With the World Cup in full swing and the summer holiday season about to start, travel insurance should be top of everyone’s mind when booking your trip away, even if you are only going to Paris for a weekend break. Your travel insurance policy will cover you for many things, such as a delayed or cancelled trip, death or illness, emergency medical assistance and lost baggage. By not having travel insurance, should you need to change your holiday plans at the last moment, for example illness or death of a close relative, the cost of changing an airline ticket or cruise itinerary can be substantial, especially on short notice. Plus the costs of emergency medical assistance while travelling abroad are beyond the budget of many individuals and families.
Just like health and life insurance, travel insurance is one of those products that nobody wants to pay for, but everybody feels that they should have. The chances are high that you will not even need insurance while travelling. However, a good travel insurance policy can make all the difference in case of any unforeseen circumstances and is worth having for the peace of mind alone. The cost of travel insurance can vary greatly.
It will depend on the amount of cover you need; the length of your trip; which countries you are travelling to; and whether you plan to participate in hazardous sports, such as diving to great depths or skydiving. Age also has a bearing on cost of travel insurance and the premiums tend to increase once you are over 65.Pre-existing medical conditions can often be an issue when purchasing your travel insurance. If you have a pre-existing medical condition, seek out a travel insurance provider who specialises in providing cover for your particular condition. Should you need to make a medical claim abroad, a specialist provider is best placed to get you the most appropriate medical treatment in the most appropriate medical facility, ensuring you are not medically over treated.
Some providers will offer to cover everything, but exclude your pre-existing medical condition, you should think very seriously before accepting this type of policy, if you had a medical emergency to do with your medical condition, how would you cover the costs? The costs can run into thousands of pounds. Having a pre-existing condition generally means you may be paying more for the cover, but it will not necessarily prevent you from being insured. Make sure you accurately inform your insurance company of any pre-existing conditions, otherwise your insurance company has the right to revoke your policy at a later date.
If you travel frequently throughout the year, and have bought a multi-trip annual policy or a family policy, make sure you read the policy wording and check for exclusions. Many policies may exclude hazardous sports or high-risk travel spots while others may ask the customer to pay an additional premium to add these risks to the policy, it is particularly important to check your cover and exclusions if you are depending on an annual travel insurance policy given free by your bank or credit card company. Should you have any changes in health between buying your travel insurance policy and travelling, you must advise your travel insurance provider, if you fail to do this you will not be covered if you need to make a claim connected to your new medical condition whilst you are on holiday.
If you want to go on holiday more than once a year, then taking out an annual holiday insurance policy is probably the most cost effective way of ensuring that your protected. Even if you only go on two holidays the savings – and the reduced stress – can be well worth the extra initial expense. Traditional insurance packages only cover for one holiday – one outgoing journey, one return journey and one destination. An annual policy lets you take a much more flexible approach to your holiday plans for a year.
You get the same cover for medical emergencies, repatriation, personal belongings, missed travel arrangement, lost travel documents, personal liability and all the features that you would expect from holiday insurance. The difference is that this cover is more open ended.
Like any insurance packages its hard to give a precise over view of the benefits of annual holiday insurance. Depending on your provider and your circumstances, what cover you can get and the savings you can make can be quite different. There should be a range of options available, in terms of level of cover and some may be more suited to your needs than others.
Although it depends on where you are going and what you plan on doing, often annual policies will be cheaper if only because they save on administration. There is an added benefit to this though, that could ultimately save you hundreds if not thousands of pounds – all of your travel plans will be covered by the same provider.
This means that you won’t be confused by different levels of cover and inadvertently find yourself in a situation that excludes your policy; its all the same and its set from the beginning what is and isn’t covered
If you’re lucky enough to be able to go on holiday more than once a year , it doesn’t pay to test your good fortune any further by travelling without insurance. An annual policy can guarantee that you get the best deal; available and that wherever you go , you are protected.
To get a pre-existing medical condition travel insurance quote, or for more information please click here or give our UK customer service centre a call on 0333 005 1066.
