5 critical things you need to know before you buy travel insurance
1. Not all polices are created equal
While price is the key factor travelers tend to rely on, picking the cheapest policy is not always the best way to go. The types of benefits, exclusions and claim limits offered by each plan vary widely, so take a pause to consider the following factors before hitting the ‘buy’ button to ensure that you’re going with the travel policy that not just fits your budget, but also your travel needs.
Type of Trip: Heading off for an adventure-packed vacation? Many policies do not cover ‘hazardous’ sports such as white-water rafting or mountain climbing, so you’ll want to make sure this is not excluded from your insurance plan.
Trip destination: Certain policies do not cover travel to high-risk areas, so if this is your itinerary, it’s always a good idea to look for a plan or add a special clause that offers full terrorism cover for chemical, nuclear and biological terrorism.
Personal health: Many of us suffer from common ailments such as asthma and eczema, but did you know that these are typically excluded from travel plans? If you have any medical conditions, ensure that your medical insurance plan covers your medical expenses incurred overseas so that you won’t have to bear any out-of-pocket expenses for treatment while staying abroad.
Trip duration: If your trip is over a few months, you’ll need a longer period of insurance. For example, iTravel Plus (Single Trip) provides the period of insurance not exceeding 182 days.
2. The early bird catches the worm
It might not be the most pleasant thing to consider, but many things could go wrong before you even set foot out of the country. This is why it's smart to be on-the-ball about buying travel insurance as soon as you can.
Flight delays, trip postponement or cancellation are all common occurrences that could happen to any of us. Locking a good policy in place will ensure that pre-trip costs can be recovered, even if your weekend plans have been dashed. Planning to purchase your travel insurance early would also allow you to take advantage of discounts and promotions, which would mean savings on your plan!
After all, waiting until the day of travel to purchase will not only cause unnecessary stress but once you have stepped out of your country of residence, travel insurance will not be available for purchase any more.
3. Annual Plan or Single Trip?
It might have made sense to purchase single trip insurance when the annual family holiday was the only travel treat we'd get to enjoy. However, with budget flights now readily available and cheaper than ever, travelling abroad has become more frequent than before.
Annual travel insurance plan not only works out to be more convenient (no need to worry about purchasing a bunch of different plans!), but might also make more sense to your wallet.
4. Reputation matters
Choosing the right insurer to buy your policy from is as important, if not more important, than choosing the right travel insurance plan. It might not seem so now, but when there's a need to file a claim, you'll definitely appreciate working with an insurer that provides 24-hour worldwide assistance, has crisis-response capabilities, and is able to process claims quickly and with minimum fuss.
5. Travel insurance is not a substitute for health insurance
While most travel insurance plans would include a medical component for sudden illness or accidents, this is not meant to be a substitute for a full health insurance policy. To be on the safe side, you should always ensure that you have a full health policy which can cover hospitalisation costs in your home country.
If you require more comprehensive coverage while on holiday, look for travel plans which offer emergency medical evacuation. This could cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on where you're travelling to, so there's never any harm to have this included as a benefit of your policy.
