Travel Insurance: What It Won’t Cover
Due to the many unforeseen events recently; disease outbreaks, terrorism, environmental disasters, more people are buying travelers insurance. But, there’s something else . . . If you decided to cancel your trip due to fear of these potential problems you may find your policy has limited protection for that decision.
Say you’re afraid of a bombing in the subway or something like that, it may not be covered. And you probably aren’t going to get a policy that will protect you in the event a hurricane hits your favorite beach destination. The purchase of travel insurance would not be beneficial in any of those situations.
What travel insurance will cover, is payment to you for non-reimbursable portions of your vacation. For example airline tickets or deposits for your hotel. It only applies to those situations where a policy holder HAS to cancel or delay a trip, or in the event the insured gets stranded it will help cover extra costs.
The travel policy usually pays for circumstances when an overseas doctor or hospital care is required, or the insured needs emergency medical transportation. This becomes critical because there is no guarantee that your medical insurance provider is recognized in other countries. Travel insurance covers certain circumstances but has a lot a lot of special circumstances where the policy will not pay.
A lot of the potential disasters that increase the insurance sales, end up not being covered. Sometimes the threat of terrorism is ignored completely. It is important to peruse these contracts.
And the policies that do cover terrorism will only reimburse for your canceled plans if a terrorist attack has occurred in a place included on your itinerary, and only if that happens within a 30-day period of your departure. A bombing in London that makes you fearful to travel to Paris, or even Manchester in England won’t be covered under your travel insurance. Basically fear of anything whatsoever is not covered.
And yet it is fear that is prompting more and more people to buy travel insurance. And the point is that fear is one of the things that most insurance policies don’t cover. Not only that, but your terrorism coverage, if you have it, could be deemed not qualified because you waited too long to buy the policy after scheduling your vacation.
In 2006 London, after a terrorist plan to attack planes was uncovered, the majority of insurers did pay for hotel rooms and meals for their insureds who were delayed due to fears that the terrorists would be able to follow through with their plans. Since no attack took place, people didn’t get their money back if they decided to cancel.
The cost of travel insurance coverage, like any form of insurance, will depend on which areas you want to cover and the price of your trip. You can get comprehensive policies that reimburse for various cancellations, any delays that leave you stranded, the loss of luggage, plane accidents, emergency medical situations, and evacuations for medical purposes. You can just pick what you want covered as well.
Some insurance companies now have a policy that can be canceled for any reason. If you purchase this type of coverage, your policy will reimburse you 74 percent of the cost of your trip, should you decide not to go. Because this policy offers more leniency, it costs much more than regular travel insurance.
Currently in the U.S. there’s some seventeen million policies for travel insurance that are sold each year. Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the yearly sales of travel insurance have practically doubled. With the occurrence of disease outbreaks and environmental disasters, sales are expected to continue to rise.
Of course, in the event of a major disaster, most airlines, cruise lines and hotels will eliminate any fees or restrictions placed on re-scheduling. In other words, you are protected without buying an insurance policy.
For more information on travel Insurance check out travel insurance.To find out more about travel Insurance visit travellers insurance.
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