6 Myths about Travel Insurance

You’ve just booked a big trip, and you’re debating whether you need to shell out that additional cash for travel insurance. The trip itself is costing upwards of a thousand bucks (read on to see our case study on foreign exchange rates!), and at this point, signing up for another travel insurance fee seems like a nail in the coffin that is your bank account. Travel insurance is just a waste of money anyway, I mean it’s not like anything will happen to you while on vacation, and even if it did, insurance companies make it practically impossible to collect, so why bother, right? WRONG!

Myth #1: Nothing will happen to me!

Fact: If you’re a logical person, you’ll recognize the flaw in this way of thinking. You may have travelled abroad 100 times already and never had to deal with a difficult problem

Myth #2: I’m covered at home, so I don’t need to spend more on an additional policy.

Fact: Unless you specifically purchased an insurance policy that includes full coverage abroad, your domestic health insurance, homeowner’s insurance and credit card policies do not always cover the costs of trip cancellation, medical expenses, or, in the worst case, medical evacuation abroad.

Myth #3: I don’t need Cheap Travel Insurance , because it’s impossible to collect unless something catastrophic happens anyway.

Fact: The right policy will not only cover catastrophic illness, injury, disasters and repatriation costs, but it’ll also serve as a way out of a sticky situation in case something less dramatic takes place. Let’s say you’ve booked a trip to Spain for a friend’s wedding, and you’re in full excitement mode when you get an email saying that the bride has called it off.

Myth #4: Travel insurance is just for people that do adventure sports.

Fact: While it’s especially important for the sky-divers, ice-climbers and cave explorers out there to have travel insurance, they’re not the only ones that can benefit from the security that comes from buying a travel insurance policy. 

Myth #5: Medical costs abroad are cheaper anyway. If I need any treatment, I’ll be able to pay for it out-of-pocket.

Fact: For Americans, this one is partially true. It may seem like you may very well be able to get a heart transplant or a hip replacement abroad for the cost of an x-ray at home.

Myth #6: I can buy the flights and book the hotels now, then I’ll buy the travel insurance right before I leave.

Fact: If you wait to purchase travel insurance until after booking the rest of the details, all of the x-factors that come into play while travelling could come back to bite you. 

[Source: http://www.tourradar.com/blog/6-myths-travel-insurance/]