Outside the country
Medicare abroad: it does not travel, and what to do about that
Short answer: Medicare generally does not cover care outside the United States, with a few narrow exceptions involving emergencies near the border and on ships. That leaves retirees living overseas with a real decision, because dropping Part B saves the premium but restarts the late enrollment penalty clock permanently if you ever come back. For travelers, some Medigap policies include limited foreign travel emergency coverage, and travel medical insurance fills the rest. Here is how each piece works, and the arithmetic of keeping versus dropping.
Key takeaways
- Medicare does not generally pay for care received outside the United States and its territories.
- Narrow exceptions exist, mainly emergencies where a foreign hospital is closer than a U.S. one, certain Canada transit situations, and care on ships within six hours of a U.S. port.
- Medigap plans C, D, F, G, M, and N include foreign travel emergency coverage: 80% after a $250 deductible, with a $50,000 lifetime maximum.
- Dropping Part B while abroad saves the premium but triggers a permanent 10% per year penalty if you re-enroll later.
- Medicare Advantage plans generally do not work abroad, and moving out of the plan’s service area ends enrollment.
What Medicare pays outside the U.S.
Almost nothing. Medicare covers care in the United States and its territories, and the exceptions are narrow enough to be unreliable as a plan:
| Situation | Coverage |
|---|---|
| You are in the U.S. and a foreign hospital is closer than any U.S. hospital that can treat the emergency | Covered |
| You are traveling a direct route between Alaska and the lower 48 through Canada and a Canadian hospital is closest during an emergency | Covered |
| You are on a ship within six hours of a U.S. port | Covered |
| You live abroad and need routine or emergency care | Not covered |
| You are traveling abroad on holiday and need care | Not covered by Medicare itself |
Coverage abroad is the exception, not the rule. Plan for travel medical insurance rather than relying on these situations.
The Medigap foreign travel benefit
Medigap plans C, D, F, G, M, and N include foreign travel emergency coverage for care that begins during the first 60 days of a trip: the policy pays 80% of billed charges for medically necessary emergency care after a $250 annual deductible, with a $50,000 lifetime maximum. That is genuinely useful for a hospital visit on a holiday and genuinely insufficient as a plan for living overseas, both because of the lifetime cap and because it only covers emergencies in the first 60 days of each trip. Standalone travel medical insurance, which is inexpensive relative to the risk, is the normal answer for anything longer, and it is worth buying for each trip regardless of which Medigap letter you hold. Which letters are available to you depends on when you became eligible, as the Plan F closure explains.
Keeping Part B versus dropping it
This is the real decision for people living abroad. Part A is usually free, so there is rarely a reason to drop it. Part B costs $202.90 a month in 2026 for coverage you cannot use while overseas, which tempts people to drop it. The catch: if you drop Part B and re-enroll later, you pay a 10% penalty for every 12 months you went without it, permanently, and you can generally only re-enroll during the January to March General Enrollment Period, with coverage starting the month after you sign up. For someone abroad five years, that is a 50% surcharge for life on top of the base premium.
The rough calculus: if you are certain you will never return to the U.S. for care, dropping Part B saves real money. If there is meaningful chance you will come back, whether to retire near family or for treatment, keeping it is usually the cheaper decision over a long horizon, and it avoids arriving home with a gap and a wait. Working abroad for an employer with group coverage can create a Special Enrollment Period that avoids penalties, which is worth confirming with Social Security before you drop anything. The penalty math is worked through in full separately.
If you are on Medicare Advantage
Advantage plans are built around local networks, so they generally provide nothing abroad beyond limited emergency coverage some plans include, and moving outside the plan’s service area ends your enrollment, which triggers a Special Enrollment Period to choose something else. If you are relocating overseas, sort this before you go rather than discovering it from abroad. Original Medicare, by contrast, does not care where in the U.S. you are, which is one of the practical arguments in the multi-state article and in the broader comparison.
Two administrative notes. Social Security can generally be paid to most countries, though a few are excluded, and your Part B premium continues to be deducted from it if you keep Part B. And keep a U.S. mailing address where you can reliably receive Medicare and Social Security correspondence, because notices that go unanswered create problems that are much harder to fix from another time zone.
Questions people also ask
Does Medicare cover me if I live abroad?
Should I keep Part B if I move overseas?
Does Medigap cover travel outside the United States?
Does Medicare Advantage work abroad?
Can I get Social Security while living abroad?
Sources for this article
- Medicare.govTravel coverage: what Medicare pays outside the United States and the narrow exceptions.
- Medicare.govBuying a Medigap policy: foreign travel emergency benefits by plan letter.
- SSA.govSocial Security and Medicare: enrollment, premiums, and benefits paid abroad.
Figures checked against these sources on September 30, 2026. We update within days when CMS publishes new amounts.
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