Considering travel insurance for an upcoming trip might make sense if you and your trip fit certain criteria. Travelers with health problems, people travelling abroad, and those planning a cruise or package tours are all good candidates for travel insurance policies. But how much protection should you get? Does an inexpensive, bare-bones travel insurance policy make any more sense than buying no insurance at all?
Inexpensive travel insurance policies may seem like a small investment to protect your belongings and insure against lost airfare or reservations costs due to cancellations. However, like most insurance plans, as the cost of the premium goes down, deductibles and the restrictions go up. If your luggage is stolen but your deductible for lost luggage is nearly the cost of the luggage, your cheap policy suddenly becomes nearly pointless.
Similarly, medical travel insurance that is incredibly restrictive might not have the protection you need. While it’s recommended that everyone travelling abroad purchases some type of medical insurance, especially older travelers and travelers with medical conditions, it’s important to take note of when and where it may be used. Some medical travel insurance policies can only be used in certain healthcare networks and cheaper policies tend to be more restrictive.
If you’re young and relatively healthy or travelling to a large, heavily populated area, in-network restrictions might be little more than a nuisance, causing you to travel across town for care. If, however, you’re off to some remote location where doctors are few and far between, you should make sure your medical portion of your travel insurance policy will pay for care from whomever is near enough to provide it.
It is still possible to find a travel an affordable insurance policy that provides adequate coverage, visit HBF for more on this. You just need to make sure you’re paying for coverage that you can actually use, not just for the sake of having it. Travel insurance policies are usually sold in packages, in part because it’s convenient for the purchaser and it helps the agent sell more coverage.
It may be the case that one of the readymade packages fits your needs perfectly. But in many instances, travel insurance packages contain unnecessary or restrictive coverage. The trick to finding a durable travel insurance policy is to get away from all of the package deals.
Many insurance companies allow you to purchase coverage a la carte, letting you pick and choose what types of protection are most useful to you. Say you’re a healthy young adult who saved all year to be able to afford a trip abroad. You might not need a ton of medical coverage (although a minimum amount would be recommended), but it would be heartbreaking to see your money disappear due to a missed or cancelled flight. So you can find two separate policies: one that provides strong trip cancellation insurance, and another that adequately meets your healthcare coverage needs.
One final tip for saving: before purchasing a policy, be sure to check your current medical insurance, credit cards, travelers club memberships, and homeowners policies to see what they cover. You may find that additional coverage would be redundant.
