Are you a parent looking for the right family travel insurance?
When traveling for a leisure vacation with your family, your primary interest is to ensure that your family is safe, no matter what happens along the way. This guide is about finding the right family travel insurance. The guide does not focus on those annoyances that can temporarily disrupt your travel plans; instead, it focuses on what you need to do to keep your family safe when you travel.
What would happen to your children if you were traveling alone with them and you were unexpectedly hospitalized for a serious illness or injury? Receiving medical treatment when you are far from home can be frightening enough without the extra worry about what your spouse, your children, and other members of your family will need or have to do without your help. This is why you need a good family travel insurance policy.
Of course no one likes or wants to spend time thinking about the worst-case-scenerio occurring when you travel. When you travel with your spouse, your children, and even grandchildren or extended family, you have that many more people to care for and protect, and it can be a great comfort to know before you leave that your family is protected.
Of course, your first concern is their safety, but you naturally have concerns about protecting everyone’s financial safety as well. Medical care is typically not cheap, and if you add the need for an evacuation to an emergency situation, costs can get quite high. Protecting yourself and your family medically and financially is crucial.
Common areas of concern when traveling with family
The most common areas of concern when traveling with your family are the following:
- Medical assistance - for you and your family members should anyone be injured or become ill while traveling
- Medical evacuation - for you and your family members should anyone need to be transported to the nearest medical facility to receive care
- Emergency reunion - to transport someone not in your immediate traveling party to the bedside the hospitalized person
- Return of minor children - to safely transport your child, children, or grandchildren (in some cases) to their original point of departure in the event they will be unattended if you and/or your spouse are hospitalized
Other areas of concern when traveling with your family
Some other common areas of concern when traveling with your family are:
- Depending on your family’s interests, it is occasionally necessary to have sports or hazardous activities covered as well. For instance: if you and members of your family are particularly fond of downhill skiing, or other potentially hazardous activities, it may be necessary to ensure that accidents related to those activities are covered as well. It is important to check for the optional ‘sports’ or ‘hazardous’ activities riders, which are typically optional to the policy. (The optional riders are noted in the Family Coverage Matrix, see below)
- Depending on how long you will be traveling, it is sometimes necessary to consider health care. When you and your family travel for many months (typically a year or more) outside your home country, basic heath care such as well child check ups, vaccinations, and annual exams may be necessary. Where these benefits are offered, they are noted in the Family Coverage Matrix below as well.
Steps to ensure your family is protected
- Check the policy to make sure your spouse is covered. Not all travel insurance policies automatically provide coverage for spouses, so it is important to check the details of the plan and purchase the right coverage if you are traveling with your spouse. Where benefits for spouses are supported, it is noted in the Family Coverage Matrix.
- Check your policy to make sure children (and even grandchildren!) are covered.
Children learn a great deal while traveling. They are exposed to new environments, cultures, foods and languages, and much more. There are times when parents must travel alone with their children, and there at times when grandparents want to travel with their grandchildren.
Not all travel insurance policies provide coverage for minor children, and the definition of minor children varies - typically ending at 18 or 19 years of age, so it is important to verify by carefully reviewing the plan. You can also see the Family Coverage Matrix for specifics. In addition, some plans provide extended benefits, including coverage for grandparents traveling with children, which will provide a lot of peace of mind for everyone.
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Family Travel Insurance Coverage Matrix
Below is a listing of most major travel insurance companies and the respective benefits related to traveling with family members. Within each company, various plans can provide differing levels of benefits, so it is important that you carefully review your policy when purchasing; use this table as a starting point.
| Company |
Plan Name(s) |
Family-friendly Benefits |
| AIG Travel Guard |
|
The AIG Travel Guard plans provide the following benefit for you, your spouse, and your children under 17:
|
| Global Underwriters |
|
The Global Underwriter plans provide the following benefits for your spouse, children or grandchildren (ages 14 days to 18 years):
* Optional hazardous sports riders can be purchased with some of these plans. Riders for terrorism or acts of war can also be added. |
| Elvia Travel Insurance |
|
The Elvia Travel Insurance plans provide the following benefits for your spouse, children or grandchildren under 17:
|
| International Medical Group |
|
The International Medical Group plans are focused primarily on medical protection while you travel. These plans provide the following benefits for your spouse, children, and grandchildren:
|
| MedJet Assist |
Purchased on memberships at various levels, the following are the plans:
|
The International Medical Group plans provide the following benefits for your spouse and children (up to age 19 or 23 if a full-time student): medical assistance
|
| MultiNational Underwriters |
|
The MultiNational Underwriter plans provide the following benefits to protect your spouse and children (under age 19):
Acts of terrorism are also covered with these plans. *Optional hazardous sports riders can be purchased with some of these plans. Note: medical pre-certification may be required; check the plan specifics |
| Seven Corners Insurance |
|
The Seven Corners Insurance plans provide the following benefits to protect your spouse and children (under age 19):
Acts of terrorism are also covered with these plans. Some plans are renewable for long-term trips. * Optional hazardous sports riders can be purchased with some of these plans. |
| USA-Assist Worldwide |
|
The USA-Assist Worldwide travel insurance plans provide the following benefits for you and your children (up to age 19):
|
| Travel Insured International |
|
International travel plans are focused primarily on the annoyances that can occur while traveling (cancellation, interruptions, lost baggage, etc.), some of their plans allow you to protect your spouse and children with these benefits:
|
| Travel Insurance Services |
|
The Travel Insurance Services plans provide the following benefits to protect your spouse, children (under the age of 25) and grandchildren:
|
| Travelex Insurance Services |
The Travelex Insurance Services plans provide the following benefits to protect you, your spouse, and children:
|
