Travel independently in the Philippines will give you the chance to discover a beautiful country that will win your heart with white-sand beaches and turquoise waters, remote islands where you can feel like a castaway, spectacular volcanoes, endless rice fields and, among many other things, exceptional marine life.
At Viajar por Filipinas we want you to get to know each and every one of those places but, in case you need to see a doctor or go to a hospital, we also want you to have all the information you need to do so without any issues. That’s why, in this article, we’re going to talk about the importance of getting the best travel insurance for the Philippines.
Travel insurance for the Philippines
First of all, we want you to feel at ease, the Philippines is a safe country for travelers, as long as you use common sense and keep away from situations you would also avoid in any other country. But, whether due to an unfortunate accident or any kind of medical need, you may need to be seen by a doctor.
In this article we’re going to tell you about what we consider the best travel insurance for the Philippines for a typical trip of a few weeks. If, in your case, you’re going to embark on a trip of several months, this other guide will be of interest: Annual travel insurance.
Why get medical insurance to travel to the Philippines?
Getting travel insurance to travel around the Philippines has always been, of course, a completely personal choice (even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ own website insists on how important it is to have one) but now, after the pandemic, it’s something that’s strongly recommended. We always recommend taking one out and we travel with one, since it gives us peace of mind so we don’t have to worry about anything during the trip. While at home we have the protection of a free and quality public health system, when traveling to countries like this, if you don’t have travel insurance for the Philippines up to the task, you could end up facing bills of thousands of euros (as you’ll see below) or dealing with medical centers of dubious quality.
Next, we’re going to tell you about a real case that happened to us, also explaining what would have happened if we hadn’t traveled with insurance.
We were on the small island of Tablas and I started having difficulty breathing, headaches and a lot of green mucus. After calling my health insurance, they immediately sent me to what, within the limitations of the place, was the best hospital in the area. There, a doctor ran several medical tests and diagnosed possible pneumonia that required immediate hospitalization. The hospital had no available beds and I quickly contacted my insurer again. The solution was as follows: they paid for my round-trip flights to Manila so I could be seen at one of the country’s best hospitals. There they gave me the necessary medication and the problem subsided without the need for admission.
3 weeks hospitalized in which we saved 22.000 euros thanks to having travel insurance for the Philippines
Had we not had international medical insurance for the Philippines, I wouldn’t have known so quickly and easily which hospital in Tablas to go to and, of course, we would have had to pay for the flights, the two hospitals and the medicines. The total bill was more than 300 euros, whereas 2 weeks of medical insurance can be had, thanks to our discount, for less than 45 euros. In addition, throughout the whole process I had the advice of a medical team who assessed my case from Spain.
If saving 300 euros thanks to travel insurance for the Philippines already sounds like a win to you, keep reading because below we also tell you about the time we saved more than 22.000 euros after being hospitalized for 3 weeks.
You can read more things that have happened to us while traveling around the Philippines and other countries, and how we’ve relied on insurance on several occasions, in IATI Seguros: Bad and good opinions after several experiences.
Besides the huge savings that having this kind of policy entails in health-related cases, the travel insurance for the Philippines we use and recommend covers many more things ranging from theft, lost luggage or transport issues, to repatriation or bringing a family member to the Philippines if you are hospitalized (in our case they brought over one of our mothers and paid for her accommodation).
Recommended medical insurance for traveling in the Philippines
As we always do, all the recommendations you’ll find on this page are based on real experiences. For years we’ve always used the IATI Seguros travel insurance. This company offers a wide variety of insurance policies with different features, designed for each type of trip. In the case of travel insurance for the Philippines, the best is IATI Mochilero for its great value for money and coverages that fully match what awaits you in this paradise. Below we’re going to show you the features that make it our favorite. If you want, you can get it from here with a discount for coming from us:
The IATI policy with the highest coverage is IATI Estrella. In our experience, IATI Mochilero is a superb policy more than sufficient for the Philippines and that’s why it’s the one we recommend. If in your case you want even broader coverage, then Estrella is your policy. Bear in mind that Mochilero has better coverage for diving: it goes down to 40 meters instead of Estrella’s 20.
Huge coverage at a very good price
The travel insurance for the Philippines we always use, IATI Mochilero, has medical assistance coverage of up to 600.000 euros (over half a million euros!), which is more than enough for this destination. It’s true that when we travel to destinations considered expensive such as the United States or Japan, we take out an IATI Estrella with unlimited medical coverage, but for the Philippines we know from our own experience that 600k is enough. Even so, neither in Japan nor in the United States is any company going to spend millions.The reason? When an insurer has to pay very large amounts, what it does is pay you for an air ambulance (which is much cheaper for them) and send you home to be treated there.
