These days, travel insurance has become increasingly easier to purchase and could be loaded into travel packages or part of airfare purchase. Like many of us, you’re probably wondering if should you fork over the extra cash.
What, exactly, is travel insurance? This is a type of insurance that you purchase to cover a variety such as death, injury, medical expenses, accidents, trip cancellation or interruption, lost or delayed baggage, theft and losses incurred during the trip, to name a few.
Travel insurance policies vary in terms of coverage and in terms of pricing, depending upon your service provider and the extent of the coverage provided.
Travel insurance is definitely useful in protecting you against life’s eventualities. However, some travelers may have a greater need for it than others.
Here are seven tips to guide you when purchasing travel insurance:
1. If you do not have life insurance coverage and you have dependents, then travel insurance may be especially useful.
Although the possibility of death due to air travel is low, this still gives you a layer of protection that you do not have. Since the coverage of this plan only covers either your traveling time, or the duration of your travel, you may wish to purchase life insurance to provide you protection 24/7.
2. If you do not have comprehensive medical insurance, travel insurance will be useful.
Let’s face it, you can’t really tell when you will fall sick and the worse that can happen is to find yourself getting sick when you’re out of town, and without the funds to cover your expenses. With travel insurance, you can be assured that you will be able to cover your medical needs, at least until you get back home.
3. If you’re traveling overseas, you need travel insurance.
That’s because nearly all health insurance policies provide domestic coverage, exposing you to risks once you are out of your country. Imagine needing hospitalization in a foreign country, where costs are definitely higher than what you have in the Philippines. However, if you are among the very few who have global medical insurance coverage, then you do not need travel insurance for this purpose.
4. If you are buying a non-refundable, prepaid ticket, travel insurance will come in handy, what with the many cancellations and flight disruptions that often happen.
This is particularly true if you are paying a big amount for your ticket—say for overseas travel. This ensures that you can cover your ticket should any kind of flight disruption happen.
5. If you purchased your ticket through a credit card, check if you were given travel insurance coverage.
This is one feature offered by a number of credit card companies to travelers who purchase their tickets using their cards. This is an economical way of getting travel insurance, so if you are planning to travel in the future, you may wish to check what your credit card provider has to offer.
6. Before paying for a policy, check what you are buying.
Some travel insurance plans have exclusions such as pre-existing conditions, travel to high-risk countries, acts of terrorism or natural disasters. If you are purchasing travel insurance because you want to be protected against these, then make sure that it is expressly covered in the plan that you purchased.
7. Most travel insurance providers also offer concierge or emergency assistance services for those unforeseen events that can happen during your trip.
Find out what these services are and know how to contact these service providers should the need arise.
Happy traveling!
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
