Ready for Takeoff: Here’s How Travel Insurance Works, Why It Matters

There’s so much to experience, so many things to see beyond your usual commute from home to work, vice versa. It’s nice to roam in an unknown city, free and easy. Leaving your cares behind while still covered is the purpose of travel insurance.

Buying travel insurance before your trip might be the last thing on your mind, something that you think is unnecessary. But, anything can happen while overseas. What if your trip got canceled or delayed, your baggage lost, or you got into an accident while riding a motorbike?

Be an informed and a protected traveler.

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Why Buy Travel Insurance?

For your peace of mind. You may not get to use the policy, which is well and good. In case of travel mishaps and emergencies covered by your policy, it’s wise to keep one handy.

So, how do you decide between buying and not buying a policy for your trip abroad? Two things.

First is when your health insurance excludes medical emergencies when abroad. Second is the price of your trip, i.e. how much will you lose due to non-refundable items like airplane tickets, hotel reservations, or cruise packages?

So, What’s Travel Insurance For?

• Trip interruption and cancellation
• Lost/delayed baggage
• Medical expense

It’s ideal to buy your insurance policy before traveling anywhere. It’s always important to check with your insurer and read the policy for risks covered.

As one insurer said, if it’s not mentioned in the policy, then it is not covered.

Standard travel insurance covers trip cancellation and interruption. There are various reasons for canceling your tip, e.g. death or sickness of a traveling companion, natural disaster, or worst, when the tour operator or airline went bankrupt.

For as long as the cause of the delay or cancellation is covered by your policy, you’ll get reimbursed up to the amount of your coverage.

Your credit card issuer might also offer some form of trip cancellation coverage so be sure to check with them.

This happens a lot. While you can get an airline to pay items in your delayed baggage, it’s never a bad idea to insure your baggage in case it gets lost or stolen at the airport. Some insurance packages extend to cameras and gadgets stolen or lost while traveling.

Accidents and medical emergencies can happen. If your health insurance coverage is limited to domestic hospital stays, consider getting medical coverage when you get sick or injured abroad. There is standalone medical insurance for travelers.

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One more thing, are you into extreme sports or adventures? You’ll likely need additional or separate coverage because standard travel insurance is limited to certain sports up to a certain speed or altitude.

Shopping for a Traveler’s Insurance

When buying travel insurance, know what you want to insure. The costs especially the premiums vary from there.

There are single policies as there are annual policies. If you travel twice or thrice a year, it might be cheaper to maintain an annual policy.

Always shop and compare prices among insurers. Feel free to ask for insurance quotes.

Don’t forget to ask about exclusions and limitations because your claim will depend on it.

Here’s to a safe and hassle-free trip!

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