Planning to travel abroad sometime soon? While you may not have done so in the past, for your upcoming trip you should consider purchasing travel insurance before you leave home. Buying travel insurance is the smartest, safest thing you can do to prepare yourself for the potential financial and medical pitfalls associated with travel.
Maybe you are a particularly safe traveler – one who avoids risks at all costs. You may eat at only the cleanest-looking restaurants, avoid drinking tap water, stay out of dangerous areas, and use only the safest forms of ground travel. But, even when taking all of these precautions, travel can be a very risky activity indeed.
The reason why travel is so risky -and even dangerous – is that, put simply, when you are on the road you are out of your element. You can do thinks and make decisions in reaction to the events around you in ways you might not tend to while on your home turf.
But, even if you are traveling somewhere that is statistically as safe or safer than where you live, buying travel insurance is still advisable. Why? Because most of the ways that your current insurance policy covers you do not apply when you set foot outside of your country of residence. The bottom line is that, if you value your financial health, physical health, and your time, it is smart to invest in travel insurance before you go on your next trip.
What Travel Insurance Covers
If you should decide to purchase travel insurance, what will it cover? Well, of course the answer varies depending upon the type of coverage you buy, as well as where or whom you buy it from. Here is a list of the types of things that this travel insurance generally covers:
* Medical and hospital expenses while abroad
* Emergency evacuation and being sent back to your own country
* Accidental death, injury or disablement
* Trip departure delay, cancellation or interruption
* Return of a minor to your home (repatriation)
* Funeral abroad and the sending of your remains back to your home country
* Loss, theft or damage to personal possessions and cash
* Delayed baggage and emergency partial replacement
* Legal assistance
* Personal liability and rental car damage excess
Special Types of Travel Insurance
In addition to these common forms of travel insurance, there are available a number of special types whose premiums cost a bit more or significantly more than do the premiums for more standard types of insurance. Types of coverage include, for example:
* Allowances for certain pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes
* Participation in sports that include an element of risk (e.g., bungee jumping)
* Travel to high-risk areas or countries
* Kidnap and ransom insurance
Who Offers Travel Insurance?
Your primary choices for purchasing travel insurance are these: a. the travel agent who books your trip; b. the company who provides a tour or a service, such as a cruise line or tour operator; and, c. an independent insurance company or agent.
Purchasing for Planned Domestic vs. International Travel
If you will be travelling internationally, you usually purchase your travel insurance in your country of residence (where you normally live). This is the place to which you would want to be returned in the event of a medical emergency or death while abroad. Even if you already have medical coverage for your country of residence, it is not safe to assume that your insurance policy will cover medical or illness-related incidents that occur while you are on your trip. But, check just in case.
For domestic travel within your own country, you may not need to purchase insurance to cover medical-related incidents, since presumably your current health or medical coverage will cover that. However, you may still want to consider buying insurance to cover items like flight cancellations, delayed or lost baggage, and other potential situations that could become quite costly if not properly covered.
