What is Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance protects you from financial loss related to unexpected events that occur during, or even just before, a trip. Different policies cover different events, but two broad categories you need to consider are medical coverage and trip insurance. If you want the best international travel insurance, you should make sure you have both.

Medical Coverage

When traveling internationally, medical coverage is a must. The cost of health care in some countries is astronomical. Even if you have a health insurance policy or belong to a healthcare sharing ministry in your home country, medical costs may not be covered in another. You don’t want to wipe out your savings to pay for emergency medical treatment because you didn’t bother to buy travel insurance.

Most medical travel insurance policies include coverage for emergency medical treatment (sometimes including dental), medical transportation, emergency medical evacuation, accidental death or dismemberment (AD&D) coverage, and repatriation to your home country in the event of your death.

Note that many policies don’t cover pre-existing conditions, or only cover the acute onset of a problem related to a pre-existing condition. Be sure to read the fine print carefully to make sure you understand what their definition of pre-existing is!

When considering how much medical coverage you need, do a little research on the cost of healthcare in the country you’re visiting. In most cases, I wouldn’t suggest going for less than $50,000 in coverage for emergency medical.

Trip Insurance

Trip insurance protects your investment in your trip. It includes trip cancellation and trip interruption. Trip cancellation covers you when you have to cancel your trip before departure. Sometimes canceling a trip last minute means you lose non-refundable deposits or even the full cost of accommodations or airline tickets. Trip cancellation protects you from that.

Trip interruption covers the costs associated with having to suddenly return home during a trip. Usually, only specific reasons are covered, such as a close family member falling seriously ill.

Other Coverage

Most travel insurance policies also cover you for costly inconveniences that can be part of the travel experience, like losing your luggage or other personal effects. It might not sound like a big deal, but if an airline has ever lost your luggage, you know how annoying and expensive it can be. If they don’t recover it for a few days, you’ll have to buy new clothes at your destination, which can eat into your travel budget.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to consider when choosing a trip insurance policy. Whether you’re looking for cruise insurance, international medical coverage, or simple trip insurance, we hope this list of best travel insurance companies has been helpful.

Remember, don’t cheap out on travel insurance. Make sure you protect both your travel investment and your health.

Thanks for reading and happy traveling!