Travel and medical insurance for Ukraine

Do I need travel insurance?

Travel insurance is a requirement for leaving Ukraine for most countries in the world. Older travellers do travel, often to visit family abroad, and they need a policy like anyone else — relatives holding cover in another country does not extend any protection to a visitor from Ukraine. Pensioners, as a category, must also hold a medical insurance policy.

Are there any discounts on the price?

Insurers usually charge more for this age group rather than offering a discount. Because travel abroad is voluntary, the state does not subsidise any part of the price. The higher cost reflects a greater exposure to illness and injury among older travellers.

What does a medical insurance policy cover?

A travel policy covers emergency medical assistance, emergency inpatient care, emergency dental treatment (within a limit), medical repatriation from abroad, and repatriation of the body if the insured person dies abroad. Accident cover typically sits between EUR 1,000 and EUR 5,000. Older travellers have the most to gain from this product, since it stands between them and a very large hospital bill. The policy for a visa, as it is sometimes called, guarantees cover for expensive medical treatment abroad. The insured person is not tied to one city or region — they can use medical facilities anywhere within the covered zone, for example anywhere in Europe. Round-the-clock support is provided by the international assistance company the insurer works with.

Are there age limits?

Insurers in Ukraine generally increase the premium from age 65, and from 72 some decline cover altogether. Polis24 can place full travel medical programmes up to age 85, because the volume of business we place gives us access to programmes a single customer could not reach on their own. We also apply a discount for older clients.

What should I look out for when buying travel insurance?

1. The reliability of the insurer, above all. This matters more given how exposed this age group is. Some companies on the Ukrainian market sell purely on price — a formality, a piece of paper for the border guard, not real protection. Whether you want that or genuine cover is for each buyer to decide.

2. Whether the contract has a deductible. Saving UAH 100 on the premium can mean paying up to EUR 1,000 yourself at claim time. Travel agencies that bundle a policy into a package are frequent offenders here — read the small print.

3. That the region and dates in the contract match your actual trip. Medical care is exceptionally expensive in some countries, for example Israel and the USA — check the destination country is correctly reflected in your travel policy.

4. Check the round-the-clock support contact details. They are given in the insurance policy.

Buy a policy

Cover for Ukrainian citizens entering Europe operates under EU Council Decision 2004/17/EG on the medical insurance of travellers. It applies to the Schengen states that introduced visa-free entry for Ukrainian citizens in June 2017. Ukrainian citizens should therefore carry a travel policy with a limit of, preferably, no less than EUR 30,000.

In principle border officers can ask to see medical cover when checking documents, and some countries run periodic campaigns to enforce it — Poland has done so for everyone entering by road.

Note this concerns countries that introduced visa-free entry. The United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland and Kosovo operate a visa regime, where the policy is required at the visa application stage in Ukraine.

Beyond any legal requirement, the policy is in every traveller’s own interest. Healthcare in Europe is paid for, and the prices can be genuinely shocking to someone who has not encountered them. It matters most when travelling with children, taking an active holiday, or travelling at an older age.

The Law of Ukraine on the legal status of foreign nationals and stateless persons sets out the grounds for arranging temporary residence. The State Migration Service issues temporary residence permits where the foreign national applies within the required time. This covers, among others, people who have come to work in the branches, offices and representative offices of foreign non-governmental organisations.

The instrument used is a Medical Insurance Agreement — a voluntary contract designed around the circumstances of foreign nationals arriving in the country. To conclude it you need your passport details and your address of temporary residence in Ukraine. The contract is normally written for one year, with a sum insured of not less than UAH 15,000 as a rule. Shorter terms are available, but check first whether the Migration Service will accept a shorter policy for your permit.

The minimum programme covers emergency medical assistance: the situations where treatment cannot wait and where withholding it could lead to death or irreversible harm to the body.

Broader cover goes beyond that minimum, adding emergency dental treatment — resolving acute conditions within the contract limit — and medicines prescribed by the treating doctor.

The insurer contracts with an assistance company, and that service structure handles claims and calls from insured people around the clock.

In short, insurance for a foreign national coming to Ukraine is a necessary and inexpensive thing, and it makes the financial side of a stay in the country predictable — which matters all the more as healthcare in Ukraine moves onto a commercial footing.

It matters a great deal. The policy bundled into a tour package is usually chosen on the agency’s margin, not on how the insurer settles claims, and it very often carries a deductible. Compare the sum insured, the deductible and the assistance company behind it before you accept it. Comparing quotes is free and takes two minutes.

No. Standard travel and medical programmes are issued on your declaration alone. Bear in mind that chronic conditions are covered only in their acute, emergency form unless you buy a programme that specifically extends to them.

Yes, entirely. Send a photo of the passport, receive the signed policy by email as a PDF. Nothing has to be printed and nothing has to be signed by hand. You can get insurance online here from outside Ukraine as well as inside it.

The destination, the length of the trip, the age of the insured person, and the purpose of travel. EUR 30,000 is the working minimum for Schengen. For the United States, Canada, Israel or Japan, take considerably more — treatment costs there make a low limit close to meaningless.

Add the active or extreme sports option. Skiing, snowboarding, mountain hiking and diving are excluded from the standard programme, and a claim from the piste on a standard policy will be declined. The option also brings in mountain rescue and helicopter evacuation, which is the expensive part.

They are three names for the same product, used loosely. What actually changes between policies is the region of cover, the sum insured, the deductible and the options attached. “Schengen insurance” simply means a policy that meets the EU’s minimum requirements: at least EUR 30,000 and valid in every Schengen state.

Yes. We place business only with licensed Ukrainian insurers whose policies are accepted for visa purposes. The policy arrives as a PDF with the insurer’s details and can be printed for the appointment.