Travel insurance isn’t just for expensive vacations, trips overseas, and long journeys. It’s important to buy this insurance for every trip because you don’t know what may happen when you’re far from home! People often ask me, “Do I need travel insurance? Well, yes you do!
This insurance is for securing investment in your vacation. No one can blame you for being cautious to add another expense to your travel budget after you’ve already paid for the airline, accommodations, meals, and activities. Nonetheless, if you can’t afford to lose that money in the event of an emergency, this insurance is a wise purchase.
In this guide, I will share with you everything you need to know about travel insurance and why you need it. Let’s dive in!
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Why do you need a travel insurance service?
Table of Contents
As I mentioned earlier, travel insurance is very important. You should get this insurance if:
- Your trip’s expense is far greater than you can afford to lose.
- You are traveling internationally.
- You are visiting a remote location with few nearby healthcare facilities.
- You are visiting a hurricane-prone country and have many prepaid, non-refundable excursions, day trips, and activities scheduled.
- Your journey will include connecting flights or several destinations.
- You want to be compensated for Covid-related cancellations and medical issues.
- You want to be reimbursed if you have to cancel your trip or return home early for whatever reason.
Types of travel insurance Packages
Now that you know why you need travel insurance services, let’s explore the different types :
1. Comprehensive Trip Insurance
If you are a tourist, this is for you! Package travel insurance covers cancellations, interruptions, hurricanes, medical problems, evacuation, and lost, stolen, and delayed baggage, among other things.
2. Travel medical
This package is for you if you have existing health issues. When traveling outside your native country, travel medical insurance provides emergency medical coverage. It is also known as Travel Health Insurance, International Medical Insurance, and International Travel insurance. It covers medical emergencies, accidents, medical evacuations, and repatriation.
Travel medical plans frequently feature comprehensive-style benefits, but those benefits are limited. This form of insurance plan concentrates on medical and evacuation coverage.
3. Travel Accident
Travel accident insurance offers worldwide accident protection as well as term life benefits. This plan focuses on AD&D and term life insurance benefits when you are on an insured trip or throughout your annual coverage period, depending on the plan.
Travel accident insurance is ideal for tourists who are concerned about having life insurance and AD&D coverage.
4. Evacuation (Medevac)
This plan is for travelers who have critical health conditions but still have to travel out of their native town. Medical evacuation plans, often called Medevac plans, encompass both emergency medical evacuations and international security evacuations.
These plans are centered on emergency evacuation services to transport travelers to the nearest hospital or back home. Medical evacuation strategies are ideal for cruise passengers who have health insurance.
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Benefits of travel insurance
1. Trip cancellation
What are the chances that you won’t be able to take the trip you’ve been planning for months? You have taken time off from work, booked everything appropriately, and completed the necessary documentation, but there are factors beyond your control. Having this insurance policy means that if something unexpected happens, you can get your money back or reschedule your vacation. Travel insurance acts as a safety net.
2. Medical expenses
If you intend to go overseas you need to obtain travel health insurance. Travel health insurance policies often provide global coverage, allowing you to seek emergency medical care anywhere in the globe.
Food poisoning or a sprained ankle may necessitate medical attention. Travel insurance will cover your medical bills while overseas, protecting you from having to pay for them out of pocket. Countries such as England and the United States will need you to present proof of insurance before they can treat you.
3. Assistance services
Often, the insurance team is available 24/7 in case you need to contact them to determine whether something is covered by your travel insurance policy. You will feel at ease knowing that someone will speak to you and understand how much everything costs to ensure you are in good hands.
They will counsel you based on the country you are in and provide you with the best options, whether it is to return home or seek treatment there.
4. Emergency evacuation
We currently live in a very volatile world in which anything can happen at any time. You need to know that if anything happens, you can leave the nation as soon as possible. This insurance will assist you in facilitating an emergency evacuation and paying for the necessary air tickets to get you home safely.
5. Affordability
There isn’t much of a difference between a brief single trip and a long trip travel insurance. Most of these insurance products are extremely inexpensive. It is best to obtain this insurance before embarking on an adventure or vacation. Another advantage of having this insurance is having peace of mind while traveling outside of your home country.
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When is travel insurance unnecessary?
If you are not putting down substantial non-refundable trip deposits you do not need travel insurance. This insurance may not be required if you are taking a low-cost domestic trip. If you’re going on a long weekend break with friends and intend to watch a show and go shopping, you probably won’t have many pre-paid, non-refundable charges.
In addition, if you become ill or injured while traveling in the United States, your health insurance will cover any medical expenses. In that instance, this insurance might not be necessary. You may also not require this insurance if your credit card benefits include it.
Check with your credit card company before planning a trip to be aware of any applicable travel coverage.
What does travel insurance not cover?
Generally, this type of insurance does not cover losses caused by factors and circumstances within your control. It’s intended to protect your vacation investment if unforeseen circumstances ruin your plans.
For example, travel cancellation benefits apply only if you cancel for reasons stated in your policy, which are unforeseeable situations beyond your control. That is, if you just decide not to go on your vacation, you will not be able to make a conventional trip cancellation insurance claim.
You’d need CFAR coverage for that. All policies contain exclusions, you should read the fine print of your policy and become acquainted with what your coverage does not cover.