Travel Insurance

Usually when people make travel plans the last thing on their minds is to purchase travel insurance. However, travel insurance provides many benefits to travelers and peace of mind in knowing that you are covered for unexpected events. Some of the advantages of travel insurance include trip cancellation protection, personal property coverage, personal liability, and medical assistance.

Trip Cancellation

With certain travel insurance plans you are able to cancel your trip for any reason and receive a full refund. However, most insurance options will provide financial reimbursement for trip cancellation for only specific reasons such as an illness, death, or a major life catastrophe like a house fire and will only refund a portion of the trip. Valid reasons for trip cancellation and reimbursement amounts vary depending on the insurance carrier.

Personal Property Coverage

Travel insurance covers your personal belongings, luggage, and money you carry with you on your trip up to certain limits. The amount you will be reimbursed for is a predetermined amount and will be outlined in your policy.

Personal Liability

If you cause personal injury or damage to another person’s property while on your trip, a travel insurance policy will cover your legal expenses and payments to the third party. There are policy limits and exclusions with this benefit that restricts the amount of payment and details what conditions are acceptable.

Medical Assistance

Travel insurance provides payment for medical assistance and emergency care in the event you become ill. Depending on your selected plan, the insurance will usually cover all related hospital and treatment costs.

No matter how well you plan your vacations and trips unexpected events can happen that are out of your control. Travel insurance will help to safe guard against situations that could otherwise be devastating and very expensive. The price of travel protection is cost-effective and usually priced at about 4 to 5 percent of the total cost of your trip. Many companies offer flexible plans with a variety of benefits to help travelers select options to specifically fit their needs.

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I have a coworker who recently and unexpectedly had to travel to Europe for a family emergency. He was met with some issues surrounding his return flight and ended up having to miss his flight home. Scuttlebutt in the office is that he had to “eat” the entire cost of the missed flight and that it was several thousand dollars.

Could this have been avoided by the use of travel insurance? Well, in truth, his particular issue probably wouldn’t have been covered but it leads me to question the importance of purchasing travel insurance. I have some international travel planned in the near future and I thought it’d be important to look into this type of coverage so I don’t end up losing a ton of money.

According to what I’ve found there are five basic types of travel insurance.

1.

Trip Interruption or Cancellation

2.

Medical Coverage while traveling

3.

Evacuation Insurance

4.

Baggage Insurance

5.

Flight Insurance

The first type, trip cancellation and interruption insurance covers you in the event that you have to cancel a trip for which you’ve already paid due to a list of acceptable reasons. These reasons may include sickness, death, or loss of job. It also can cover you if you miss a flight due to inclement weather or an accident. Each policy will vary on what specific incidents are covered and the coverage may vary for each specific incident.

Medical coverage can cover you even if you have a medical plan through your employer. Some of these policies will pay the cost of medical expenses incurred on the trip before your existing plan ever has to be accessed. In a foreign country, this could be a godsend.

Evacuation coverage can help you pay the costs of getting you to a facility where you can receive proper medical care. If your travel is taking you to a remote or impoverished region with limited healthcare facilities it may be necessary, in the event of a medical emergency, to catch a helicopter or a private jet out of there. I probably don’t have to tell you that a trip in a private jet, especially an unplanned, emergency one, is going to be very costly.

Baggage insurance can reimburse you if your baggage is lost or damaged. However, this type of coverage is usually lumped into other travel insurance you may buy. There is a chance that the loss would also be covered to some extent by your existing homeowners or renters’ insurance policy. Check with your individual carrier for details.

Flight insurance is intended to pay a benefit to your surviving heirs in the event your flight goes down and you die. Morbid – and unnecessary if you already carry sufficient life insurance to cover your loved ones.

So should you or shouldn’t you purchase travel insurance? Well, that decision lies completely in your hands. But hopefully you have a better idea of what your options are now.