Types of travel insurance

  Travel insurance policies provide at least six types of coverage, intended for different types of travelers and trips:

1-Comprehensive travel medical insurance is for people who don't have any other medical insurance, even at home. Since most people who can afford it have health care coverage in their home country, often through their employer, comprehensive travel medical insurance is mainly of interest to long-term travelers who've left their jobs and lost their insurance coverage at home, or to those living and working outside their country of citizenship or permanent residence.

2-Emergency travel medical insurance is for people who have medical coverage at home, but whose health plan at home doesn't cover them while they are traveling. Emergency travel medical insurance only covers emergency services abroad; once you get home, you're on your own (back under your regular home coverage) for any necessary follow-up treatment or continuing care. Most health insurance plans and health maintenance organizations in the USA include their own provisions for emergency care while abroad, at least for trips of less than 30 days. Check with your current insurer or HMO before you waste money on an emergency travel medical plan that duplicates your existing coverage.

3-Medical evacuation insurance covers the cost of an air ambulance, attending physician and nurse, etc. if you are so badly injured, or become so ill, that you can't come home (or get to a suitable medical facility) on a scheduled commercial passenger flight. Medical evacuations can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but are rarely necessary. Even very badly injured travelers usually can come home on regular flights after no more than a couple of weeks of emergency treatment and stabilization abroad.

4-Trip cancellation and interruption insurance covers the cancellation or refund penalties and the cost of getting home if you have to cancel your trip, or cut it short, for specified reasons. The covered reasons vary typically include injury or illness to you, a traveling companion, or a member of your immediate family. War and terrorism may or may not be included, or may be covered only at additional charge.

5-Supplier default insurance covers any money you lose because of the bankruptcy of an airline, cruise line, tour operator, or other provider of travel services. Supplier default coverage has been drastically cut back since 11 September 2001. Some travel insurance companies no longer offer it at all, while others pick and choose which travel suppliers they will insure.

6-Rental car insurance covers damage or theft to a vehicle you rent (usually referred to as "collision" insurance) and/or liability to other people or vehicles you injure or damage. Many credit cards include rental car collision insurance, but not liability insurance. If you own a vehicle, your insurance may or may not provide liability coverage when you are driving a rented vehicle. Your liability if someone is killed or injured in an accident can be much greater than the value of the vehicle. If liability insurance isn't available as part of a "travel insurance" package, see if you can add a third-party liability or "umbrella" rider to your homeowner's or renter's insurance.

Five Things about Travel Insurance You Should Know

1. What does travel insurance cover?

 Medical/Health: Reimburses medical or emergency dental costs. All most all insurance plans work by reimbursing the traveler after he has paid locally for the treatment. Medical evacuation insurance covers the cost of an air ambulance, attending physician and nurse if you are badly injured or become so ill that you are unable to come back home.

Accidental Death: Air Fight Accident: Covers death during an air flight only. Usually covers the highest amount of coverage due to lower risk.

Common Carrier: Covers death while traveling in public transport such as ferry, train, bus or taxi.

Accidental Death: Covers death at any time on your trip. Usually provides the lowest amount of coverage due to higher risk.

Travel Delay: Reimburses travelers for hotel, food or clothing expenses in the event of a flight delay.

Baggage Loss: The plan includes reimbursement to travelers for their, lost, stolen or damaged personal items. This coverage is generally for the duration of the trip and not confined to baggage damaged or lost by the airline.

Rental Car Damage: A specific amount is reimbursed to the traveler for damage or loss of a rental vehicle.

Is travel insurance necessary?
One issue that often strikes us while planning for a vacation is the necessity of travel insurance. Nobody likes to think of the odds that could make you cancel or shorten a vacation. No matter how well you plan for your vacation, things go wrong due some unavoidable circumstances. And it is here that you seek for shelter of travel insurance.

As with most things in life, we are exposed to a certain amount of risk when we travel. This is the sole reason why we require travel insurance. Now, whether a person is a student or a professional, it is applicable for both. For students, however, there are certain separate rules and regulations compared to the insurance policies for the other groups of people.

So before you finalize your vacation plans, be sure you have given careful thought to whether you need to purchase an insurance policy while you are traveling. There are circumstances that could cause you to cancel your trip, return home early or force you to seek emergency medical treatment while traveling. Travel insurance provides you with that extra protection cover you need.

