Many travelers do not know that travel insurance exists. However, insurance policies such as these can save you thousands of dollars in some cases. Travel insurance can be purchased no matter where you are traveling, though it is most common on vacations to foreign countries.
Sometimes travel insurance is offered through a travel agency, tour company, or cruise line with which you have booked your vacation. Other times, travel insurance has to be purchased through a third party. Do you need travel insurance? Well, you can certainly go on vacation without it, but at the end of the day, these relatively inexpensive policies can end up saving you from financial ruin.
Saving Money on Healthcare
One of the primary reasons people buy travel insurance is to ensure that they are covered medically while in another country. Do you already have a health insurance policy, either individually or through your employer? If the answer is yes, that might be fine if you are traveling near home, but otherwise, you are likely going to see a ton of out-of-pocket expenses if you get sick or injured while on vacation.
Most health insurance plans have specific networks of doctors. While you are welcome to see anyone you like, you may have to pay extra money for care from anyone outside of that network, unless you are dealing with an emergency situation. When you travel to another country, the rules surrounding your policy will typically change even more, since foreign doctors may not adhere for the same medical pricing and laws as are used in the United States. Some health insurance policies, therefore, do not cover foreign care at all, only cover a percentage, or have limits as to how much they can cover for a single visit.
With a travel insurance policy, you can be rest assured that your medical expenses will be handled, usually in full or for a very small co-pay price. On occasion, the vacationer may have to pay extra if they want pre-existing conditions or injuries due to risky activities (like scuba diving or parasailing) to be covered, but even then, the price of medical care is staggering compared to what that same vacationer would have to pay for a policy.
Lost Luggage
One of the most frustrating situations in travel is when your luggage is lost. When that happens, the best-case scenario is that it is not actually lost, but rather it was just put on the wrong plane. In many cases luggage is returned within 48 hours. The problem is that your vacation may only be a week long. You can’t spend a quarter of it (or more) sitting at the airport and waiting for your luggage, and replacing your items can be expensive.
This is where travel insurance comes in. If your luggage is late arriving to the destination, you insurance carrier will allow you to make purchase of emergency items that you need to enjoy your trip in the meanwhile. For example, you might need to buy an extra set of clothing, toiletries, and so forth. Without travel insurance, you would have to pay for these things out of pocket.
If your luggage is lost or stolen completely, the expenses are even greater, since you would have to replace everything you packed, not to mention the luggage itself. Buying a travel insurance policy ensures that if this happens, you will have some money to help cover these costs.
Vacation Cancellation
Are you prepared for the expense of non-refundable tickets, should you have to cancel your vacation for any reason? Things happen. Maybe you have a family member who passes away. Maybe you suddenly get a job transfer. Maybe you fall ill or get pregnant and can’t fly. Travel companies don’t care if you have a non-refundable vacation planned. Thousands of dollars will go down the drain unless you have a travel insurance policy that covers cancellation. These policies are usually a little more expensive, but can save you thousands of dollars.
Vacation cancellation as part of your policy can also protect you should a travel company go bankrupt, try to steal your money, lose your reservation, or otherwise cause a delay in your trip.
Legal Help, Evacuative, and More
Domestically, you typically do not have to worry about the need for legal help, evacuation, passport replacement, and so forth. However, if you are in a foreign country and, for instance, you are evacuated due to natural disaster, do you know what to do or who to call? Your travel insurance company does, and not only will they give you peace of mind that someone will take care of you, but they (in most cases) also pay for it. No matter what your needs, the insurance company can make sure you have the funds to handle the problem.
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