Travel Insurance – 4 tips to travel hassle free

It is a fact that no one knows about the future uncertainty or insecurity. But if you have a travel insurance plan, that part is taken care of and you could travel happily. The travel assurance provides you the cover for medical or other expenses such as cancellation due to sudden illness or death during travel.

Travel insurance breaks down into four main categories

Medical Insurance 

Medical Evacuation

Trip cancellation/Interruption 

Luggage insurance

Now there are a plethora of companies that would offer you quotes for comprehensive plans or you can order them individual “A la Carte”. Today I am going to focus on 3 categories.

Medical Insurance

If you already have medical insurance at home, start there. Some policies will cover you for travel within your home country, but not abroad or you might be limited to certain providers. For example, there might be plenty of providers in India, but may be not too much in Thailand. Here is a tip. Ask your provider for a list of affiliates in your destination.

Medical Evacuation Insurance

Now if you are going skiing or trekking or something prone to accidents in a remote destination, you might want to consider getting medical evaluation insurance. For example, if you fall of the cliffs, the medical evacuation insurance will only cover the cost of transporting you from wherever is that you are to a hospital. Now you can get a policy that can take you to the nearest local hospital or you can extend it as much as you want to take you to the exact hospital at home wherever it is that you want to be treated. Keep in mind rates tend to go up every decade for over every fifty years old. So insuring your parents on the cruise ship versus your teenager on school vacation are two varied different stories. Another thing to keep in mind is to keep all the receipts. Sometimes one may have to pay out of pocket and submit your claim when you go back home.

Trip cancellation/Interruption

This type of insurance kick in only when major events occur. Things like a tsunami, or a terrorist attack or the death of a family member. Although the last one is not always a given. So, the policy fine print should be read carefully. Things to check for are to make sure that your airline company or tour operator is covered. Some surprisingly are not covered.

Luggage Insurance

Are you travelling with some expensive items in your luggage and afraid about getting stolen?

If there is a luggage insurance, one does not need to worry about the cost of stolen luggage during transit or travel. This also includes documents like your passport, your visa etc.

What if some insurers provide you travel assistance along with luggage insurance? There might be times when you need an emergency cash transfer or required travel desk information about the country you are travelling to, such as immunization requirements etc. Hence one needs to check for these with the insurers before heading for travel.