FAQ About Travel Insurance
Types of travel insurance
Travel insurance policies provide at
least five types of coverage, intended for
different types of travellers and trips:
- Comprehensive travel medical
insurance is for people who
don't have any other medical insurance,
even at home. Since most people who can
afford it have health care coverage in
their home country, often through their
employer, comprehensive travel medical
insurance is mainly of interest to
long-term travelers who've left their
jobs and lost their insurance coverage
at home, or to those living and working
outside their country of citizenship or
permanent residence.
- Emergency travel medical
insurance is for people who
have medical coverage at home, but whose
health plan at home doesn't cover them
while they are travelling. Emergency
travel medical insurance only covers
emergency services abroad; once you get
home, you're on your own (or presumably,
back under your regular home coverage)
for any necessary follow-up treatment or
continuing care. Most health insurance
plans and health maintenance
organizations in the USA include their
own provisions for emergency care while
abroad, at least for trips of less than
30 days. Check with your current insurer
or HMO before you waste money on an
emergency travel medical plan that
duplicates your existing coverage.
- Medical evacuation (medevac)
insurance covers the cost of an
air ambulance, attending physician and
nurse, etc. if you are so badly injured,
or become so ill, that you can't come
home (or get to a suitable medical
facility) on a scheduled commercial
passenger flight. Medical evacuations
can cost tens of thousands of dollars,
but are rarely necessary. Even very
badly injured travellers usually can
come home on regular flights after no
more than a couple of weeks of emergency
treatment and stabilization abroad. Some
of the activities most likely to lead to
a need for medical evacuation, such as
scuba diving and extreme sports, are
often excluded from medevac coverage.
Read the fine print.
- Trip cancellation and
interruption insurance covers
the cancellation or refund penalties and
the cost of getting home if you have to
cancel your trip, or cut it short, for
specified reasons. The covered reasons
vary (read the fine print), but
typically include injury or illness to
you, a travelling companion, or a member
of your immediate family. War and
terrorism may or may not be included, or
may be covered only at additional
charge.
- Supplier default insurance
covers any money you lose because of the
bankruptcy of an airline, cruise line,
tour operator, or other provider of
travel services. Supplier default
coverage has been drastically cut back
since 11 September 2001. Some travel
insurance companies no longer offer it
at all, while others pick and choose
which travel suppliers they will insure.
Read the fine print.
Travel Insurance Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage
Travel Insurance Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage - How It Works by Steve Dasseos
Trip cancellation travel insurance lets you cancel a trip for unforeseen injuries, illnesses or sicknesses. What if you, your traveling companion or family member (even the ones staying home) has a pre-existing medical condition? Trip cancellation ? interruption plans contain provisions to waive the pre-existing condition exclusion.
Travel Insurance Might Be Just What You Need!
Travel Insurance Might Be Just What You Need! by Mike Yeager
Travel insurance is something that many people haven’t considered. Sure, it’s possible that you may never have to access your travel insurance, but just having it can really give you peace of mind. A...
Source of travel insurance
Where do you find this sort of insurance?
Some travel agencies and travel suppliers
offer travel insurance as an option along
with travels services you buy from them. For
example,
Hotwire.com -- as a result of a
suggestion I made to their president --
began offering trip cancellation and
interruption and supplier default insurance
for four percent of the cost of tickets
purchased from Hotwire, with a US$12 per
ticket minimum.
AirTreks.com offers a selection of
travel insurance policies from
Worldtravelcenter.com, selected to suit the
needs of long-term, independent
international travelers.
Some regular insurance agents handle
travel insurance, especially long-term
comprehensive travel medical insurance. If
you're travelling for six months or more, or
if you plan to travel regularly throughout
the year, it may be cheaper to include
travel coverage with your regular health
coverage. Check with your regular insurance
agent to see what they can offer.
You can also get travel insurance from
specialists in the field. These include
travel insurance companies, direct providers
of medevac and travel emergency services,
and independent travel insurance brokers and
agencies that can help you compare the
offerings of different insurers. Following
are some of those I know of, with the types
of coverage or services they offer.
These listings are not intended
as endorsements. I've heard good
and bad things about almost all of these
companies. This is just a list to help you
get strated on your own research, in case
you have difficulty finding companies that
offer this sort of coverage at all.
-
Travel insurance companies and
travel service providers
- International Medical
Group (IMG)
http://www.imglobal.com
Coverage: Comprehensive travel
medical insurance. (Expensive but
genuinely comprehensive coverage.
