Travel Insurance
Comparison Made Easy
After reading our travel insurance comparison you
will no longer be confused.
Simply put, travel insurance is available in four
broad categories:
- Medical
- Emergency Medical
Evacuation
- Trip Cancellation
- Flight
Understanding the differences will help you decide
which travel insurance cover is most suitable for
you.
Some travel insurance policies are hybrids and
contain benefits that cross over the categories.
Medical
As
the name suggests, travel medical insurance is meant primarily
to
cover your medical insurance needs while traveling abroad. It
allows you to seek medical care in facilities outside your
home country. You need this especially if your current major
medical insurance policy will not cover you abroad.
A good policy will offer you a wide range of deductibles and maximum
coverage up to at least $2 million. A broad maximum coverage
range will offer you the necessary flexibility depending on your
destination. So for, example, if you are traveling to India,
where you can find good medical care for a fraction of the price of
Western Europe or the U.S., you could probably get away with a maximum
coverage of $100,000 or so, depending on the length of your stay. There
is no need to pay a larger premium than necessary. In the
U.S.,
however, consider opting for the upper end of the range - $500,000 to
$2 million - as medical care is the most expensive in the
world (though it varies from city to city). Anything below
this,
may leave you exposed.
Most travel medical insurance
policies will include medical evacuation cover and flight insurance in
the form of what is called "common carrier accidental death".
Some policies may even contain a trip interruption benefit (in case of
a death of a family member or natural disaster back home), a common
feature in trip cancellation policies.
The following benefits are typical in superior policies:
- hospital room and board
- intensive care
- emergency room
- medical expenses
- outpatient medical
- local ambulance
- prescription drugs
- emergency dental
- emergency evacuation
- lost luggage
- accidental death and dismemberment
- terrorism coverage
Of the four categories in our travel insurance
comparison, medical is
usually the most comprehensive.
Emergency
Medical Evacuation
So
you've called the hotline of your domestic medical insurer and they've
told you that you are covered for emergency medical situtations
overseas. You figure you are in good health and
so you'll
take a calcualted risk regarding non-emergency situations.
You
don't need to waste money on travel medical insurance on your
upcoming
trip. Right? Think again! You are
potentially
exposing yourserlf, especially if you are traveling to a remote
location, or one with inadequate hospital facilities. Say you
are
traveling to a first class resort on one of the beautiful islands of
the Maldives, and you injure yourself, requiring you to be
hospitalized. However, there is no hospital on your island, not to
mention ambulance service. The only way to get the
appropriate treatment is if you are evacuated by air
to Southern India, hundreds of kilometers away. Such
a
service will cost about $35,000, as the evacuation company is located
in India and will have to make a round trip. What do you do
then?
While your insurance carrier back home will cover the
treatment,
they refuse to cover the transport costs.
A
good stand alone emergency medical evacuation plan will fill
in the
gaps
of your domestic coverage. A good plan will not only pay for
your
evacuation, but will also arrange for the service on your behalf in the
minimum amount of time necessary.
Aside from emergency evacuation cover, a good plan
will include:
- Emergency reunion - the reasonable travel and
lodging expenses of a relative or friend during an emergency medical
evacuation
- Return of Mortal Remains - in case
the injury/illness results in death
- Accidental death and dismemberment
- Trip
interruption - in case of a death of an immediate family
member or the substantial destruction of the your principal
residence, the plan will pay to return you to your area of principal
residence
- Returning
Minor Children - in case a child is left
unsupervised
due to your injury/illness, and needs to be returned to his/her home
country
- Lost Luggage
- Political Evacuation And
Repatriation - in case a travel advisory goes into effect
after your arrival, and you need to be transported to a safe
place
or your home country
Trip
Cancellation
The
primary purpose of trip cancellation coverage is to
reimburse you for the cost of your trip in the
event that you are unable to travel or are interrupted during your trip
due to circumstances such as a sudden and unexpected illness or injury,
death in the family, job layoff, terrorism or the bankruptcy
of
the tour operator, cruise line or airline.
Unlike
medical insurance which is usually age rated, the premiums for trip
cancellation plans are usually a multiple of the overall price
of
the trip.
Aside from trip interruption and cancellation, a superior plan should
include the following benefits:
- Travel delay - due to such factors as inclement
weather, natural disasters and illness
- Baggage and personal possessions - loss and
damage
- Baggage delay
- Emergency medical and dental (usually a
relatively modest sum)
- Emergency medical evacuation and repartriation
- Emergency reunion - of a family member
or return of dependant children to their home country
- Common carrier accidental death and
dismemberment
Flight
Flight
insurance covers cases of accidental death or dismemberment
(AD&D)
of limbs that occurs aboard a common carrier (air, land or sea).
Most plans don't have any bells or whistles beyond the
AD&D
benefit. An effective plan usually has benefit options
ranging
from $100,000 to $500,000.
Of the four categories in our travel insurance comparison,
this is usually the cheapest and least comprehensive. In
order to
avoid redundancy, before purchasing, you should check to see if this
cover is already built in to your contract with your credit card
company.
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