One of the most overlooked aspects when traveling is travel insurance. In this post, you will find out what is travel insurance and why you need one before the next time you plan a trip somewhere.
What is travelling insurance? Travelling insurance is an emergency coverage plan to provide you compensation, medical care and support in case of an emergency while you’re traveling abroad.
Why do you need travel insurance? What would you do if you get stuck in an unwanted situation while traveling abroad? That’s what a travel insurance is for. It provides you with a financial safety net whenever you’re traveling abroad or even in your home country.
For instance, if you lose your luggage in a foreign destination and don’t know what to do, travel insurance will cover your losses incurred. This is just one example of how buying travel insurance can save you thousands of dollars if an emergency happens abroad. You will find that most of the health insurance plans available do not offer overseas coverage and travel credit cards offer limited protection. Hence, travel insurance comes to the rescue against any unforeseen circum. We advise you to purchase travel insurance in advance of your trip date.
What is covered by travel insurance?
Most of the basic travel insurance plans cover your electronic devices like laptops, camera and phones are covered, but up to a small limit. Coverage for most of the countries that you visit, medical expenses, flight accidents are accidental deaths; Coverage for injuries and sudden illness. (keep in mind that if you need to be sent home due to an injury, travel insurance will not cover any charges upon arrival back to your home country provides 24/7 emergency assistance); Coverage for lost, damaged or stolen possessions like luggage and documents; Coverage for booking cancellations in case of sudden illness or any other emergenc; Coverage in case of political emergencies or natural disasters rental car coverage. Please note that this is just a general overview of what is covered under a travel insurance plan and it can vary from company to company. You can always buy extra insurance for additional coverage.
Now let’s talk about what is not covered by most of the travel insurance plan.
Accidents while performing extreme adventure sports like paragliding, bungee jumping. Of course unless you want to pay for extra coverage that can take care of this, situations that can occur due to excessive alcohol, drug consumption or reckless behaviour. Carelessness while handling your luggage, preexisting conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and visiting the doctor for general checks up are not covered. Lost or stolen cash, or if your things are lost due to leaving the stuff unintended. In case of civil unrest, if your government has not given any orders for evacuation, then you’re probably stuck there.
Is corona virus pandemic covered? We realized that most of the insurance plans do not provide coverage for pandemic. This hasn’t been a concern for many travelers, until recently when the corona virus hit the world. But now you don’t want to be stuck in a foreign country without any insurance coverage for the ongoing pandemic.
Pandemic coverage is the foremost priority of every traveler these day. Some companies have adapted to this new reality and started providing limited coverage for corona virus pandemic and other pandemic as well. This may cover emergency medical care, trip cancellations, trip interruption or transportation to home if you can track the corona virus during your travels.
Before you plan to buy insurance, read the document regarding pandemic to know what is covered and what is not covered. Call the insurance company and talk to their representative to clear up any assumptions. Keep in min that some insurance companies are stating that traveling to countries with a covid-19 travel banned will be excluded from your insurance coverage. Every policy is different in terms of what coverage they are offering. So please read carefully before you purchase it. Some countries are also requiring mandatory covid-19 insurance to enter the country, for example, the Bahamas.
How to choose the best travel insurance plan?
Insurance is $1 billion business and you will find thousands of companies and policies. It can be very confusing to choose one that covers all your needs. Here is a list of things that you should keep in mind before choosing a travel insurance plan, make sure that you’re buying your travel insurance from a reputable company. One policy may differ from another in terms of budget and coverage provided. What might suit one individual may not necessarily be suitable for someone else. It is important to assess your needs and requirements before choosing an insurance policy. Check if everything you consider important is covered. Be aware of what your travel insurance does not cover, read all the policy documents carefully before purchasing the policy. This is an important step to ensure that you get the coverage for what you want.
There are 2 types of policies, depending on the duration of the trip. You can choose between a single trip policy and a multi trip policy. A single trip policy will provide coverage on a single trip, which can be a yearly vacation. On the other hand, a multi trip policy provides coverage for multiple trips in a single year. A multi trip policy saves you the hassle of taking a separate policy every time you travel and helps save money.
Ensure that your travel insurance offers a high coverage limit on the medical expenses, say, at least $100,000 and more. A high coverage limit is preferred because if you get sick, injured or need serious medical help, do you want to make sure your hospital bills are covered? Make sure the policy also covers emergency evacuation and care because that is separate from your medical expenses. Your policy can also cover emergency evacuation in the occurrence of a natural disaster. This protection should cover an expensive up to $300,000, make sure to go through the documents and double check if your evacuation coverage will pay for you to get back home, or will it send you to the nearest medical facility. If you’re traveling with your electronics, make sure you have coverage if they are lost, stolen or break. Lastly, it should provide pandemic coverage.
For a safe and stress free traveling experience, we strongly advise you to travel insured. There are only benefits to traveling with insurance. Accidents can happen while traveling, even when we are very cautious and travel insurance provides complete protection against any kind of problems you may face while traveling abroad, so choose wisely and be safe.
Good luck!
