The five topics
- Trip planning & accessible destinations. null (Guide in preparation)
Confirm a hotel room's accessibility matches your needs before you book. - Airports, flights & passenger problems. Flight canceled or significantly changed: your refund rights and what to save
Know your refund rights when a flight is canceled or significantly changed, and what records to keep. - Travel health, medicines & coverage. Does your health plan cover you when you travel abroad?
Find out whether your health plan covers you abroad, and what to arrange before you go. - Cars, maintenance & ownership costs. null (Guide in preparation)
Sort out who pays the medical bills after a car crash in California. - Commuting, transit & road safety. null (Guide in preparation)
Understand California's driving rules after a diagnosis such as epilepsy, dementia or vision loss.
Travel goes wrong in predictable ways: a canceled flight, a health plan that doesn't work abroad, a hotel room that turns out not to be accessible, a crash that leaves a stack of medical bills, a diagnosis that raises the question of whether you can still drive. These guides help you prepare before the trip and act afterward. They rely on the rules of the agencies involved, from the Department of Transportation and Medicare to the State Department, and they explain what to save, what to ask and who to complain to.
What this area covers
Trip planning & accessible destinations. How to confirm, before you book, that a hotel room's accessibility matches your needs.
Airports, flights & passenger problems. Flight canceled or significantly changed? Your refund rights, and which records to keep.
Travel health, medicines & coverage. Does your health plan cover you when you travel abroad? What Medicare, Medigap, Medi-Cal and private plans do and don't pay outside the United States, and what to arrange before you go.
Cars, maintenance & ownership costs. How medical bills are paid after a car crash in California: auto insurance, health insurance and liens.
Commuting, transit & road safety. California's driving rules after a diagnosis such as epilepsy, dementia or vision loss, and who reports it.
Start here
- Flight canceled or significantly changed: your refund rights and what to save, with a flight disruption records checklist
- Does your health plan cover you when you travel abroad?, with a before-you-go travel coverage checklist
From the patient education and policy libraries
- Medication Safety During Travel
- Why does one emergency room visit generate several bills?
- Medi-Cal in Plain Language
Before you go
Carry a current medication list, your insurance cards and your plan's number for care away from home. Keep confirmations, receipts and any written answers from airlines, hotels and insurers. Several guides here depend on having them.
Where this connects
Accessibility rights, passenger protections and the coverage rules that follow you across a border are where travel meets health law. When a guide here tells you to file a complaint or ask for a refund in writing, it links to the rule or agency behind that right.