Travel > Basics
Typically, travel insurance covers two
things: trip cancellation/interruption and
emergency medical evacuation. You can get
reimbursed for lost baggage or trip delays,
and it’s a good perk to have if included in
your policy, but not necessarily a good buy
on its own. If you have no health insurance,
or your coverage doesn’t include health
costs while abroad, you should look into
getting extra medical or hospital coverage.
Look over your health insurance policy
carefully.
Trip Cancellation/Interruption
Your trip cancellation/interruption coverage
will pay you for any nonrefundable deposits
you put down on a trip if you can’t go, or
have to leave early. It will only pay the
difference between what you originally paid
and what you can get refunded from the
agency you bought the trip through. You will
have to get a refund from the agency first
before making a claim on your travel
insurance.
Trip cancellation/interruption insurance
will only cover you if you have to cancel
because of a covered reason, usually only a
medical reason. Some will not cover
pre-existing medical conditions. They may
also cover unforeseen emergencies such as
natural disasters and hijackings, even jury
duty. But they probably won’t cover you if
you change your mind about your plans, or
your job requires you to stay home.
Your trip cancellation/interruption
insurance will most likely cover the losses
you face if your tour company or cruise line
goes out of business. But if you bought the
policy from the company itself, you’ll be
out of luck.
Emergency Medical Evacuation
If you’re planning on engaging in an
adventurous or risky activity during your
vacation, make sure that you have enough
emergency medical evacuation coverage. If
you find yourself on top of a mountain in
need of medical assistance, your emergency
medical evacuation insurance will cover the
$20,000 it costs for the helicopter rescue.
You also need to make sure that your policy
covers such risky behavior.
This coverage does not make very much sense
for someone that is going on a safe vacation
in a location where quality medical
assistance is available.
Make sure to verify what coverage will apply
from your regular health insurance if you’re
traveling internationally. Most domestic US
health plans limit your coverage to a
maximum of 30 or 60 days outside the US, and
HMO's and PPO's will likely impose severe
out of network penalties for all but the
most basic emergency care. More importantly,
you will want to insure that you have 24
hour access to emergency evacuation if you
are sick or hurt in an area where quality
care is not available. For those over 65,
Medicare will not cover treatment outside
the US.
