How a company responds in a crisis can build loyalty or cause lasting reputational damage. This coverage provides employees peace of mind and protects both employees and brands.Shawn Austin
Senior Vice President and Head of Accident and Health, Everest Insurance® North America
May 8, 2025 - Managing business travel risk means protecting your employees — and your company’s reputation — in today’s elevated risk environment.
Business Travel Accident (BTA) insurance is an essential, yet often overlooked, component of risk management that should be top of mind for brokers and employers. Everest’s SVP and Head of Accident and Health for North America, Shawn Austin, discusses why.
What is BTA insurance, and why should it be a core part of an employer’s risk strategy?
Employers have a duty of care — legally, in much of the world, and morally, here in the United States — to protect employees when they travel for business. They must ensure workers receive urgent medical attention or are brought home safely if unforeseen circumstances occur, no matter where they are.
As companies pursue their global growth strategies, in-person interactions with colleagues, clients, and business partners have regained importance. Despite the growth of remote work and virtual events, business travel spend in 2024 has already reached pre-COVID levels, and the Global Business Travel Association projects it will surpass $2 trillion in 2028.
As business travel continues to increase, BTA insurance provides critical end-to-end protection that goes beyond standard healthcare benefits. Covering potential accidents or illness in the event of foreign or domestic travel, it provides peace of mind and security by offering real-time travel risk alerts, on-the-ground emergency health and evacuation services, and enhanced coverage for pandemic and extreme weather-related disruptions.
When a medical emergency or crisis occurs, employees expect their employer to be prepared. BTA ensures health and safety are prioritized, enabling rapid payment and coordination of care, evacuation, or mental health support without waiting on other insurance decisions (like workers’ compensation claims).
Given today’s elevated risk environment, how does BTA insurance help companies stay ahead of these emerging risks?
Risk managers are focused on resilience, readiness, and employee wellbeing, and BTA fits seamlessly into that mission.
In a post-pandemic world shaped by climate change and geopolitical instability, travel risks are ever-evolving and increasingly unpredictable. Whether it’s consultants visiting clients, executives traveling between offices or attending conferences, NGOs aiding in disaster zones, university students studying abroad, or engineers visiting overseas manufacturing facilities, employees perform best when they feel safe and supported. And in the event of an emergency when traveling for business, BTA insurance manages the logistics to deliver medical transport or on-site medical care — quickly and at no out-of-pocket cost or delay to the traveler.
Political instability, such as in Ukraine and Afghanistan, underscores these risks. When the State Department issues an evacuation order, it’s often already too late for a safe and expedient departure and employees could find themselves in a difficult situation. BTA continuously monitors and coordinates safe exits before situations escalate. We have seen clients successfully evacuated before ports closed during the Arab Spring, and others airlifted to safety and for treatment after sustaining serious injuries while on assignment.
How a company responds in a crisis can build loyalty or cause lasting reputational damage. BTA provides employees peace of mind and protects both employees and brands.
How does BTA fill gaps left by traditional healthcare, workers’ comp, and travel insurance policies?
Many employers underestimate BTA’s value. While often viewed as relevant only for international travel, it provides important medical and logistical coverage for domestic trips, too.
Standard U.S. health insurance may not guarantee care abroad, especially in countries requiring upfront payment. Workers’ comp processes can delay urgent care. Credit cards offer only limited protection. BTA activates immediately, focusing on care first and claims later. As work travel continues to grow, these gaps widen and BTA helps close them to ensure employees are safe and risks are mitigated.
BTA insurance coverage extends beyond just the employee; it also includes coverage for board members, clients, spouses, and children who are accompanying employees on business travel — or relocating alongside them.
It’s not just a reactive, claims-based policy. BTA delivers real-time support when it matters most. Travel assistance providers, like Healix International, help deliver pre-departure advice and assessments, travel tracking, prescription medication support, access to local care, and emergency evacuations, enabling a robust duty of care program for business travelers.
With business travel surging and global risks on the rise, this coverage is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a vital part of any company’s risk management strategy. Are you prepared to help your employees return home safely if an emergency happens?
This article originally ran in The Insurer with the title, “Business travel accident insurance is more crucial than ever.”