Travel insurance

Planning a trip is an exciting prospect – but it’s well worth-while planning for possible disasters while on your trip. There are many sorts of policies from a variety of suppliers: take some time to think about what type of insurance you may need.

What sort of insurance is offered?

The two main types of travel insurance policies are trip cancellation or interruption and medical coverage while traveling. Trip cancellation or interruption coverage reimburses you for any nonrefundable payments or deposits (particularly important if you have to prepay either a deposit or full payment for accommodation). If anything happens mid-way through your trip, interruption insurance will reimburse you for the prepaid unused portion of your trip if you cannot complete it (and possibly reimburses you for an earlier airline ticket home). Medical insurance coverage usually covers the costs of medical care and transportation services if you need treatment elsewhere.

Cost?

There are policies that include both trip-cancellation/interruption and medical coverage (which will cost approximately 3 – 8% of the price of your trip). Cancellation/interruption coverage is usually calculated on the non-refundable portion of your trip

Where to buy travel insurance?

If you have a trusted insurance company (perhaps they supply your home insurance) ask them. There are many well-established travel insurance suppliers that you can find on the web. Wherever you decide to purchase your policy, read the entire policy to make sure you understand what is covered and what exclusions may exist. You may also find that your existing health insurance policy may cover you to some extent when traveling. Check with your insurance company.

Warnings:

If you have health problems before you travel (pre-existing conditions) be aware of limitations on travel health insurance policies. Most health insurance policies do not cover injury (or death) if you are participating in dangerous activities. What may not seem dangerous to you may qualify as dangerous to the health insurer – so read your policy carefully. You can get supplementary adventure sports coverage.

What defines trip Cancellation?

Cancellation insurance typically covers you if you cannot travel due to illness or death (of you or your immediate family). Some policies cover cancellation because of business reasons (cancelled meetings etc.). Some will pay if you are laid off from your job. However, very rarely will you be covered if you just change your mind about going on your trip. Read the fine print carefully to see what the valid reasons for cancellation are. If you cancel because of terrorist activity or political unrest (if your government issues an advisory against traveling to certain countries) some policies will accept this as a valid reason for cancelling. If you cancel because of natural disasters (typhoons, earthquakes, floods etc.) you need to read your policy particularly carefully. If your hotel is still open and the planes are still flying – despite very unpleasant conditions when you get there, you probably will not be covered. There are supplementary insurances that can be purchased to cover such events.