Archive | Travel Insurance Buyers Guide

While there are many costs associated with travel, not all travel arrangements need to be insured.   Travel Arrangements can be made for the following: Air Arrangements – prepaid airfare Land Arrangements – prepaid costs for tours, hotels, etc or for ground transportation such as trains, rental cars etc. Cruise Arrangements – prepaid costs for river [...]

Although are many covered reasons for the Trip Cancellation Benefit, not every possible reason is covered. Travel insurance policies do not cover fear of traveling or a change of mind or other similar discretionary reasons.  Cancel For Any Reason gives the traveler 100% freedom to cancel a trip for a non-covered reason, generally 2 days or more before the scheduled departure date, and be reimbursed for a percentage of the cancellation penalty amount (such as 75% or 80%).

Medical benefits included in travel insurance policies are provided on either a primary or excess basis. What does this mean to you and which is better?

Primary coverage means that the policy will cover you from the very first dollar of expense without regard to any other insurance you may have. However, primary insurance only covers medical expenses for treatment during your trip. . .

A travel insurance plan is composed of a package of benefits intended to protect you, your travel investment and your belongings.  At a minimum, a good plan will provide benefits for:

Generally, the more coverage the better the plan. All plans that include a trip cancellation benefit provide coverage for sickness, injury or death, but may or may not cover a Pre-Existing medical condition.  “Better” and “Best” policies may cover many of the following additional reasons:

Travel insurance is designed to cover both you and the cost of your travel arrangements against a variety of unforeseeable reasons that may affect you or your travel plans.  Following is a more detailed description of each of the travel insurance benefits and its importance.

Most travel insurance policies exclude losses resulting from “Pre-Existing Conditions”. While the policy language may vary from company to company, generally, policies exclude any condition treated or recommended to be treated in a 60 to 180 day period prior to the purchase of the policy.

Travel insurance benefits are conditioned upon key concepts, terms and provisions which define not only what is covered, but items that may not be covered or are limited by definition.  Understanding what these provisions are and how they work is key to understanding what you are buying.