2. How much does it cost?

The cost of annual travel insurance policies is dependent on one’s age, trip length, trip cost, the plan you want and coverage limits. Trip cancellation and interruption plans on a per trip basis are typically based on the cost of your trip, your age and amount of coverage you want. Most vacation insurance plans are between 4% and 8% of total trip price.

Travel medical and evacuation plans are quite inexpensive, especially if you are young.

3. Won’t my domestic insurance plan cover me?

It is important to know what coverage you may have through your home or health insurance, or on your credit card. However, only travel insurance provides trip cancellation/trip interruption coverage, protecting your financial investment. And not all health insurance plans will provide full coverage when you travel internationally or outside of a designated network area. (For example, Medicare does not cover health care expenses outside of the United States.) Medical evacuation coverage is rarely covered in most standard health insurance policies.

4. Why should I buy a travel insurance plan?

Here are six reasons to buy travel insurance:

• To protect your personal items while traveling
• To protect your financial investment in your trip
• To protect your health and well-being.
• To cover the high medical costs associated with getting sick or injured while traveling abroad that may not be covered by your domestic health plan.
• To cover the cost of being evacuated to a medical center of excellence or back home.
• Peace of mind

Travel insurance is a great value for travelers who are concerned about: their trip being cancelled, delayed or interrupted for reasons outside their control; urgent access to medical care while abroad, medical evacuation and payments for those services; and protection of personal baggage.

5. Where can I get travel insurance?

Travel Insurance is vital for business travelers.

Business persons who are traveling should make sure that they get adequate  travel insurance  when they travel on business.Business owners should make sure that they are and their employees are covered by a comprehensive travel insurance policy that will cover medical and evacuation expenses.

Employers should purchase a single  or group travel insurance policy  to cover employees while traveling for business. If employees are traveling more than one time per year, a multi-trip travel insurance plan is the most cost effective travel insurance plan. A group travel insurance plan can also offer great savings either on single or multi-trip basis. It is recommended that such a group multi-trip plan, which can be a standalone plan or part of a group benefit plan, also cover the employee while he or she is on non-business trips.

Medical evacuation coverage is a must for any travel insurance plan as the costs can also run into the thousands of dollars and the travel insurance assistance provider can coordinate the evacuation details. Most travel insurance plans include medical evacuation, but it can be sold on a standalone basis for individuals and groups. A business travel insurance plan can also aid in assessing your medical condition, provide translation or even legal help.

Some business travel insurance plans also include coverage for baggage loss, which is quite common these days, especially in some airports such as Terminal 5 at Heathrow. Some business travel insurance plans also include trip cancellation and trip delay, but these can also easily be purchased on a single trip basis.

For business trips to dangerous regions such as Iraq or Afghanistan, make sure you get a travel insurance policy that will cover terrorism & war risk . You may also want to obtain Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage to cover travel to dangerous regions.

If you are a business traveler this year, make sure that you check to see if your company travel insurance policy exists and if it will cover you while traveling on business and/or pleasure. Also, note that Expedia's online poll revealed that 19% of US travelers postpone or cancel holiday travel plans because of work reasons.

What is top-up travel insurance?

Top-up travel insurance is an emergency medical travel insurance policy. It is a policy that is purchased by travelers who already have travel insurance coverage, but do not have the coverage they need for the entire length of time they will be away.

Who needs top-up travel insurance?

There are three common scenarios for someone to need top-up travel insurance:

Your coverage through work only covers a portion of your trip

Your coverage through your credit card only covers a portion of your trip

Your holiday is longer than the trip length of your annual, multi-trip policy

Why you need top-up travel insurance?

Anytime you go abroad, having supplemental emergency medical travel insurance is essential. Relying solely on your provincial health plan to cover costs if you get sick or are injured while outside of Canada could prove costly. How much is covered by your provincial health plan for out-of-country emergency care is highly limited, and will almost surely not be enough to cover the total bill; healthcare outside of Canada can be expensive. It is for this reason, that having emergency medical travel insurance for the full duration of your trip is why you need top-up travel insurance.

When can you get top-up travel insurance?

Firstly, will your existing travel insurance policy allow top-up coverage to be issued?

If not, you should purchase travel insurance for the full duration of your trip.

Secondly, remember that top-up travel insurance is typically purchased prior to the start of your holiday

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