Travel insurance is one of the most important things you’ll need for your trip. You wouldn’t have a car without car insurance, a home without home insurance, and you can’t have a trip without travel insurance.
Since most health programs don’t cover you overseas and credit cards offer really limited protection, buying travel insurance is something you definitely need to protect against the unknown.
What to look for in a great travel insurance plan?
First, make sure your travel insurance offers a high coverage limit on your medical expenses.
A good company will provide up to $100,000 in coverage care. The maximum coverage limit you can find is around $1,000,000 USD. High coverage limits are important because if you get sick, injured, or need serious attention and have to seek professional care, you want to make sure your high hospital bills are covered.
Now, the worst thing you can do is go cheap and get a policy with a $20,000 coverage limit, break a leg, and reach that limit before they are done taking care of you. Don’t be cheap with your health. Get minimum coverage of $100,000.
Secondly, you want to make sure your travel insurance policy also covers emergency evacuation and care that is separate from your medical coverage.
If a natural disaster or act of terrorism occurs and you need to be evacuated to somewhere else, your plan should cover that as well. This protection should cover an expense of up to $300,000 USD.
Furthermore, evacuation should mean from the hospital to your home country. Standard emergency evacuation usually includes this provision, but it’s important you double-check the policy that you will get back home.
Lastly, great travel insurance plan will always include the following provisions:
- Cover most countries in the world
- Cover injury and sudden illnesses
- Twenty-four hour emergency services and help (you don’t want to call to be told to call back later)
- Cover lost, damaged or stolen possessions like jewelry, baggage, documents, cameras, etc.
- Cover cancellations such as hotel bookings, flight, and other transportation bookings if you have a sudden illness, death in the family, or some other emergency
- Cover emergencies, strife in the country visited, etc., that cause you to head home early
- Have financial protection if any company you are using goes bankrupt and you are stuck in another country
When looking for travel insurance, make sure to read all the fine prints and if you have questions, just pick up the phone and call. Since I started interNATionalcaty, I’ve used iTravelInsured by IMG. They are very reputable, and claims are quickly and fairly processed. I enjoy iTravelInsured because I can purchase my insurance policy online in a matter of minutes. The staff are friendly and responsive; they have great customer feedback, and most importantly, they provide a lot of coverage at a fair price.
Final Thoughts:
Travel insurance is accident insurance. It is there to protect you in case of emergency and, if need be, get you home in a hurry.
Buy Your Travel Insurance As Soon As Possible
Don’t wait to get insurance. I’ve seen it happen too often. The second you know you are going somewhere and have the dates, buy travel insurance!
Cancel for Any Reason. When looking for insurance try to get “cancel for any reason clause”. You never know the reason for a cancellation, but be prepared.
So be smart and get travel insurance.