Even the best planned vacations can be interrupted by glitches and emergencies. You lose your luggage. You slip, or catch a bug, and need medical treatment. These not only disrupt your itinerary, but can cost you a lot of money.
That’s where travel insurance (also called travel protection) comes in. Specially designed to address the situations and risks involved in travel, it provides coverage from the moment you leave, to the moment you return to your home.
For example, travel insurance can reimburse you for any baggage or items that you may lose during your trip. This is particularly important if you plan to buy anything of high value, such as local antiques, or are carrying very expensive jewellery or electronic equipment.
Your standard medical insurance also tends to be limited to a network area, so without travel insurance, you will have to pay for any hospitalization or medical treatments you receive while abroad. This can be very pricey, not to mention stressful: imagine being sick and broke in an unfamiliar country! If you are visiting a place where doctor’s bills and other emergency procedures are expensive, or where there are very real health risks, travel insurance is absolutely crucial.
Travel insurance is also very important if you plan to take a driving vacation. Many automobile policies will not extend coverage outside the country you live. The last thing you want to worry about is how to pay for a rental vehicle that got smashed by another driver, or take over the costs of repairing a car who you may have hit (a risk anyone takes by travelling through unfamiliar roads with unfamiliar driving rules).
Travel insurance can also provide protection against emergencies that are so specific to going abroad that they cannot be covered by your standard insurance policy. This includes trip interruption. Any fees or down payments that you may have made that would otherwise have been forfeited if you had suddenly cancelled your trip will be returned to you.
Travel protection plans can also provide assistance services like an emergency hotline and medical transportation services. This is very valuable when a crisis hits in a foreign country, where you may not speak the language or know your way around a city well enough to locate the nearest emergency facility. When you are distraught or distressed, or when time is of the essence and you need to get help right away, travel protection plans can be your safety net. You may be a stranger in a strange land, but you are not alone.
You may ask, “Why should I get travel insurance when I have really good regular insurance?” Many people are under the impression that their automobile, homeowners’ credit card and medical policies are so “extensive” that they would automatically provide protection anywhere in the world. That is not necessarily true. You need to read the fine print. If you don’t, and fail to take the additional coverage given by travel protection, then you may find out your insurance policies’ limitation the hard way: when you are caught in an emergency, and spending a large amount of money (on top of the deductibles and co-payments) with the hope of compensation very far off. Travel protection is a sure guarantee of security. Now you can take your vacation with complete peace of mind–and isn’t that what vacations are about?
By: Philip Nicosia
Posts Tagged ‘Health Risks’
The Importance of Travel Insurance
March 17th, 2010Does Your Health Insurance Go The Extra Mile When You Travel
December 2nd, 2009
International travel can be an exciting adventure, provided you are aware of the need for travel health insurance. You need to be aware that travel can, and does throw up any number of unpredictable situations.
Probably the most serious risk is the chance of an accident or illness occurring while you are overseas. Requiring emergency medical care, while in another country can be not only inconvenient but extremely problematic as well, if you do not have the right cover.
First of all, there is an unfamiliarity associated with being in a foreign country, with a completely different culture and a different medical system, which can intensify the already problematic issue of being in an accident or requiring any other kind of emergency medical help.
Trying to communicate with people in a different language is enough of an effort, without factoring in the currency conversions, international claims administration of the country of travel, and the time difference. If this is to be further complicated by a lack of insurance cover, one might find oneself totally lost, and “at sea”.
Whether you are residing in or visiting the US, your travel may throw up challenges for your existing healthcare cover. Both brief trips and extended vacations and relocation expose you to health risks not covered by your existing, domestic medical insurance.
Sometimes, tourists and immigrants, even regular business travelers, overlook the need for travel health insurance, simply assuming that their medical plan provides enough coverage. However, as a rule, never leave home without extra, supplementary travel health insurance.
Ask the travel agent who does your bookings, the financial institution you deal with regularly, or your doctor for references and suggestions. Supplemental travel health insurance is a must.
It is not wise to rely on your domestic health plan to cover sicknesses or injuries while you are in the US. In the worst case scenario, the policy might be useless in the US, in the best; it may only cover a small portion of the expenses.
Some international credit card companies now make it a part of their services to offer travel health insurance to their cardholders. Check with your card company; don’t just assume that coverage is included.
The card alone may not provide adequate health coverage. Some of these companies will charge a fee for travel insurance coverage; others may require you to pay for your travel using that particular credit card. In any case, make sure you know the conditions, requirements, and limitations of the provided cover before you leave for the US.
Available travel health insurance policies include short and long-term plans, as well as individual & group plans for international travelers, international students to the US, traveling business executives and even foreign missionaries.
Always carry the proof of insurance cover with you, and leave a copy with someone at home, in case of emergencies. Tell your travel agent, or a friend or family member, as well as your traveling companion how to get in touch with your insurer, in case you are incapacitated.
Anyone traveling outside their country of citizenship needs to be adequately covered by ample travel health insurance, regardless of where you are traveling to, and this is especially true of foreign nationals who are traveling to the USA.
From the basic set of vaccinations to emergency medical care, whatever the situation is, a good travel health insurance policy can give you complete peace of mind, on your trip to the US.
By: Will Moore
Travel Accident Insurance Should Be A Necessity
November 12th, 2009
Travel Accident Insurance Programs usually cater to those individuals who want some kind of insurance for themselves while traveling both inland as well as out of the country, to try and secure their financial risks in case of an accident or any untoward incident.
Travel medical insurance protects your health and covers most health risks while you are traveling. The coverage covers you ‘Travel Medical’ and’ Evacuation’ that insures you in case of an emergency during traveling. Short term plans to immediate ones, from even 5 days to a year and it generally covers accident, illness and emergencies.
Insurance provides accidental death and dismemberment for eligible individuals traveling on business and pleasure. One of course has to be eligible for insurance coverage. In case of business travel coverage, it is usually the company he/she is working for which acts as a guarantor for the individual.
Insurance coverage is always a matter of concern for most travelers.
All eligible individuals are covered for 24 hours a day, through out the world against accidental death and dismemberment. Most coverage spans start from the time an eligible person leaves his/her residence or work place or whichever is the place of origin of the travel.
The continuity of a trip apart from what has been specified will not be covered by the insurance. An insurance coverage does not include any loss, which occurs during that particular time period other than what has been specified. All travel procedures and conditions must be in accordance with what has already been agreed upon by both parties.
At times the travel accidental insurance does not cover certain activities, which might be designated as dangerous or hazardous by the insurance companies.
There are certain conditions under which the travel accident insurance does not cover, these being, both fatal and non-fatal incidents, incidents like suicide, attempt at self-destruction, and disease of any kind, bacterial infections except those which occur through accidents or wounds.
Most of the Travel Accident Insurance Plans pay according to the amount agreed upon to the beneficiary you have chosen for yourself. In case of an accidental death during traveling or unforeseen accidental circumstances, the sum will be paid to you or your benefactor depending on the circumstances.
After completing the insurance formalities and naming your beneficiary, you may change it whenever you want to with prior notice period. Usually accidental death reimbursements are normally compensated in a lump sum amount of cash.
Though if, your beneficiary chooses he or she may deposit the entire amount or fraction of the death benefit to any personal account established by the insurance carrier. Funds may be withdrawn as and when necessary by checks written against this account.
There are of course several benefits of an insurance coverage for travelers, more so if the nature of travel is unfamiliar or unknown. In such cases all hazards and inconveniences may be duly provided for by the insurance companies depending on the type of insurance coverage one has applied or opted for.
By: Will Moore
