THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAVEL INSURANCE
Do you absolutely need travel insurance? Probably not. But should you have travel insurance? We’d say yes.
Travel insurance is one of those things that most people think they don’t need or assume they’re already covered… but that’s not usually the case. For example, a lot of people assume their credit card or normal health insurance provides sufficient coverage — but that’s actually very rare.
Just think about it… travel is expensive. You’ve bought plane tickets, train tickets, accommodation, tours, travel gear, electronics, smartphones, laptops, and a bunch more. Travel insurance will help cover all those non-refundable things (plane tickets, train tickets, rental cars, tours, hotels, etc.). Insurance will offer compensation if your bags get lost or stolen. It can help if someone steals your expensive electronics. It will help if your flights get canceled or you can’t go on your trip for some reason.
And what if you have a medical emergency? Even something as simple as a visit to the hospital for dehydration can hundreds of dollars. But things like broken bones, ambulance rides, hospital stays, or medical evacuations can easily cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Luckily, travel insurance is usually reasonably priced and the piece of mind is worth the extra $100-$300 for travel insurance.
WHAT DOES TRAVEL INSURANCE COVER?
Each travel insurance plan will be different but most cover a few common things — medical emergencies, emergency evacuation, trip cancellation/interruption, lost luggage, and property theft/damage. The amount of compensation for each area will differ so we suggest reading the fine details.
MEDICAL EMERGENCIES
Your normal health insurance probably won’t cover you if you’re overseas — and if it does, it is still going to cost you a fortune if you get injured because you’ll be out of network. Travel insurance helps fill in this “emergency” gap in coverage.
You never know what could happen when you’re abroad. In South Africa I saw a car run a red light and hit an American girl who was crossing the crosswalk — the driver sped away but luckily she was relatively uninjured. I saw someone break their leg after a scooter hit them in Rome. I’ve seen people need to get treated at a hospital for dehydration because of food poisoning.
EMERGENCY EVACUATION
Sometimes you get injured far away from a hospital or you need to be moved to a different hospital for specialized treatment.
Other times your condition might require that you be flown back to your home country for treatment via a medical jet (which can cost over $50,000!). Emergency evacuation will cover those expensive costs.
TRIP CANCELATION, INTERRUPTION, AND FLIGHT DELAYS
A lot of people don’t realize how much of their trip is non-refundable. Airline and train tickets are often non-refundable. Tours are sometimes non-refundable. Accommodation is often non-refundable. The list goes on… so what happens if you have to cancel your trip? That’s right, you’re stuck paying for a trip you can’t go on.
Travel insurance will often cover those non-refundable things if you get sick before you leave, have a death in the family, natural disaster, or terrorist attack interfere with your travels.
Trip interruption insurance is similar as it covers you if you need to end your trip early for many of the same reasons listed above. For example, if you get injured halfway through, the insurance will cover the rest of your trip, and pay for your last-minute plane ticket back home.
A lot of insurance plans will cover the cost of a missed flight if your previous flight was delayed. This is helpful because many budget airlines won’t compensate for this. However, many plans have a clause stating that the delay must be 3+ hours long (so it’s no good if your layover was originally under 3 hours).
WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN BUYING TRAVEL INSURANCE
Here are a few things you’ll want to think about before buying travel insurance:
THINK ABOUT WHAT COVERAGE IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR TRIP
Travel insurance comes in all shapes and sizes — which is one reason why finding the right policy can be confusing.
If you’re doing a mega trip around Europe, then it makes the most sense to buy a plan that has strong trip cancellation/interruption coverage, lost luggage, and medical emergency coverage.
However, remember that trip cancellation/interruption coverage only covers things that have been prepaid. Therefore, if you’re “winging it” and buying everything as you go, it might not make sense to pay extra for a plan that has a lot of cancellation/interruption coverage.
On the other hand, if you’ve repurchased all your flights, train tickets, accommodation, etc. then trip cancellation/interruption is very important because many of these things are non-refundable.
Are you going to be doing dangerous things like extreme sports or skiing? Make sure your policy covers that (many basic plans don’t) — you can often buy extra coverage.
Do you plan on driving a car? Look for a policy that covers that. Some credit cards will cover your auto insurance but not always. Be sure to look into that as you don’t want a nasty surprise that you’re not covered.
KNOW HOW MUCH COVERAGE YOU’RE GETTING
Some cheaper plans don’t offer a lot of protection. We’ve seen some that only offer $10-$50K in medical coverage — something like a broken bone and an ambulance ride could easily cost more than that amount of coverage. Personally, I’d stick with $100,000+ worth of coverage but you can easily find plans that offer much more.
DON’T WAIT TOO LONG TO BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE
Most insurance policies require you to purchase your insurance before or near the time you made your first payment toward your trip (which is usually your flight or tour payment). If you wait too long then the insurance company may not cover you (World Nomads lets you buy while on the road).
As a rule, we recommend buying as soon as you have your travel dates set.
READ THE FINE PRINT
This is the most annoying part of buying travel insurance but it’s important to know what you’re buying and how you’re covered. Spend 15 minutes and read through all that annoying stuff.
My favorite company is Safety Wing. Safety Wing offers convenient and affordable plans tailored to digital nomads and long-term budget travelers. They have cheap monthly plans, great customer service, and an easy-to-use claims process that makes it perfect for those on the road
This content comes from: https://thesavvybackpacker.com/best-travel-insurance/