As travel season kicks into high gear, plan your trip insurance.
Travel season is kicking into high gear. Have you also considered travel insurance if you plan any significant trips, especially international ones? If you don’t think it is important or necessary, you might want to think again, especially if you are in the “retirement age” category.
Nationwide spells out eight reasons why one should buy travel insurance, and of course, they hope you pick theirs. (Read their article here.)
- Emergency medical reimbursement
- Cancellation due to illness
- Delayed or lost luggage
- Emergency evacuation
- Loss of a friend or family member
- Trip interruption
- Damaged destinations
- Trip cancellation
The most important insurance is health insurance.
“The most important thing to have covered is health insurance,” says Charlie Leocha, president and co-founder of Travelers United, a consumer advocacy group based in the DC area. “I use GeoBlue and purchase an annual plan. It costs about $260 or so.” Leocha’s website is chock full of helpful information.
Annette Stellhorn, founder and president of Accent on Travel in Rehoboth, Delaware, has some thoughts. Accent on Travel greatly supports community events in the Rehoboth/Lewes corridor. The company has won numerous awards and has an extensive network.
Cover all non-refundable portions of your travel with trip insurance.
“My best advice is to cover all nonrefundable portions for cancellations due to medical and medical care while traveling abroad,” she says. Her company offers non-age-related pricing with an app to find doctors and hospitals while traveling and to file claims for an immediate refund, bilingual assistance for traveling abroad, and other coverage, including emergency evac to your home hospital.
That’s just for starters, though. Whether you opt to work with a travel agent or go it alone, many insurance policies on the market cover a wide range of travel-related scenarios, including lost or damaged luggage, trip cancellations either by the vendor or you, and cruise-specific policies.
Aggregate sites that compare prices and help travelers determine what trip insurance is needed.
Some websites are aggregate sites that compare prices and help travelers determine what is needed. For example, FORBES recently compiled a list of 53 insurance companies that offer a wide range of benefits to make it easier to compare costs and benefits. US News and World Report has its list.
The Points Guy is a website that covers all sorts of travel-related issues, including insurance comparisons, ratings for credit card usage, special deals, how to maximize use of points, and more. Other options include sites called Squaremouth and InsureMyTrip. The latter lays out graphically the types of coverage available so it is very easy to navigate.
Typically, travelers are required to put in their departure and return date, destination, and age. You also will need to provide the cost of your trip. With that information in place, travelers are provided a list of options.
You might want Cancel for Any Reason insurance.
The most flexible insurance is Cancel for Any Reason (CFAR). Typically, it must be purchased within a specific time of the trip purchase, and it is generally an add-on to regular travel insurance. The website Nerdwallet offers a list of the best CFAR policies. It factors in several criteria, including types of coverage, amount of coverage, total cost, usability, and customizability. The site also compares an assortment of policies other than CFAR, including credit card analysis.
Insurance selection is just one of several components to figuring out the details of a trip. Another is knowing what type of credit card covers primary or secondary coverage for a rental car in case of an accident and the benefits of using the card for purchases. The website Upgraded Points attempts to de-mystify this web.
By Mary Jo Tarallo, Guest Journalist
Mary Jo Tarallo spent much of her career in public relations with various non-profits and spent 40 years in the ski industry as a journalist, public relations director for a national trade association, and executive director of the Learn to Ski and Snowboard initiative. Before her ski industry involvement, she worked for the Maryland International Center in Baltimore and United Way of Central Maryland. She won a Gold Award for TV programming for a United Way simulcast that starred Oprah Winfrey. She has been cited for her work by numerous organizations. Mary Jo grew up in Baltimore and attended the University of Maryland.
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