I’ve traveled to a few other countries but to be honest, I’ve never thought about getting travel insurance. But a few weeks ago, my husband told me that if our plan to go out of the country next year pushes through, we should get one.
Well, that got me thinking, “Do we really need travel insurance? Would it be worth it?”
So, here are the reasons why you need to consider travel insurance a must for your next family trip.
Medical emergencies abroad can be really expensive
Imagine this situation: You’re driving somewhere in Europe and another car hits your rental car head on, leaving you with serious injuries. You have a health card but the hospital only accepts cash payment upfront.
When you have travel insurance with emergency medical and dental coverage, it can help pay for the medical expenses and find doctors or health facilities you need.
By the way, travel insurance can be short-term or major coverage. Short-term policies are for people traveling for five (5) days to a year while the major coverage are for those who are staying overseas from six (6) months to a year or longer. It’s good there’s readily available travel insurance Schengen visa Philippines.
You might lose something really important
This is perhaps the number one reason why most people buy travel insurance — to protect their baggage and personal belongings. When you have travel insurance, you can relax a bit even if you’ve lost your luggage , your belongings have been damaged or stolen.
You could get some form of reimbursement if your trip gets cancelled
Say, you spent P100,000 for a 7-day Asian tour. Everything’s been set but a day before the trip, your mother slips in the shower and ends up in the hospital. You call the tour company but they say that you won’t get your money back.
This is when travel insurance with trip cancellation benefits can step in. You could get reimbursement for non-refundable pre-paid costs such as accommodation, transport and car rental when you need to cancel for a covered reason.
Covered reasons can include serious injury or illness of the one insured, his or her travel companion or family member, a terrorist attack, or a natural disaster that damages your destination.
Another possible scenario: what if your travel company suddenly files bankruptcy 3 days before your five-day Mediterranean cruise? What do you do?
With insurance that covers financial default, you could recover your expenses.
You don’t want any setbacks to ruin your time together
For example, you miss your connecting flight, if you have travel insurance with missed connection coverage, you can relax. You’ll also get assistance in arranging your another flight and paying the fees.
Travel insurance could cover legal fees in case you’d need it
Yes, there are policies that take care of the fees in case you need to file a legal claim or when you need legal advice.
Just realize that before purchasing any kind of insurance, read the policy benefits and coverage meticulously to know the limits or exclusions of any form of coverage.
Check your policy benefits and description of coverage (policy wording) carefully for the limits on this cover and exclusions.
Do you get travel insurance for your trips? Which ones have you tried?
