Travel Health Insurance - Don't Get Caught Without It!

When planning a trip or vacation, many people neglect to spend the little extra money and time to ensure themselves the peace of mind of having travel insurance. This leads to the unfortunately common scenario of travellers who find themselves ill or hurt in a foreign country and unable to afford the appropriate care.

Imagine for a moment that you and your family have embarked on a long-awaited and planned for vacation to Europe. You finally arrive at your destination and excitedly set out on a day tour of your first city. During the day, one of your family members falls ill or falls and breaks a leg. Do you have any idea how much it will cost for an ambulance trip in this foreign country? How about doctor's fees, hospital services and medications? Every year, thousands of travelers are left in just such situations without adequate medical coverage to pay for the emergency they find themselves in.

When you are visiting foreign places there are often aspects you will be unfamiliar with, such as terrain, animals, plants and insects. Add to this possible difficulties communicating because you don't speak the language or understand the local customs and you could be setting yourself up for a difficult time should anything unexpected happen.

Like any good insurance product, the premium is always worth the coverage in case of needing it, and is often overlooked by consumers. Most people have an 'it won't happen to me' complex - don't be most people!

Travel insurance, also known as travel accident insurance or travel health insurance, should include at least the following:

o Any charges for ambulance services to the nearest hospital

o Hospital accommodations as needed

o Any laboratory testing and x-rays

o Doctors, surgeons and nurses' fees

o Emergency prescribed medications

In general, be sure and ask for coverage which cover at least the above-mentioned. Additional questions to ask include:

o Specific amounts of coverage and what is excluded, if anything

o Is there a deductible and how much?

o Are sports related injuries covered?

o Are any medical emergencies due to pre-existing conditions covered or excluded?

o Is every member of your family or travel group covered in the plan?

o Is there a provision for costs incurred if a flight is missed and a more expensive flight has to be booked? What about missed work due to illness or accident?

o Is the cost of returning the sick or injured person home covered?

Medical emergencies can be expensive no matter where they occur. Travel health insurance is an effective and cost-efficient way to secure peace of mind so you can go have some fun!

For more tips, as well as ideas on how to save money on your next trip, visit Travel-like-a-pro.com.

Shauna Arthurs is a writer/editor, and Co-founder/owner of a network of web-based help sites, including Travel-like-a-pro.com, home of the Travel Industry Secrets guide to never paying retail travel rates again!

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Travel Insurance - How Important Is It?

Before taking your next trip, you may want to consider availing of travel insurance. Many travelers do not understand the importance of this type of insurance and how it can help them in case of medical problems, accidents, canceled trips and lost baggage. This insurance will simply help you avoid spending more in case these situations happen.

Coverage
Depending on the travel insurance you purchased, it usually covers many aspects of your travel. The cost depends on the insured items or the type of insurance you are purchasing. Most airlines include this insurance with the flight tickets, but passengers are given the option to avail of them or not. Thus, this insurance can be purchased separately from a travel ticket. If you are traveling overseas and your trips get cancelled, you may end up losing money that you have already invested for your travel if you are without insurance.

Importance
Many travelers think that travel insurance is just an additional expense. However, more often than not, this insurance is beneficial. On the other hand, many travelers actually assume that this insurance can provide protection in any scenario. For example, some travelers purchase trip cancellation insurance and then cancel their trips at the last minute, thinking that the insurance will save them from the unnecessary expenses. However, this is not the case. Most insurance companies have rules and regulations that govern trip cancellation and other similar scenarios. Most often, it does not cover trips that you cancel voluntarily. It is important that you understand the rules of the travel insurance before purchasing one.

Risk
Although travel insurance is often useful, it often comes with risks. This is why it is important for you to understand the insurance policies before purchasing one. If you do not do this, you will end up spending money for something that you do not actually need. For instance, if you already have a medical insurance, you do not really have to spend for a travel insurance that includes medical benefits. If you purchase one, however, you need to make sure that you know and understand its coverage. For example, if you will be participating in sport-related activities such as scuba diving, make sure that the coverage includes sport-related accidents. Read the insurance policies word for word and understand everything that it says. Compare it with other insurance options offered in other companies to make sure that you get the best deal.

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Flight Travel Insurance: Must-Have Insurance for Stress-Free Journeys

A New Haven-bound US Airways flight was struck by lightning. The passengers and crew were safe and the flight was rerouted to New York. This incident, however, demonstrates why flight insurance is so crucial.

The importance of flight insurance policies is obvious in the number of products available in the market today. While the typical flight insurance policy covers death, loss of limbs, or loss of sight due to a flight accident, some other policies extend coverage to evacuation and repatriation on medical grounds, lost/missing/delayed baggage, and trip cancellation.

You have several flight insurance packages to pick from. Flight life insurance plans provide insurance coverage for accidental death on commercial airlines. If the insured visits high-risk areas, then flight life insurance do not offer coverage.

Flight cancellation insurance policies reimburse expenses in case a flight is delayed/, or if a family member or traveling companion is ill or expires. Some flight cancellation policies automatically insure traveling companions less than 18 years of age. And in some cases, expenses for trips delayed because of missed connecting flights are reimbursed.