In terms of value for money, and after years of using it on many occasions, this is without a doubt the best travel insurance for the Philippines.
Support in Spanish
We hope it never happens, but if you have an accident and urgently need to explain the details to the person who will give you the instructions to go to the doctor, you want to do it quickly and in your language. IATI Seguros serves you in Spanish from the very first minute, unlike other travel insurers such as World Nomads where you have to explicitly request a different agent and wait.
Support is 24 hours and 7 days a week and, in addition, if you contact them by phone you can then send them the phone bill so they reimburse you and you don’t have to pay absolutely anything.
Free, 24 hours and in Spanish. Sounds great, right?
It’s a travel insurance for the Philippines with no deductible
The term “deductible” may sound unfamiliar to you, but many insurers use it. It’s this simple: if you have a 120€ deductible it means that all medical assistance below that price will be paid by you. And if the medical assistance is, for example, 121€, you’ll pay 120€ and your insurance will only cover 1€. For us, IATI is the best travel insurance for the Philippines, among other things, because it has no deductible and assumes all costs, unlike insurers such as Intermundial which require you to pay 120€ in case of mountain assistance or rescue.
The Philippines means adventure, so you need to travel insured
Here’s a fact that will surely surprise you. All insurers consider snorkeling an adventure sport and most do not cover it in their policies. That means that if something were to happen to you while enjoying this activity—which you absolutely must do in the Philippines—you’d be in trouble.
The insurance we use includes Adventure Sports coverage and, in addition to covering snorkeling, it also covers other activities that go hand in hand with this amazing trip, such as diving down to 40 meters, kayaking, trekking up to 5.400 meters, surfing, paddle surfing, zip-lining or, among many others, canyoning. If you’ve already been researching what awaits you in the Philippines, you surely know that all these activities are very likely to be part of your trip. This insurance covers them and also includes up to 15.000 euros exclusively for rescue cases.
Ideal for traveling in a group or as a couple
This is another super interesting option when taking out medical insurance for the Philippines. If you take out a policy for several people at once, you can benefit from some advantages. We mean that if, for example, you’re going to travel with your partner, it’s better to take out one medical policy for both of you than one for each of you. This way, if either of you had to be repatriated or relocated, they could be accompanied at no cost by the other.
Bodily injury in a motor vehicle
You’re going to travel around the Philippines by land, sea and air, and the “by land” part usually raises the same doubt for many of you: “Does travel insurance for the Philippines cover me if I have a motorbike accident ?”. This question is very common because renting a motorbike to explore different corners of the country will give you incomparable freedom.
The answer is “yes.” If you have an accident, whether as the driver or a passenger on a motorbike or in a car, your medical care will also be covered. That said, remember to always travel in compliance with the country’s laws (helmet, seat belt, etc.) and to have the specific license for the vehicle you are driving.
Travel insurance for the Philippines with COVID‑19 coverage
After what we’ve experienced in recent months, it is now essential that the international health insurance you carry also covers COVID‑19 cases, and the one we use does. IATI Mochilero, within its 600,000 euros for medical assistance, includes assistance, hospitalization, any PCR tests that a specialist in the country may request and even, among many other things, the need to extend your stay due to a mandatory quarantine. In that case, you would have 60 euros per day for accommodation for two weeks (840 euros).
Trip cancellation if necessary
When organizing a trip to the Philippines you’ll have to buy your flights to the country, book your accommodation and even arrange the different activities you want to do once there (a diving course, for example). It’s quite an investment! Therefore, it’s normal to ask: “If I end up having to cancel my trip, do I lose everything I invested”?.
This insurance offers what they call the Complemento de Anulación. With it, you will be reimbursed up to 3,500 euros (6,000 euros in the case of IATI Estrella) for the travel expenses that you cannot recover directly from your different providers, if you have to cancel your trip for any of the many reasons considered. This has been an add-on that, as a precaution, we have always taken. But now more than ever we do so, since it also covers cases in which we get our money back if the reason for canceling the trip is coronavirus, including when it has affected a direct family member.
How the travel insurance for the Philippines works
If you’ve never used one, you might be wondering how to use travel insurance. It’s very simple. If you need any kind of medical assistance, you just have to call the phone number provided when you purchase your policy (it’s also possible to do so by email) and they will direct you to the nearest center best prepared for your case. Once there, your travel insurance for the Philippines will take care of paying the expenses of your visit and any medical tests or medications prescribed to you.
If due to an emergency you couldn’t contact them before going to the doctor, you’ll only have to send them the invoices and medical reports afterwards and they will reimburse your expenses. We’ve done this on more than one occasion and it’s a very simple process.