IMG is the primary provider of
medical insurance for Peace Corps
volunteers, and a leading insurer of
missionaries and other expatriates
from the USA living and travelling
in the Third and Fourth Worlds.)
- WorldNomads.com
http://www.worldnomads.com
Coverage: Bundled package including
medical evacuation, emergency
medical, and trip cancellation and
interruption. (No supplier default
coverage. Optional add-on coverage
for camera and personal electronic
devices typically excludes form
coverage by other policies. Based in
Australia, but covers citizens of
any country travelling anywhere
outside their country of
citizenship. Designed for long-term
international travellers without
other health insurance.)
- Travelex
http://www.travelex-insurance.com
Coverage: Emergency medical, medevac,
trip cancellation and interruption,
supplier default. (In addition to
travel insurance, Travelex operates
currency exchange and travel service
offices in each major world region.
So if you want a company with
regional staff to help you if things
go wrong, or if you want coverage
for the default of any
airline or travel supplier, you
should consider the offerings from
Travelex.)
- Travel Guard
International
http://www.travelguard.com
Coverage: Emergency medical, medevac,
trip cancellation and interruption,
and supplier default. (Supplier
default coverage excludes certain
airlines and tour companies, but
includes all those not specifically
listed. Travel Guard voluntarily
covered those travellers who had
purchased their insurance, and whose
travel plans were disrupted after 11
September 2001, even though their
insurance didn't cover war and
terrorism and they could legally
have refused to pay. But they might
not do so again)
- CSA Travel Protection
http://www.csatravelprotection.com
Coverage: Emergency medical, medevac,
and trip cancellation and
interruption. (No supplier default
coverage.)
- Specialty Risk
International, Inc. (SRI)
http://www.specialtyrisk.com
Coverage: Emergency medical, medevac,
and trip cancellation and
interruption. (No supplier default
coverage.)
- Highway To Health
http://www.highwaytohealth.com
Coverage: Emergency medical, medevac,
and trip cancellation and
interruption. (No supplier default
coverage.)
- Access America
http://www.accessamerica.com
Coverage: Emergency medical, medevac,
and trip cancellation and
interruption. (Supplier default
coverage is limited to a few
selected airlines and tour
operators, mainly the largest and
most expensive, and excludes all
companies that aren't specifically
listed as covered.)
- Safeware
http://www.safeware.com
The leading specialists in the USA
in personal computer insurance,
including laptops, peripherals, and
accessories. (Standard annucal
package covers theft, accidental
damage, water damage, and damage in
transport. Coverage offered to USA
residents only, but covers damage
while at home or travelling
worldwide, and can be renewed while
continuing to travel outside the
USA, as long as you remain a Usa
resident.)
- MEDJET Assistance
http://www.medjetassistance.com
Services: Emergency medical
transportation. (For a fixed annual
fee, MEDJET Assistance will provide
air ambulance transportation to the
hospital of your choice, worldwide,
if you are hospitalized. That's much
more generous than typical travel
insurance, which only covers
transportation to the nearest
hospital they deem suitable -- not
necessarily the one nearest your
home -- and only if their
doctors decide it's essential. A
subscription to MEDJET Assistance
will get you home if you're
hospitalized. Period. If you have
insurance, but it doesn't provide
for medical evacuation, this may be
the way to go. Note, however, that
the standard MEDJET Assistance plan
doesn't cover you if you are out of
your home country for more than 90
days at a time. You have to pay a
higher "expatriate" rate for
coverage for longer stays abroad.
MEDJET doesn't own or operate
planes, but contracts with local air
ambulance operators.)
- AirMed International
http://www.airmed.com
Services: Emergency medical
transportation. (Like MEDJET, AirMed
offers prepaid medical evacuation
services for a flat annual fee, with
a higher rate for stays of more than
90 days outside your home country.
Their are two major differences:
AirMed owns and operates its own
planes, with its own staff -- which
may or may not give better sevice
than a local contractor, but may
take longer to arrive from their
base in the USA. Airmed only
provides medevac services if, in
their judgement, it is medically
necessary.)
-
Independent travel insurance brokers
Each of these brokers offers a selection
of travel insurance policies from
multiple insurers. Note that none of
these brokers offers any policies I can
find that include coverage for supplier
default.
Travel Insurance
Whether you’re looking to insure your
home, auto, life or business, insurance can
help protect you and your property. Give
yourself peace of mind by making sure you’re
covered.
In today’s market you have a lot of
options in choosing an insurance company,
but remember, not all insurance coverages or
companies are created equal.
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