Congratulations on going on your next trip! You may be asking yourself “is travel insurance worth it?”
Travel insurance can sure be confusing – even if you are an avid traveler. Here are some guidelines to help you decide if you need travel insurance or not.
Reasons to Buy Travel Insurance
If you are spending more than $5,000 on a vacation.
This is a big-ticket vacation and it should be insured. Most likely, if you don’t insure your vacation, you’ll be kicking yourself if you lost $5,000.
If you want peace of mind.
If you are a nervous traveler, we always suggest purchasing travel insurance to get peace of mind that comes with having a policy. Even if travel insurance doesn’t recover all of your money, you may still be able to take advantage of certain travelling benefits.
If you are leaving the country.
We suggest buying travelers insurance any time you leave the country. Medical providers outside the United States often ask for up-front payments, which can cost thousands of dollars. Travel Insurance can guarantee these payments.
If you are on Medicare.
Medicare doesn’t typically cover events outside of the country. To ensure that you are covered, we suggest purchasing travel insurance to protect you from any hefty payments.
If your trip has a lot of moving parts.
If you are going on a complex or lengthy trip with a crazy itinerary, travel insurance can be useful. If one part doesn’t go as planned, the travel insurance can make sure that you don’t have a domino effect.
Reasons to Skip Travel Insurance
Short trips.
If you are going on a short, simple trip that is domestic – skip the travel insurance. It’s really not worth it.
If you don’t mind losing the value of your trip.
If your trip is $5,000 or less, and it wouldn’t hurt your financially, then skip the travel insurance.
If you have a preexisting medical condition.
Anytime that you purchase travel insurance, you should read over the policy carefully. Many times, travel insurance will not cover existing medical conditions when certain requirements are met.
If your coverage is redundant.
You may not even realize it, but your credit card or other insurance may cover the same event. In this case, you can skip the specific travel insurance, as you would already be covered. It’s important to note that some cards won’t cover items like medical evacuations, so if that is important to you, you may still want to consider the insurance. Furthermore, most credit cards do not cover medical expenses.
How Do I Get Travel Insurance?
If you have decided that travel insurance is right for you, there are a couple of ways that you can go about getting it. You can buy directly through a big company like Allianz, CSA, and Travel Guard. Or, you can buy through your travel company. Many travel companies, including airlines, cruise lines, and tour operators offer optional insurance that tie in directly with your package. These can be good options, however, we suggest shopping around. You can also buy travel insurance through a third party agent such as Squaremouth, Travel Insurance Review, Trip Insurance Store and InsureMyTrip.com.
For more information, visit Huffington Post.