Why medical reports are important for insurance claims

Unless you have private Medical insurance or travel insurance when you travel away from your own country, you don’t normally have to bother about medical records and medical reports. They definitely will exist and will be recorded somewhere, possibly just with a G.P., or a hospital or medical centre or even a national health database, such as Medicare (in Australia). If you do have private medical insurance or have had an injury or illness overseas and have travel insurance, you may want to make an insurance claim. That’s when the insurer will want to see medical reports compiled by whoever treated you, whether that was a doctor, a medical centre or a hospital.

Medical reports may be varied in content. They include such things as a doctor’s diagnosis of your medical status, results of tests and scans, reports indicating any surgery or medical treatment. They may include records of what all this treatment cost you in the form of invoices and receipts. If you do travel overseas, then these medical reports may not necessarily be in your own language so you may have to get them translated.

When you need medical report translation services

As has been pointed out, it is not normal to obtain your own medical records and reports unless you need to make an insurance claim. Insurers will want to see evidence of your illness or injury and comprehensive documentation of how it was treated and how much it cost so that a realistic assessment of the claim can be calculated. Medical report translation and medical record translation will be required whenever there is a difference in the language used in these documents and that of your insurer. This is most common when you make a claim through your travel insurance. It is wise to seek out a professional medical records translation service to do the translation for you as insurers are always trying to find a way of avoiding paying out claims in full. They may decide that a poorly translated medical record or report does not substantiate your claim enough and decide to pay out less than the costs you actually met.

Translate all necessary documents for insurance claims

You need to ask your insurer which documents they want if you decide to make an insurance claim. However, if you have been treated while overseas, it is better to seek out as much documentation as possible as it may be more difficult trying to source these important records and reports later after you have returned home. Once you have the documents you can then search for a medical document translation service to do the translation of the documents for you to submit to the insurer. When you have a medical issue overseas, it is normal for you to pay all costs before you return home as insurance claims are typically not linked to foreign health providers. Just make sure you obtain both the actual medical reports as well as the financial side of your treatment as your insurer will want to know how much you paid in local currency rather than an estimate of what you might have to pay for the same treatment in your own country.

Don’t rely on free online software

Free translation software can be an attractive proposition when you know you have to translate medical documents for an insurance claim. However, these software options are not yet sufficiently capable of translating precise medical terminology and there is a danger that the information translated could be incorrect or not full enough to submit to an insurer. In many countries, health or medical insurance providers are likely to ask you to use a trusted, professional medical document translator rather than your own version or a translation by a friend or relative.

Conclusion

Medical report translation services are essential if you are making a claim through your travel insurance for the cost of treatment by a foreign medical provider.

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