There are several policies to choose from, depending on necessity and budget. One travel insurance policy can offer maximum limits of $300,000, $500,000, or $1 million while some others offer lower maximum limits of $100,000, $200,000, $300,000, and so on.

The premium amounts depend on the policy. The premium for some policies can be as nominal as $14 and can extend to $56. Maximum trip lengths, too, are policy specific and could be a minimum of 180 days or a maximum of one year. Policies can be bought for a single trip or for several trips through the year.

Some flight insurance plans pack in a lot of benefits while some others cover certain risks. A MedEvac plan takes care of emergency evacuation either due to medical reasons or security reasons. It also offers non-mandatory adventure sports coverage and a host of assistance services for medical situations, flight and hotel requirements, and even with missing luggage.

With so many flight insurance policies in the market, some amount of confusion is valid. So, to help customers access and compare various flight insurance policies, a web site was recently launched. The web site accepts input from the user and uses it to collect policy details from everywhere so that the user can compare all the available policies and choose one that is affordable and value for money.

Adele Pitt frequently writes about travel and travel insurance.

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Travel Insurance - Protect Your Belongings While You Travel

When people think of the insurance coverages that they need, they rarely think about the need for travel insurance. However, if you have been planning and saving for a big family vacation for a long time it is important that you take measures to protect the time and money that you have invested in your trip. After all, it can take only one accident or unfortunate event to bring your trip to a halt and you will want to be covered by an insurance plan specifically designed for the hazards and losses that can occur while on vacation.

What Does Travel Insurance Cover?

Travel insurance generally covers cancellation or interruption of your trip, lost or stolen baggage, medical emergencies and general trip assistance services. Generally speaking, travel insurance policies are designed cover those hazards and losses that are not covered by a general insurance policy, although certain exclusions such as an act of God, intentional loss, or actions of the government still apply to travel insurance policies. Restrictions and conditions differ on each policy so it is best to educate yourself on such terms for each policy that you consider.

How Much Coverage Will I Need?

The amount of coverage that you will need for each will vary depending on your destination, the total cost of the trip and the frequency with which you travel. If you have booked an expensive trip, for example, you will want to make sure you insure your trip against involuntary cancellation or interruption for most if not all of the total amount you paid for your trip. If you are transporting expensive items in your luggage, you will also need to take consider that when choosing coverage limits. Emergency medical expense coverage is generally provided as an excess amount over your primary health care coverage.

Doesn't My Home, Auto, Health or Life Insurance Cover Me While on Vacation?

Your home, auto, health or life insurance coverages may cover you for certain losses while you are on vacation, although many policies will limit that coverage to certain limits and coverages and have a specified territory in which you are covered. If you find yourself vacationing outside of the territory of your policy, you will no longer be covered under the terms of your insurance contract during the time that you are there. You should ask your insurance agent or a representative from your carrier about the specifics of your policies as they relate to coverage provided while traveling.

Conclusion

Purchasing travel insurance is a great way to give yourself the peace of mind that comes with knowing your investment of time and money is protected. Please remember that the conditions, coverage amounts and covered losses will differ from policy to policy and that this article is intended only to provide a general overview of travel insurance. Consult with your insurance agent or representative when considering and choosing insurance policies so that you are fully informed of all of the applicable terms and conditions.

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about travel insurance [http://myluxurytravel.info/travel-insurance-protect-your-belongings-while-you-travel/], please visit My Luxury Travel [http://myluxurytravel.info/] for current articles and discussions.

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Cruise Travel Insurance: So Your Dream Travel Is Insured

After careful planning and cost-cutting over 10 long years, Keith and Donna finally managed to save up enough money to book their luxury cruise trip to Galapagos. It was to be their second honeymoon amidst the scenic islands. Just as their anticipation about the trip was about to hit its peak, they got the unfortunate news of Keith's mother being diagnosed with a terminal illness that gave her very few days to live.

The news was double-disaster—not only were they extremely saddened by the prospect of losing his mother to a grave illness, but they also discovered that their cruise booking, like most other cruise bookings, was 100 percent non-refundable: a large proportion of their saving was bound to be wasted when they cancelled the trip. Keith bitterly regretted not taking his wife's advice on purchasing cruise travel insurance.

You can use cruise travel insurance plans to reimburse trip costs if you cancel the trip before it starts. If one of the travelers is ill or injured and the trip needs to be abandoned midway, you recover your money through cruise travel insurance. Some added benefits that are part of this plan include reimbursement of medical expenses and evacuation of sick or injured travelers.

There are several types of cruise insurance plans and they essentially differ in the reasons they consider valid for trip cancellation and the people covered by the plan. In some cases, they cover only the travelers and in other cases, travelers as well as family members are covered.

Plans that offer evacuation cover may pay for evacuation only to fixed local hospitals, or they may allow for evacuation to a hospital of the insured person's choice, within their home country. It may be possible to get a medical upgrade for the plan so that it covers medical expenses as well.

If you're interested in adventure sports and are planning to indulge in some of them, then do confirm whether the cruise insurance plan you intend to purchase covers any of the activities you're interested in. Some policies cover adventure sports like scuba diving and jet skiing and some don't.

