Step 6 – Get ready to travel safely and be prepared for emergencies
Step 6 – Get ready to travel safely and be prepared for emergencies
Travel insurance including evacuation is required for all UNC residents and faculty traveling outside of the US as part of work or residency experience. Residents are required to purchase travel health insurance through UNC School of Medicine.
You MUST obtain UNC-sanctioned GeoBlue international travel insurance in order to complete an international elective during residency and/or or receive funding from UNC sources.
GeoBlue (http://www.hthstudents.com) is the provider of the UNC-sanctioned insurance. You must purchase this from Shay Slifko (shay_slifko@med.unc.edu) in the Office of International Activities. The daily premium is $1.45/day. You can print an insurance card directly from GeoBlue and you should carry with you when you travel. You can start the process of purchasing insurance by filling out the web form found here.
**Please note: You are not able to sign up for before/after coverage until after you have received an email from GeoBlue enrollment with your assigned certificate number. Before/after coverage registration is located on a separate website and is not done through our web form.
**(Refer to Kathryn Hill) Your regular UNC disabilities insurance coverage will remain in effect so as long as you:
- are on ‘assignment’ for 6 months or less
- If a student becomes disabled while on assignment, he or she will need to return to the US to file a claim.
- are in an area that is not under a “red” travel warning issued by the U.S. State Department.
UNC resident physicians traveling as part of their education, for research or other formal work, or those who have received funding through the University must all review the US State Department country-specific consular information and any travel warnings or alerts (http://www.travel.state.gov/) as well as the information on the Center for Disease Control site (http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices) prior to travel.
All UNC/H resident physicians traveling as part of their formal residency training (e.g. other than personal travel on vacation) should be aware of the travel restrictions. The UNC Office of the Provost closely follows the information from the US State Department (for political and civil unrest issues as well as natural disasters) and the Center for Disease Control (for health/epidemic issues) in making decisions about where UNC personnel can travel at any given time based on health and safety risks. It is important to be aware that some countries are off limits for travel for academic/research purposes. The list of countries changes when new travel warnings and alerts are released by the State Department or CDC.
All UNC resident physicians must also purchase evacuation insurance as directed. If you would like to have additional coverage beyond the maximum coverage dates stated below, you can contact the insurance provider, Highway to Health, directly. For an overview of what this insurance covers, please see the GeoBlue coverage information.