Traveling internationally is an elaborate process that encompasses several tasks that need to be ticked off the checklist. These essential tasks comprise of researching the best available options for hotels and flights, booking flight tickets, confirming hotel reservations, deciding on what to do for the duration of stay, preparing vital documents, and many more. Despite all these activities in preplanning, traveling has become much easier nowadays, and safer as well.
Whether you are a frequent traveler or not, you surely must have heard about travel insurance. So what exactly do we mean by travel insurance? Do you really need one while traveling to ensure travel safety? Why or why not? This write-up will pragmatically provide you with answers to all these questions.
What is Travel Insurance?
Travel insurance is more than just any ordinary travel document. This document needs to be paid for and warrants travel safety by covering costs and losses that may arise unexpectedly during the time of traveling, both in the case of domestic and international travel. Travel insurance covers a myriad of potential and unforeseen expenses that may arise during the tenure of your travel.
Companies that sell travel packages and tickets usually provide customers with the option to purchase travel insurance as well, sometimes referred to as “travelers insurance’. It is a handy document to possess, especially if you are going for a long journey or costly itinerary where mandating travel safety is crucial.
What does Travel Insurance cover?
Travel insurance covers a myriad of costs and expenses that may arise as an outcome of unfortunate events during the period of traveling that are normally nonrefundable by nature. These may or may not include covering damage done to personal property whilst traveling, rented equipment such as rental cars, costs incurred due to flight delays, emergency cash transfer, assistance services, ID theft protection, concierge services, and sometimes even the cost of paying a ransom under adversarial situations.
To simplify, travel insurance can be broken down into a few broad categories, which are:
1. Trip Cancellation or Interruption Insurance
This insurance covers the various nonrefundable expenses or losses that may occur if you ever have to cancel a trip. Under this insurance coverage, you will be refunded the portion of the money that you prepaid as your trip cost. In another case under unprecedented situations, if you ever have to travel back home prior to your fixed date under opposing circumstances, this insurance will provide for your additional expenses that will be required to make arrangements in order to return home on an earlier date.
However, there must be a valid reason for canceling the trip to avail of this coverage. Some commonly accepted reasons include sudden onset of illness, death of an immediate family member, unanticipated business conflicts, and weather-related issues.
2. Baggage and Personal Effects Insurance
This category of insurance covers some part of the costs incurred related to your possessions and protects belongings that were lost, stolen, or damaged during your travel. This may cover things such as loss of checked luggage, baggage delay up to some amount, reimbursement of valuables lost that was contained inside the luggage, but are not limited to these only.
Different companies opt for different travel insurance policies providing you with optimum travel safety plans. In fact, most airline companies will reimburse the cost to travelers if their baggage was lost or damaged due to their error. But taking this additional precautionary measure will add an extended layer of protection.
3. Accidental Death or Flight Accident Insurance
Anticipating the worst-case scenario, in a very unfortunate event where you may meet with a tragic accident which may result in major defection to your body parts, or even death while traveling, this insurance will cover some of your incurred costs. It will also take care to safely send back your belongings to your home.
Furthermore, this sort of travel insurance also encompasses paying benefits to surviving beneficiaries who were accompanying the traveler who was faced with this mishap. It is also mostly applicable to a licensed commercial airliner.
It is necessary to note that this insurance can be used if only the victim faces death due to an unprecedented event or accident. In case of death during travel due to terminal illness, drug overdose, or suicide, this service cannot be redeemed.
Additionally, if the traveler already has life insurance, this may not be necessary. Other than that, the reimbursements received from this will add to the benefits received by the beneficiaries.
4. Travel Medical Insurance
This travel safety plan can be split into two categories, being short-term medical coverage and major medical coverage. Both these categories differ in terms of the time span of coverage, amount of expenses, and other policies. For short term medical coverage, the insurance policy generally can cover anytime between 5 and 365 days. On the other hand, major medical coverage is applicable if a person is traveling for six months to a year.
This travel insurance contains a broad spectrum of expenses incurred inclusive of spotting and transportation to the nearest hospital upon being injured or afflicted. Some policies may also provide for the medical expenses incurred, payment for an extended stay at the medical facility, obtaining foreign language services, and medical evacuation at home to receive care under the €œrepatriation benefit€.
However, it is of paramount importance to thoroughly read the terms and conditions before deciding on this travel insurance because some provisions may coincide with your already existing medical insurance benefits.
There may also be general exclusions due to preexisting medical conditions, making this travel safety measure redundant for certain people.
Why do you need Travel Insurance?
Needless to say, the aforementioned travel insurance and coverages will prove to be highly beneficial under adverse circumstances. Although buying additional travel insurance comes with added costs, the costs are still minor compared to what you may have to pay if an unanticipated calamity befalls on you.
Some major benefits of purchasing additional travel safety measures are:
1. Avoiding major expenses
While insurance costs can be high, it will eventually save you from paying exorbitant amounts for things that you did not even plan. By paying some additional amount, you are in fact saving yourself from paying huge amounts later. Especially medical costs for foreigners abroad can reach sky-high limits.
You may not even have such an amount ready on hand or not have the means to accumulate it in another country, which will land you into greater trouble. Even if you do not need it during your travel if all goes well, it will be beneficial to others in the insurance pool, making this a win-win situation.
2. An added sense of safety
While insurance coverage is just an extra precautionary measure for an incident that may not even occur, it is still handy to have. In a foreign country, many things can go wrong, and definitely it will be far more difficult to overcome these antagonistic situations abroad than it would be in ones home country. There exists language barriers, different policy and regulations, distinct safety and legal terms, and whatnot.
While falling into an adverse circumstance will cause you a headache during your travel, being insured will somewhat reduce your worry and fear. So buying travel insurance will provide you with an added sense of safety for a stress-free itinerary, while the insurance provider takes care of the rest.
3. Protection and activity cover
Travel insurance essentially provides protection and coverage for unforeseen events that may or may not occur during your itinerary. It will protect you against a lot of mishaps that may arise, even in the final moment. This encompasses last minute trip cancellation, lost or damaged baggage, health expenditures, emergency evacuation, and even death and accidents.
Besides, people tend to participate in thrilling activities such as parasailing, bungee jumping, jet-skiing, sky diving, and mountain climbing during their travel. These adventures of a lifetime come with a greater risk of the occurrence of a mishap. Thus, many insurance policies will cover part of the damage or loss incurred as a result of such activities.
4. Opt for the greater good
Travel insurance benefits are actually quite affordable and easy to find, as opposed to seeming expensive given their myriad of benefits. There are options for budget-friendly travel insurance plans that offer coverage for the entire family so that all members of your family can enjoy their vacation to the fullest.
Not just that, but many insurance companies also come with the option of enhancing your travel safety coverage by taking additional benefits outside their standard coverage plans that you can pick according to your needs.
Overview
Travel insurance is often an overlooked decision while planning your itinerary. However, this should be given equal importance as deciding on your travel budget, selection of an airline company and a hotel, picking a travel agency, activities to do during your stay, and the number of days to travel.
Travel insurances are easy to find and therefore must not be left out from these vital travel considerations to ensure maximum travel safety.