Obtaining travel emergency medical insurance is required for your ILP semester. Your policy must fulfill certain requirements and cover the entirety of your semester abroad. Most insurance companies such as SelectHealth, BlueCross, or other standard healthcare plans are not travel emergency medical insurance and do not meet the requirements, so even if you already have coverage, you'll need to purchase an insurance plan for your ILP semester.
Although purchasing insurance doesn't need to be done until the Preparation Deadline (closer to the start of your semester), you may want to purchase your plan now because Trip Cancellation policies are only an option when applying for your ILP trip.
As a reminder, ILP does not refund all or part of your program fee in the very rare case that there is a natural disaster, political unrest, or some other unexpected or catastrophic condition that makes the program shorter than the scheduled length. If you would like a refund in this rare circumstance, you will need to purchase an insurance policy that includes trip cancellation/interruption. Travel emergency medical insurance is required by ILP for all ILP volunteers, and while trip cancellation/interruption is a separate policy, it's possible to find coverage that includes both policies. Trip cancellation is a personal preference and is not required.
Many insurance companies that include plans with Trip Cancellation coverage require that you purchase your policy at the same time or within a very short time of making your first payment towards your ILP trip. Payment 1 is due as part of your application, so you should look into and purchase a policy right away if that's something you're interested in.
Again, ILP doesn't require that you purchase your travel emergency medical insurance plan until closer to departure, but completing this now gives you the option of also obtaining that additional coverage of Trip Cancellation/Interruption in your plan.
Your at-home health insurance policies (Select Health, Blue Cross, or any other insurance not purchased for travel) will NOT fulfill the ILP insurance requirements and or the recommendations.
ILP does not contract with any insurance company, nor do we receive incentives for recommending certain policies. Our focus is always on safety. Below you'll find travel emergency medical insurance policies recommended by past volunteers.
We have received negative information from the following policies — Generali, Trawick, Worldtrip, AIG, Cigna, and Allianz. ILP does NOT recommend you travel with these policies. If you do, make sure you understand you will in all likelihood, be required to pay upfront and file a claim to be reimbursed. Claims can take up to a year and may be disputed. They may work for trip cancellation, but are not recommended to fulfill your travel emergency medical insurance requirement.
If you wish to purchase your health insurance plan now, we have more information in your Travel Documents. You'll receive your Travel Documents after you're assigned to a location, but since you're purchasing your policy now it may be helpful to have early access to that. Please email vrc@ilp.org to request access to your Travel Documents for purchasing your policy. That's also a great place to ask any questions about insurance you may have when before settling on your final policy.
Once you have chosen and purchased your plan, please submit your policy information on this form to confirm this requirement has been completed.
As a reminder, completing this form is not officially due until closer to your semester, but we recommend completing this step now to qualify for a plan that includes trip cancellation/interruption coverage. If you do not wish to purchase your plan now, we will remind you later when it's time to complete it as part of your Travel Documents.