Travel Insurance

DO YOU NEED TRAVEL INSURANCE?

Most people don't realise that their employer's Travel Insurance policy does not cover personal trips. So before you travel, make sure that you check that your employer's Travel Insurance covers you for your overseas holidays too. Otherwise, you should purchase specific Travel Insurance covering the period of your holiday.

Remember that your children and elderly parents should also be covered by Travel Insurance because one of the most important benefit of Travel Insurance is the medical coverage and emergency repatriation. Emergency repatriation may not be covered by many hospitalization plans and it is costly to arrange it yourself.

Equally important are the benefits that you get if your baggage is delayed, or if your trip was cancelled.

HOW MUCH TRAVEL INSURANCE COVERAGE TO BUY?

Save money by purchasing an annual policy if you travel six to nine times a year. Otherwise single trip policies would give you better value for money.

The key categories of benefits: overseas medical treatment and emergency repatriation; loss or delay of baggage and delay or cancellation of trip are available across all plans. However, the claim limits may differ. 

If you intend to bring many expensive items on your trip, you may want to consider a policy with a higher baggage claim limit.    

There may be additional benefits that are trip specific and you should consider these when making your purchase. For example:

• If you are planning to play sports, you should get a policy with good medical coverage.
• If you are pregnant, you may want to buy a policy that explicitly provides coverage for pregnant women.

WHAT DOES A TRAVEL INSURANCE PRODUCT LOOK LIKE?

The premium payment is made at the start of the policy. There is no refund of premium should you terminate a single trip policy. You may be able to obtain a small refund for an annual policy if you cancel the policy early during the policy period without having made any claims.

Most Travel Insurance policies have around 15 different categories of benefits. However, we suggest focusing on the key categories that are important to you when making your selection and ensuring that the level of coverage is adequate for you.

Remember that each travel policy covers one policyholder. This means that if you have a number of check-in baggages you should try to check these in under different (insured) persons.