Search
Medicare

Does Medicare Cover You Abroad? What Retirees Need Before a Cruise or Overseas Trip

Blank white tags on a pink background, with a sticky note reading “Covered abroad?”.
Photo by Keila Hötzel on Unsplash

In most situations, Medicare won't pay for care you get outside the U.S. That holds in a hospital in Lisbon, at a clinic in a Mexican port town, and on a cruise ship once it's more than six hours from a U.S. port. An emergency evacuation alone can run past $100,000, by the CDC's estimate. A few kinds of coverage fill that gap, and they differ in ways most travelers never check.

See what to buy and what to check

Continues on the next page · opens in a new tab

By Margaret Linwood · Updated Sep 29, 2026 · Reviewed against Medicare.gov (Medicare Coverage Outside the United States fact sheet, April 2026; Choosing a Medigap Policy 2026; Travel outside the U.S.), CDC

Also worth reading

A desk calendar showing December 30 and 31 with an orange highlighter, with a sticky note reading “Ends Dec. 31?”. Medicare If your Medicare Advantage plan ends, you get a 63-day Medigap right A blank sheet on a black clipboard with a yellow pencil on a wooden desk, with a sticky note reading “7 checks?”. Medicare Your Medicare plan can change January 1. Seven checks, in order

It's a bigger gap than it sounds. Many hospitals abroad expect payment before they treat or release a patient, by card or in cash. The evacuation figure covers the flight alone, before any treatment. Medicare drug plans can't cover medicine bought outside the U.S., either.

None of that is a reason to stay home. A Medicare card is a domestic document, that's all, and the days you're away call for something else in the bag. The choices are few and well understood. What separates a good setup from a thin one is mostly in the fine print.

See the paperwork that gets a bill paid

Continues on the next page · opens in a new tab

Before you shop, check what you already have

Start with the coverage you carry today. A few minutes with your Medigap policy or a call to your Advantage plan tells you where the holes are.

  1. Your Medigap letter. Plans C, D, F, G, M and N include a foreign travel emergency benefit. Plans A, B, K and L don't.
  2. How long you're gone. That benefit only covers emergency care that begins during the first 60 days of a trip outside the U.S.
  3. What it pays. It covers 80% of the billed charges for certain emergency care. There's a separate $250 deductible first, each year.
  4. The lifetime cap. The benefit tops out at $50,000 over your lifetime. Evacuation isn't a listed benefit at all.
  5. An Advantage plan's travel benefit. Some plans add one, some don't. Ask what it covers, whether there's a dollar limit, whether it includes evacuation and how a foreign claim gets filed.

That's the coverage you start with. What to add on top of it, and the paperwork that gets a foreign bill paid, is where the article goes from here.

See 7 questions to ask before you pay

Continues on the next page · opens in a new tab

Also on this topic

A red envelope on a yellow background, with a sticky note reading “Plan G +26%?”. Medicare Your Plan G premium jumped again. Check your state's switching window An empty hospital bed under a wall of medical equipment, with a sticky note reading “Admitted?”. Medicare Your parent was "under observation," not admitted. That changes who pays rehab A dirt path splitting in two through a green forest, with a sticky note reading “Hard to undo?”. Medicare You can leave Medigap any fall. Coming back is a different story An hourglass against a textured gray wall, with a sticky note reading “For life?”. Medicare COBRA does not count as employer coverage when you turn 65 Colorful pills spilling from an orange prescription bottle on a blue background, with a sticky note reading “+$300?”. Medicare Your Part D deductible can reach $700 in January. Check this line A brown envelope lying on a white envelope on a wooden table, with a sticky note reading “5 lines?”. Medicare Your plan's September letter has five lines that set your 2027 costs

Up next on this topic

Picked to go with this article. Each one opens in a new tab.

A stethoscope, a reflex hammer and a blood pressure cuff on a white surface, with a sticky note reading “$63,840?”. Insurance Your 2027 subsidy stops at $63,840. Here's how the line is drawn Letter tiles spelling MORTGAGE on a wooden table, with a sticky note reading “+$325?”. Home & Mortgage Your fixed-rate payment has two parts that are not fixed at all An orange rotary phone on a wooden table, with a sticky note reading “Code word?”. Debt & Credit The one question to ask when a grandchild calls needing money Two steaming mugs on a small wooden table, with a sticky note reading “Covered at 62?”. Insurance Your spouse goes on Medicare. You're 62. Where your coverage comes from A hand signing a paper with a pen, with a sticky note reading “Bills: $6,300”. Insurance The adjuster wants to record your call. What you can say A blank sheet of paper and a pen on a kitchen counter, with a sticky note reading “$75?”. Medicare Your 2027 raise is 3.6%. See what Part B leaves A white house and fir trees covered in snow, with a sticky note reading “Heat bill up?”. Home & Mortgage This winter's heating bill forecast: gas down 9%, oil up 21% A stack of U.S. quarters on a white surface, with a sticky note reading “$202.90 a month?”. Medicare Your state may pay your Part B premium. Check one income line Two hands holding a blank white card over a dark wooden table, with a sticky note reading “65 days”. Medicare Your plan said no. Most appeals filed were at least partly reversed Rows of electric meters on a wall, with a sticky note reading “Same usage?”. Home & Mortgage Divide your electric bill by the kilowatt-hours. Compare it with last year A white house with a front porch among autumn trees, with a sticky note reading “No claims?”. Insurance Your home insurance rose with no claims. Check these four lines. A car dashboard and steering wheel on an open road at dusk, with a sticky note reading “+$380?”. Insurance Your renewal letter shows the new premium, not which rating factor changed