Travel

Types of Travel Insurance You Can Invest In

Written by   Nancy Hendricks   on    02 Oct, 2019     0      

What are the first things you imagine when you hear the word ‘travel?’ Probably exotic destinations, splendid cuisines, fun, sunbath, and comfortable flights. However, assuming the stress travel gives in terms of packaging and the notable cut in bank deposit; people do object a good travel plan due to high expense. In such a scenario, they decide to invest in beneficial travel insurance that provides for all the unwelcomed expenditures like medical emergencies, baggage loss, theft, and travel delays. If you are thinking of buying an insurance plan, you are right on the point as travel insurance does help a lot in securing your abroad trip.

The following are the common types of travel insurance that you can consider buying

1. Comprehensive Plans

If you are a wise planner and love to plan everything way ahead, the comprehensive travel insurance plans are the right pick for you. They include maximum benefits for a traveller like medical insurance, baggage loss, and trip cancellation. Being a popular travel insurance provider, we often see people interested in comprehensive plans the most due to their wide-coverage. In fact, 90% of travel insurance buyers fall under this category. It offers them the maximum value for every dollar they spend.

Benefits of Comprehensive Travel Insurance Plans

• Include maximum benefits like baggage loss, medical evacuation, emergency evacuation, dental cover, accidental death, etc.
• Are inclusive of renewable protection.
• Get prioritized customer support from the insurance company and agents.

Disadvantages

• Usually, comprehensive plans are more expensive than other types of insurance plans.

2. Limited Plans

Limited plans also include medical insurance and are suitable for the people who can affirm they’ll be attending their tour. Limited plans might cover medical insurance, but they often don’t include trip cancellation. For business persons and busy people with fully occupied schedules, these plans don’t hold much value. Nevertheless, a lucrative benefit why you should go for these plans is their cost-effective price.

Benefits of Limited Travel Insurance Plans

• Include all the primary benefits, which interest people.
• Include renewable protection terms.
• Premiums are reasonable and more affordable.
• They are the best option available to combine with other policies.

Cons

• Might exclude important expenditures and benefits such as accidental death cover, natural calamities, or pre-existing conditions.
• The majority of Limited plans do not provide for abroad trips.

3. Speciality Plans

The major insurance companies have introduced several specialty plans to provide more flexibility to their customers. These plans are starkly opposite to comprehensive plans as they include only specific benefits and terms which can be unilateral or multiple. Some examples of specialty plans are flight-only, rental cars, and accidental death plans. The most significant advantage of investing in a specialty plan over other plans is that they are the most affordable and have lower premiums. In the past few years, only a very small percentage of travellers have shown interest in specialty plans.

Benefits of Speciality Insurance Plans

• You can be specific with the benefits you want.
• They are the most economical.
• Have short-term premiums.
• The medical and non-medical evacuation benefit is equally good as in limited and comprehensive plans.

Disadvantage

• They can be relatively more expensive than limited and comprehensive plans when combined.
• Never enough to provide for the primary expenses.

How to select the best insurance plan out of these three?

If you are confused, you can consider the following factors in making a decision.

• If the luggage you are carrying contains expensive items or things of high-emotional value, it is more reasonable to go for a plan that includes baggage loss. Your options are comprehensive and limited plans.

• If there’s a sick person, or a pregnant lady travelling with you, we don’t need to mention that in these scenarios, comprehensive plans are the most reliable.

• If you are 100% sure you will be attending your trip, you can narrow down your options to limited plans that include reimbursement for abroad trips.

• If your budget is large, there is no option better for you than comprehensive plans.

• If you are only looking for specific Benefits, specialty plans are the ones who deserve your money.

• If the weather or climate of the place you are visiting is not favourable, consider comprehensive plans that include non-medical evacuation.

• If you want yourself or a family member to be evacuated to a specific hospital during an emergency, consider a comprehensive plan with the ‘Hospital of Choice’ benefit.

• If you wish to return to your home country during an emergency, go for a comprehensive or limited plan with the ‘medical repatriation’ benefit.

• As comprehensive insurance plans are draining on the budget, we advise you to invest in a well-renowned and high-rated company’s comprehensive insurance plan.

The right place to buy these insurance plans?

Insurance companies often advertise their policies over the newspaper and in magazines. There will be plenty of sources from where you can find a lucrative insurance plan. However, you are suggested to talk to an insurance agent, understand the claims process, and then make a purchase.

Only an official agent or partner of an insurance company can guide you on its various insurance policies and their benefits. However, for more convenience, you can also check the information on the internet from a trusted source.

A travel insurance comparison company can guide you on which type of insurance you can invest in, and help you select the most beneficial insurance plan. Another benefit of consulting an online insurance provider is the added support that you get in understanding insurance-related terms and queries.