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Traveling Tight: Hedge Your Health

Tough economic times may tempt you to dispense with insurance when you plan your getaway. Please resist! The quickest way to compromise your bank account, not to mention your sanity, is to start thinking of insurance as a luxury.

The main travel insurance plans available are trip insurance and travel medical. Trip insurance (a.k.a. vacation insurance) policies usually include coverage if you or your travel companion has to cancel plans due to sickness or injury either before you leave or during your trip. These policies often include medical and evacuation coverage as well. Be sure to ask about the details.

Alert: Your travel agent or tour operator might tell you to buy their travel insurance in order to buy a holiday from them, maybe as part of an inclusive deal. Take this option only if the cost is lower than buying the insurance separately. Most of the time you get screwed on these deals, since many tour operators make their profit margins by selling overpriced extras like insurance.

The last thing you plan to do when you travel is get sick, but it happens. You need to have coverage or you risk serious money issues. Think about buying medical coverage if your destination is a foreign country. In most cases it pays to have it, even if you’re traveling to a country that has a reciprocal emergency agreement with your home country. Such agreements won’t help you with routine problems. Having medical insurance is especially important if you’re in a developing country with sketchy medical resources. Make sure you understand what the medical insurance covers. Ambulances? Repatriation to your home country? Don’t leave your body to chance!

Final advice: When you’re on the road, bring along a copy of your policy and the international help line number.

You can get a trip insurance quote at Travel Insurance USA. Insurance costs only a few bucks per day and protects you from financial disaster.

Tags: health, travel