Most people book a vacation thinking that it will be a relaxing getaway. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case – your dream vacation can end up costing you more money through no fault of your own. Remember the volcano explosion in Europe a few years ago? People who had travel insurance were the first ones to be able to make arrangements to get out. And who has not heard of the recent accident involving the cruise ship off the coast of Italy?
So, the question is: do you really need travel insurance? It all depends, if you are flying from Los Angeles to Texas to see Aunt Mabel, you probably don’t need travel insurance. But if you are going on vacation outside of the country then you have to consider travel insurance. A good measuring stick is to compare the cost of the trip versus the cost of the policy.
The most common situations when travel insurance comes in handy include:
- flight cancellations
- lost passport and wallet
- medical treatment while abroad
- trip cancellation due to illness
- unexpected hurricane hits your destination
- airline/cruise line/tour company goes bankrupt
- cancelled short-term vacation rentals ( now becoming popular as privately owned properties are offered as rentals)
Reasons NOT to purchase travel insurance are:
- fear of terrorism
- A hurricane is going to hit your destination (this applies if the storm has already been named by the National Weather Service)
- pet illness
One major warning: Purchase your travel insurance from a third-party provider, not from the tour operator or cruise line that you are traveling with. This way you can avoid being in a situation where there is not enough money to cover your claim should the tour company or cruise line go out of business. Also, don’t forget about medical insurance. Even if your policy has benefits for basic emergency care overseas, in almost all cases, your current health insurance does NOT provide coverage for your evacuation and flight back to the U.S. This is what “Medical Evacuation and Repatriation” insurance comes in handy for. It requires a yearly fee but if you get sick or injured overseas the policy will allow you to receive treatment, be stabilized and flown back to the U.S. to the hospital of your choice (not one designated by the insurance company).
HAPPY TRAVELING!