The plans may or may not insure against pre-existing conditions or financial insolvency of the travel provider. In the cases where financial insolvency is covered, the eligible plan purchase date may vary such that some plans would protect against the insolvency only if purchased within 21 days from the initial trip deposit, while others would cover it even if purchased within 24 hours of the final trip payment.

If your trip is cancelled because of bad weather, then you don't need to worry. Most cruise insurance plans list bad weather as a condition under which cancellation charges are covered. However, if your trip suffers because of terrorism, then it is unlikely that the plan will consider it. Some plans, however, do cover medical expenses ranging from $10,000 to $500,000, whereas evacuation and repatriation cover can range from $100,000 to $1 million.

Adele Pitt frequently writes about travel and travel insurance.

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Why You Should Get Travel Insurance

Whether you are travelling or backpacking, there will be possibilities of problems to arise. As you are on foreign land, if you lose your luggage or get injured, there might be difficulty claiming for your losses. Thus, here are some reasons why you should get travel insurance.

First of all, it is the flexibility of the duration of coverage. Some travelers would want to travel for a year, but some want to travel for a shorter duration. Whichever it is able to cover the trips either by annual or single-trip, allowing travelers pay for their insurance accordingly.

While no one would like to lose their luggage, money and documentation, it happens at times. When such a thing happens, a traveler will find themselves in a difficult situation. Yet, having travel insurance should be able to cover for such losses, so that they will be able to travel back to their own country.

Unfortunately, accidents can happen anywhere at all, even in your own country. This makes it important to get travel insurance as it may be able to cover your medical and associated costs like search and rescue should anything happen. However, do check to see if the policies of the travel safety cover the country you are planning to travel at.

Personal liability is another concern. There are times when a traveler themselves cause the damages to property or injury unintentionally. As it is unintentional, you would not be expecting to carry a lot of money to cover such costs. Therefore, it is important that the insurance cover personal liability as well so that travelers can have a worry-free holiday.

There is also the cancellation of trips. There are times when a traveler may have to cancel their holiday due to unforeseen circumstances, and cancellation may result in financial penalty which would be extremely costly. Thus, in such situations, the cost of cancellation of airfares and railway fees may be covered by the travel insurance.

All in all, travel insurance is beneficial for a traveler. When choosing an insurance, go through travel insurance guides to see which suits you best. At the same time, read through their travel safety guide to learn on tips to keep your possessions and self safely, because intentionally putting you in unsafe condition would not be included in the insurance company's coverage.

Chris is the writer of this article, you can visit us for more information on surf travel and travel bags.

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Travel Sickness and How to Deal With It

For those of us that get sick when abroad, it is just typical! You have all year round to be sick and then the one week that you are away from your mundane and boring life you can guarantee that the bugs will bite! There are plenty of common ailments that can strike whilst you are elsewhere, and perhaps travel sickness is the first you have to contend with. Travel sickness can weaken the body and leave you more susceptible to illness. However, because you only get one chance to go away, it is essential that you cope with travel sickness as and when it happens rather than waiting.

Believe it or not, travel sickness actually happens to between 60% and 80% of the world's population at one time or another. Fortunately for those individuals that fly, it happens to most people while travelling in a car, but that is not to say that travel sickness does not apply on a plane! It does. If you start to feel dizzy or sick whilst flying then you are almost certainly experiencing travel sickness. There are things that you can do to prepare yourself in an attempt to avoid travel sickness in advance though:

o Avoid eating heavy, greasy, salty and spicy foods before you go. These will just serve to saturate and unsettle the stomach.
o Avoid drinking the night before flying to ensure that you are in good health when you take off! Getting drunk the night before may be a great way to see you off, but not if it makes you ill on the plane!
o Take some time to relax because anxiety can increase the problem. Your nerves can quite easily cause breathing problems, which could then lead to vomiting so make sure that you take your time and breathe!
o When you are flying and feel as though you are going to be ill, do not read or look downwards in any way because this will serve to disorientate you. However, you should keep moving so take a walk up the aisle every now and again.
o Drink plenty of water. This will keep sickness at bay somewhat because you are replacing the fluid that you are sweating and perhaps vomiting out. Water will also avoid unsettling your stomach, but carbonated drinks and acidic drinks like juices will upset the balance.

If you do happen to experience travel sickness or other illness when abroad, natural cures such as peppermint and ginger root can help you to fight nausea and calm your stomach. There are also some anti-sickness pills that may prove to be effective that you can purchase from a pharmacy. However, you should always drink plenty of water to re-hydrate your body and visit a doctor if symptoms do not abate for upwards of 24 hours.

Sam Serio is a partner in Websketching of Chincoteague, a full service internet marketing firm. He is also a true advocate for Chincoteague Island, Va. tourism. Chincoteague Island is the premier family vacation destination spot on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and the home of the world famous Chincoteague Wild Ponies. To learn more about this amazing island please visithttp://www.chincoteagueislandvacations.com and http://www.chincoteagueoutlook.com and Discover Chincoteague Island!

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