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Community News Feature Articles Featured Article: Understanding Travel Insurance
Community News Feature Articles Featured Article: Understanding Travel Insurance
| Featured Article: Understanding Travel Insurance |
 No matter how carefully you plan a trip, things can go haywire in ways that you can’t control. Delays because of weather, lost luggage or sudden medical emergencies can disrupt your best-laid plans. Purchasing travel insurance might be a safeguard against unforeseen problems – or might not. It depends on the type of insurance you buy, who you buy it from, and whether you actually need it at all.The term “travel insurance” is used to describe a wide range of policies that cover a number of typical travel mishaps. Some are like short-term life insurance policies, paying out to your designated beneficiary if your plane crashes. My mother religiously purchased this type of insurance from a Mutual of Omaha airport kiosk at embarkation of every flight we made as I was growing up. Other policies cover your losses if you can’t travel on your pre-paid vacation, reimburse you for expenses if you miss a flight, pay you the equivalent of purchased necessities if your bags are misrouted, or cover your medical expenses if you’re sick – or even hospitalized – while traveling. The most potentially valuable type of travel insurance covers an unexpected trip cancellation or delay. If you’ve had to prepay most or all of the cost of your trip – which is common with package tours and cruises – then it’s worth considering a trip-cancellation policy which will reimburse you if you have to call off your trip due to a family emergency, or outside forces like natural disasters or labor strikes make it impossible for you to travel. But if you’re traveling on a refundable plane ticket and booked into a hotel that you can cancel on a day’s notice, this type of travel insurance isn’t necessary. Baggage coverage is a good idea if you’re checking valuables or planning on making a lot of connections where your bags will be transferred outside of your control. Each connection that requires your baggage to transferred from one plane to another effectively doubles the chances your bags will be lost. Most policies will cover you for up to $1,500 is your luggage is lost, and “delayed baggage” coverage will usually reimburse up to $500 of your expenses should you have to buy toiletries, clothing or other items while waiting for your luggage to arrive. If you’re traveling out of the country, a travel assistance policy covers you in the event of something more catastrophic than lost bags or missed flights. Travel assistance insurance covers medical evacuation in case of a health crisis, as well as specific losses like dismemberment, loss of sight or hearing, or accidental death. Travel assistance can also offer medical advice and translation services with local medical authorities if you don't speak the local language and can contact your Dr. at home to get you specific medical information. The amount of coverage varies depending on the carrier, so shop around for the best policy that covers the precise services you want. We will be covering issues regarding medical evacuation in another article later this week. In fact, shopping for any insurance before your trip is advisable because travel policies are offered by so many carriers with such a variance in coverage. You may find that the best, most affordable insurance is the one offered by the tour company – or you may find their insurance totally inadequate after making a few calls and shopping on the Internet. Most tour companies and cruise lines only cover events that occur while traveling with them, so such problems as lost luggage while traveling to a cruise port or tour starting pont would not be covered unless the air was booked through their company. Also be sure to check your existing insurance, particularly your health-care policies. If you’re not leaving the country, your personal health insurance probably covers you in case of emergency, and may even cover you overseas. Also check with your credit card companies – many credit cards come with travel assistance, and may even cover your lost bags. American Express especially provides a wide range of travel-related services for their cardholders so if you have an American Express card, check with them and use American Express for your travel purchases to take advantage of these services. |
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