All those generic articles out on the Internet describing the ‘essential coverage necessary in every travel insurance plan’ are just plain junk. We cannot stress this enough: every traveler has different needs, every trip has different risks, and there are times when travel insurance is overkill and unnecessary.
At Travel Insurance Review, we’re here to explain travel insurance to consumers. It’s not our intent to push travel insurance, but to help consumers determine their risks and get the coverage they need. No traveler wants to spend more than they have to on stuff like travel insurance and we don’t want you to have coverage that’s unnecessary.
That being said, there is no such thing as ‘essential coverage for every travel insurance plan’. It’s simply not true. In fact, we’ve written a whole page listing when travel insurance is just not necessary.
A few examples:
- If you’re traveling inside the U.S., have adequate medical coverage, and a little money in the bank for out-of-network medical care, then you may not need travel medical coverage.
- If you have plenty of time on your trip and no hard schedule in mind, you can better accommodate travel delays. You may not be happy about it, but if you’ve got friends in town, you won’t be out a great deal of money and you could even have some unexpected fun with the delay.
- If you plan to carry your bag, stow it on the plane yourself, and not leave it alone, you probably don’t need baggage coverage – especially if you can afford to purchase what you need when you arrive.
Travel insurance is relatively cheap insurance against truly awful travel scenarios that can cost you a great deal of money like these:
- Your child, wife, brother, or father is hospitalized and you want to cancel your trip to be there for them.
- A ruthless hurricane destroys the resort where you planned to stay.
- Your boss cancels your leave and you are facing the loss of thousands of dollars in non refundable travel payments.
- You are in a horrific bus crash and need medical care you can’t afford without insurance.
- Your checked luggage goes to Spain but you’re headed to Hawaii with nothing but a credit card in your pocket.
- Some jerk breaks into your car and steals the briefcase containing your passport before an overseas trip.
- You have a heart attack on a cruise and need to be medically evacuated to a qualified hospital.
So, please stop listening to the scare tactics, take a little time to determine the risks you’re facing on your trip, and compare travel insurance plans, coverage, and price with our travel insurance comparison tool. You’ll have just what you need without spending a lot of extra money.
