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Friday, January 18, 2013

To get travel insurance or not?

People buy travel insurance mainly to protect their investment if they have to cancel a trip or get medical coverage when they're traveling abroad. Once you're outside U.S. borders, most private health insurance companies and Medicare don't provide any coverage, even in an emergency- a fact travelers tend to learn about only after their claims from foreign hospitals are rejected.
3 Main Types of Policies:
  • Package travel policies that offer multiple benefits, including coverage for trip cancellation, lost baggage, and emergency medical expenses.
  • Policies that cover only emergency medical care, either for a single trip or multiple trips within a year.
  • Medical evacuation policies, which cover primarily the cost of transportation to a decent hospital if you're injured or get sick.
If you're considering buying travel insurance, it's important to understand that it covers only precisely defined circumstances or events- and there are a lot of exceptions lurking in the fine print.
Travel insurance prices are based on a combination of factors: Age, amount of coverage, and cost/ length of trip. A general guideline is that package travel policies cost 4 to 7 of a trips price and medical policies cost roughly $20 to $50 for $50,000-$100,000 worth of coverage.

Travel Insurance Sellers:
Here are some of the main travel insurances providers in the United States. All sell insurance direct, but you can also purchase their policies through third parties, such as InsureMyTrip.com.
  1. Access America
  2. CSA Travel Protection
  3. International Medical Group
  4. Medjet Assist
  5. Travel Guard
  6. Travelex
In the end, weather you travel insured or not is entirely up to you. My suggestion, ask yourself some key questions, like are you willing to cancel this trip for an emergency? And decide if the price of the trip warrants the additional cost of the insurance. The more expensive the trip, the more likely you NEED insurance. Finally, where are you traveling? If you're headed off to some place with less than reliable health care, like Honduras or Columbia then you may want the coverage.
Safe Travels!
~Greet

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