans vary, but most cover only emergency or urgent care outside the country, if anything, and routine care abroad is typically not covered. Some plans do offer worldwide emergency coverage as a benefit. The only way to know is to check your specific plan’s rules before you travel.

Where travel medical fills the gap

Even with Medigap’s foreign benefit, a serious emergency can blow past a $50,000 lifetime cap — an air-ambulance evacuation alone can cost more than that. And travelers on Original Medicare without one of the lettered Medigap plans, or many Medicare Advantage members, have little to fall back on abroad. A travel medical plan bought for the trip provides a higher medical maximum and dedicated emergency evacuation coverage, which is why it’s the main protection most Medicare travelers rely on overseas.

Before you travel

Check exactly what you have: which Medigap plan letter you carry and its foreign benefit, or your Medicare Advantage plan’s rules for care abroad. Then decide whether a travel medical plan makes sense for the trip — for most international travel on Medicare, the evacuation coverage alone is worth it.