Why You Should Get Travel Insurance

Posted in Health Insurance

July 10th, 2009

Travel insurance is a wise investment for several different reasons. First, it’s protecting an even bigger investment – your trip. Airfare, hotels, food, entertainment, travel within the country or countries you’re going to – it all adds up, in a big way. When you get travel insurance, you’re protecting all the planning you’ve been doing, and all the pleasure you hope to get. If, for example, you or your traveling son or daughter lose their luggage, travel insurance will help you by providing short-term emergency cash, usually up to $300. It won’t cover the value of whatever it is you’ve lost, but that money will come in handy as you or your child try to get through the crisis of a lost bag.

Another important reason to get travel insurance is the health care coverage that the policy can provide. By and large, the health insurance you have at home will not cover things that happen when you or your child are out of the country. Trip insurance is designed to cover accidents or illnesses abroad, and as we all know, breaking a leg or arm can happen anywhere. Parents will also like the fact that most travel insurance will pay for their airfare should they need to fly to a sick or injured child who is thousands of miles away.

Of course, not all trip emergencies take place abroad: some happen before the trip even begins, such as cancellations. Travel insurance is a good call in this event too, because you’ll be reimbursed for money you’ve already shelled out if for some reason you or your child can’t go.

Summertime is when most people go on their big trips abroad, especially students. Come July there are literally thousands of student tour groups leaving the United States to go all over the world, for varying lengths of time. No matter whether a kid is going in a group or with a friend or two, it’s going to be expensive, and everyone needs to think about getting travel insurance to help them out in case things go wrong.