When it comes to preparing for travel, insurance should be top of the list. If you fail to buy insurance cover for your travel abroad, you are placing all of your travel plans in jeopardy.
You will also be risking your life and all of your savings. A traveling check-list is usually very long, but none are as essential as travel insurance. Many people do not remember to pay for a travel insurance policy, and yet it is the most critical item you should have before you leave as far as your safety is concerned. Below are the top 7 reasons why travel insurance cover is a must for every trip you take.
It Pays for Cancelled Trips
Assume you have paid thousands of dollars for your once in a lifetime trip. One day before the scheduled departure, you accidentally slip and break your hand. You immediately call the travel agent and inform them that you will now not be able to travel abroad. They listen to you politely and offer their condolences, but unfortunately you can’t get a refund or postpone the trip. The contract you signed states that trips cancelled within a week of departure can’t be refunded nor postponed. You will lose all the money you’ve spent so far on your travel plans unless you have travel insurance cover.
Travel insurance is vital every time you take a trip because you simply don’t know what can happen before or during traveling.
Medical Services Overseas are Expensive
Nobody likes to fall sick, but the truth of the matter is that, at some point, it’s going to happen. It is therefore prudent to have travel insurance cover since you don’t know if you will fall sick while abroad. Medical treatments overseas are usually extremely costly, and your normal medical cover may not cover for treatment you receive while out of the country. If a need arises to air-lift you to a specialized medical facility, all of your life savings can find themselves down the drain very quickly. In addition, when you seek medical treatment overseas, you will most probably be asked to pay upfront. Since some conditions like accidents need immediate medical intervention, if you don’t have travel insurance cover, you are risking your life.
Because the Government Says So
If you have an emergency abroad, the first place which comes to mind to get help is the American Embassy. The embassy offer helps to travellers: they will process a new passport if you’ve lost one; they will help you call home; or even connect you with the local police. However, if you fall sick or get into an accident which necessitates medical intervention, the embassy cannot help you. The same can be said for if you lose your personal effects.
The mandate of the embassy is to help you to get new travel documents and to offer advice on how to get home safely if needed. That is the reason why the American government recommends you to have travel insurance cover for every foreign trip you make. Travel insurance cover will not only take care of your medical expenses, but also reimburse some of the items you may lose while abroad.
Travel Insurance Reimburses Lost Items
Nasty things can happen when you are abroad—you can be carjacked, mugged or even get lost. All these and other mishaps can result in your tour coming to an abrupt end. In fact, you may even start a totally different journey to the hospital or the embassy. In the process, you may lose some of your belongings. There is nothing as agonizing as being lost and without funds in a foreign country with no one to call on for help. If you don’t have travel insurance cover, your choice will become a big burden on your family as they try to evacuate you. Firstly, it may be hard to reach them because muggers often steal mobile phones first. However, if you lose everything and you have travel insurance cover, you have a high chance of being reimbursed for your losses.
Emergency Trips
Let’s assume that you are on your annual holiday together with your family. One day, you receive an emergency call from the office informing you that you are needed as soon as possible; or you may be called back home to take care of an ailing parent. If you do not have a travel insurance cover with an emergency trip policy, you will spend a fortune to get back on a last-minute flight.
Death Cover
Travelling is meant to be enjoyable. Unfortunately, anything can happen anywhere. Nobody likes the prospect of death, but since it’s as real as life itself, it is therefore prudent to plan for it. If you lose your life while abroad, your next of kin will have a hard time transporting your body home. It’s interesting to note that you will be charged more than double to fly home dead than when you are alive. Of course, the return ticket cannot be used to transport your body back home! To make matters worse, you cannot use the terminal insurance of your home country when abroad. To prevent all these troubles, buy travel insurance cover which caters for death services.
Peace of Mind
There is nothing as unsettling as knowing that you’re not covered while traveling abroad. It doesn’t matter how expensive or well-planned your trip is, if in the back of your mind you know that you don’t have travel insurance cover, you won’t be able to fully relax and enjoy yourself. To enjoy your trip abroad, it’s mandatory that you have comprehensive travel insurance cover.
Bottom Line
Nobody knows what the future holds. It is, therefore, necessary to prepare for any eventuality. You may have been protected against disease and accidents for your whole life, but as soon as you cross the border, all these covers and insurances can become null and void. Therefore, you need to have travel insurance cover to ensure your safety both at home and away.