Sunday, July 21, 2013

Everything You Need To Know About Travel Insurance

Everything You Need To Know About Travel Insurance

By Abby Cassinia


Each year there are millions of cases of people having difficulty overseas. This includes cases of hospitalisations, deaths, and evacuations to another location for medical purposes. Medical treatment overseas can be expensive whether it is for injury from an accident or for illness such as food poisoning, appendicitis, or heart attack.

Did you know that if you don't have travel insurance and you incur medical expenses while overseas then you are personally liable for covering these costs? Unfortunatley the Government or your domestic private health insurance provider will not pay for medical expenses overseas.

Daily hospitalisation costs in Southeast Asia regularly exceed $800; return of remains from Europe to somewhere like Australia is in excess of $10,000. The cost of medical evacuations from the United States regularly range from $75,000 to $95,000 and sometimes up to $300,000. Unfortunately, not all of these cases involved travellers covered by travel insurance. As a result, families have been forced to sell off assets, including their family homes, to afford to bring other family members home.

Travel insurance can cover the events that may occur before or during travel, such as trip cancellation/interruption, medical expenses for injury or illness, theft of valuables, baggage delay or damage and more. The cost of travel insurance is based on a number of factors such as the type of cover requested, the age of the insured, the destination of travel, length of stay and any pre-existing medical conditions. A wide range of travel insurance policies are available so shop around in order to find the policy that best suits your circumstances and travel plans.

Below is a list of reasons to buy travel insurance.

1. Your flight has been cancelled.

2. Your bags are lost and your medication is in it. You need to have an emergency prescription filled.

3. Your passport and wallet are stolen, and you need emergency cash and a replacement passport.

4. You're involved in an accident and adequate medical treatment is not available. You need medical evacuation.

5. You need to cancel your trip due to illness.

6. Your cruise line, airline or tour operator goes bankrupt. You need your non-refundable expenses covered and to get to your destination.

7. You have a medical emergency in a foreign country.

8. A terrorist incident occurs in the city where you're planning to visit and you want to cancel your trip.

9. A hurricane forces you to evacuate your resort, hotel or cruise.

In cases where individuals are not covered by travel insurance, such personal tragedies can be further compounded by a long-term financial burden. Hospitalisation, medical treatment, medical evacuations, or even the return of the deceased's remains to their home country, can be very expensive.




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