Small print: Do EU travellers get virus insurance?

And it could climb much higher if the patient needed intensive care or extended hospitalisation.

The Biblical scale of the pandemic has left tens of thousands of Europeans stranded following border closures around the world.

But when asked by EUobserver if travel insurance firms could get out of paying for healthcare costs by saying the events were an "act of God" - an industry term for an unforeseeable natural disaster - the European insurance federation did not rule it out.

"Circumstances differ greatly between EU countries - and between companies within each national market - in terms of the types of policies offered and the wordings of those policies," Insurance Europe said in a statement.

"Customers are advised to read their contracts and contact their insurers or insurance intermediaries should they have any questions," it told this website.

"In most countries, it will depend on the small print in the terms and conditions of health insurance contracts," a spokesman for Beuc, a pro-consumer NGO in Brussels, also said.

Insurance Europe, which has 35 staff in the EU capital, represents firms and their federations from 37 European countries, including most EU states.

Insurers will find it "progressively difficult ... in the immediate future" to "protect employees and customers" from events, the sector's EU regulator warned last week.

The industry had deep pockets, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa) in Frankfurt also noted.

"Stress tests have shown that the sector is well capitalised and able to withhold severe but plausible shocks," it said.

And the European Commission has proposed a €37bn virus fund to protect the European economy.

But EU institutions have said little on individuals' health liabilities overseas.

Eiopa has published three memos on coronavirus, but none of them mentioned coverage of travellers.

When EUobserver asked the commission if EU nationals could, one way or another, count on getting their costs back, it said it had no role to play in the matter.

That "depended" on "agreements with non-EU countries" and these were "up to individual member states", a commission spokeswoman said.

Some EU countries have published national guidelines, but these contained further small print.

"Medical costs of coronavirus abroad: Reimbursement from the basic insurance up to the Dutch rate. Additional costs possibly," Dutch consumer body Consumtenbond, for instance, said.

EU diaspora

There were some 80,000 EU nationals seeking help to get home from overseas amid worldwide border closures, the EU commission recently estimated.

That number was "changing quickly", EU officials said on Friday (20 March).

It was going down as some travellers got home, but it was going up again as other people declared themselves stuck.

Meanwhile, for EU nationals who needed treatment while visiting other member states, the European Health Insurance Card gave basic cover, the commission noted.

But the EU card also had terms and conditions.

It did "not guarantee free services. As each country's healthcare system is different, services that cost nothing at home might not be free in another country", the card blurb said.

The EU card covered British nationals during the Brexit transition period, British consumer affairs magazine Which? noted.

"Coronavirus is not deadly to everyone who catches it, but if you do pass away abroad, your travel insurance policy should cover the repatriation of your remains," the magazine also said.