If your issue isn’t health-related and falls under any of the other cases covered by international insurance, such as theft or problems with your luggage, the process is the same. Contact them and they will tell you the steps to follow to resolve your incident.
They have ALWAYS made things VERY easy for us.
How to take out your travel insurance for the Philippines with a 5% discount
Now that you have the information and data on why we use IATI’s travel insurance for the Philippines, we’re going to help you get it in 5 simple steps.
1. Activate your insurance discount
If you go to IATI’s website via the following link you will instantly receive a 5% discount on your travel insurance for the Philippines without needing to do anything else. By doing this, besides benefiting from a saving, you help Viajar por Filipinas continue to grow. We like to be honest: we earn a small commission if you book through this link. And for that very reason, because we like to be honest, we recommend the same travel insurance that we use ourselves. You won’t see discounts for other brokerages to make something as other sites do, because we only recommend services we trust.
If you do it from this menu, your discount will be activated automatically:
2. Fill out the brief form
Complete your place of residence, your travel dates, and the number of insured travelers. If you’re going to travel to another country in addition to the Philippines, always select the one that is furthest away. Once the form is complete, click the “Calcular presupuesto” button.
3. Choose your coverage for traveling to the Philippines
On the next page you can choose the travel insurance policy for the Philippines that you want to purchase. You’ll see that the final price including the 5% discount for travel insurance to the Philippines already appears here, alongside the price you would have paid without it. At the bottom of the screen you’ll see the details of each of these policies. This is where we recommend choosing IATI Mochilero. As we’ve said, IATI Estrella offers higher coverage limits, but we consider Mochilero’s to be more than sufficient and the price more reasonable.
Before making the payment you can add the Complemento de Anulación we just mentioned, with which you would recover a lot of money if you had to cancel your trip. It’s well worth it.
4. Enter your details and pay online
Once this step is done, all that’s left is to complete your personal details and make the payment. Make sure the email you use is one you can easily access, as you’ll receive your documentation there.
5. Download and keep the documentation for your travel insurance for the Philippines
After paying for your travel insurance you will receive a confirmation email and the details with your policy number and the phone or email with which to contact in case of need. Sometimes these messages may end up in your spam folder. Try to always keep this information handy during your trip to be prepared if necessary.
These are the reasons why we always recommend IATI Seguros for traveling to the Philippines. In any case, the choice is entirely yours, but we recommend that—even if it’s with another company—you get medical insurance to travel to the Philippines. If you have any questions we can help with, don’t hesitate to ask us.
Cases in which we have used travel insurance in the Philippines
When we recommend something on Viajar por Filipinas—and even more so when it’s something as important as health—we do so based on our own experience. In this case, we’d love not to have so much knowledge on the subject, as it would mean we’ve never needed to use it, but the reality is that we are big experts at using travel insurance for the Philippines.
We’ve used this insurance in many countries around the world, but these are the cases we’ve experienced with it in the Philippines:
· February 2019: After arriving in the Philippines from Australia, we headed north to Tuguegarao. What at first seemed like a harmless flu turned into an excessive amount of fluid in the lung. Finding myself in a small city with a somewhat mediocre hospital and seeing that the problem could be serious, I contacted IATI and asked to be seen in Manila. In less than an hour they had already bought me a flight to Manila and notified one of the best hospitals in the capital that I was on my way there.
When I arrived, the doctors told me that things looked worse than they seemed. There was a lot of fluid in the lung and I had to be admitted. I spent three weeks there and after 2 operations and hundreds of tests, the bill came to more than 22.000€. IATI, who called me daily to ask how I was, took care of paying for everything and paying for my mother’s flights (round-trip) so she could come be with me, as well as her accommodation.
· March 2018: While in Romblon I was forced to visit the only hospital available there. I had breathing problems and the doctor, after taking a somewhat questionable X-ray, claimed I had pneumonia. Faced with doubt, I asked IATI to have me seen in Manila. That same day they bought round-trip flights so I could be seen at Makati Med, as well as two nights in an Airbnb so I could rest. Luckily, there was no pneumonia!
· April 2018: This time we were in Surigao and the breathing problems continued. I spent 5 days going almost daily to the hospital right in front of the hotel. That hospital has no agreement with insurers, so I had to pay out of pocket for visits and tests. A few days later, a member of the insurer came to my hotel in Cebu and paid me in cash for everything I had spent at the hospital and on medication after I handed over the receipts.
Vaccines for the Philippines
In addition to travel insurance with good coverage, it’s essential when traveling to the country to know which vaccines are recommended or mandatory. In this article we provide you with all the information about vaccines for the Philippines, as well as up-to-date data and recommendations on other diseases such as malaria or dengue.
Do you have any questions about the best insurance for traveling to the Philippines? We’d be happy to answer you in the comments.