1. Check the latest travel advice for your destination at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office web site and subscribe to receive free e-mail notification each time the travel advice for your destination is updated.
2. Take out appropriate travel insurance to cover hospital treatment, medical evacuation and any activities, including adventure sports, in which you plan to participate
3. If you have a pre-existing medical condition research the local area you will be staying in for the most appropriate hospital/health care facility and put the telephone number into your mobile phone for emergencies.
4. Before travelling overseas register your travel and contact details online at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office web site. This makes it easy to contact you in an emergency.
5. What if something goes seriously wrong, make sure you take the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office telephone number with you. They can be reached on 0207 7008 1500 or from abroad +44207 7008 1500, the number operates 24hrs a day.
6. Obey the law. Consular assistance cannot override local laws, even where local laws appear harsh or unjust by UK standards.
7. Check to see if you require visas for the country or countries you are visiting or transiting. Be aware that a visa does not guarantee entry. l Insurancewith:.com: doing more than just insurance
8. Make copies of your passport details, insurance policy, travellers cheques, visas and credit card numbers. Carry one copy in a separate place to the originals and leave a copy with someone at home.
9. Check with health professionals for information on recommended vaccinations or other precautions and find out about overseas laws on travelling with medicines.
10. Check your passport is in good condition and valid and you have all necessary visas. Some countries will insist that your passport has at least six months’ validity from your planned date of return to UK. Some countries will refuse entry on arrival and some airlines will not allow passengers to board flights if their passport does not meet this requirement.
11. Before travelling, you should contact the Embassy or High Commission of each country you intend to visit to confirm the entry requirements.
12. Leave a copy of your travel itinerary with someone at home and keep in regular contact with friends and relatives while overseas.
To get a pre existing medical condition travel insurance quote, or for more information please click here or give our UK customer service centre a call on 0333 005 1066.
Insurancewith the specialist travel insurance provider for people with pre-existing medical conditions comments about the increase in IPT on travel insurance to 20%.
The increase in IPT on travel insurance in the 2010 Budget from 17.5% to 20% is pushing up the cost of holidays even more from 4/01/11. After the problems earlier this year with volcanic ash, the value of a good travel insurance policy which covers your needs exactly has become more apparent.
The increase to 20% on the IPT for travel insurance 4/1/11 does put a rather sizable amount onto your travel insurance premium, but by making sure you are only buying cover for your needs should help you reduce the premium, for example £10 million cover for medical expenses is probably more than enough, paying extra for £10 million cover is probably unnecessary. You should also check your household policy and see if your baggage is covered under that, if so you can exclude baggage cover which would also reduce your premium. One place where you shouldn’t cut corners is cover for your pre-existing medical condition, and using a travel insurance provider who specialises in your pre-existing medical condition, like Insurancewith will save you money in the long run.
However, if you have free travel insurance with your Bank or Credit Card Company, make sure you do advise them of any pre-existing medical condition you may have, failure to do this will invalidate your cover. You must make sure that on your policy your travel insurance provider notes your exact condition and medication, do not let them put something similar because “they can’t find your condition on their system”, as should you need to make a claim on the policy in connection to your condition you may well find that you have no cover. This would also apply to any ongoing annual travel insurance policy you renew year on year.
Another tax payable when you travel is Air Passenger Duty (APD). At present the APD for a family of four holidaying in the USA would be £200, if they travelled in economy class, it was announced in the 2010 Budget that there would be a reform of the APD, however it was not made clear whether or not this would result in an increase or decrease in tax the individual passenger would have to pay. What is clear though is that your holiday will be helping the Government to claw back some of their deficit, even more so from January 2011.
Two people in as many weeks have fallen from balconies whilst abroad on holiday, both are in hospital with serious injuries and neither of them had any travel insurance. The families of both have launched appeals to raise in excess of £15,000 to bring them home. Both cases are extremely sad, but the added stress and worrying about trying to find the money to get home could easily have been erased if they had bought travel insurance for their holiday. In one of the cases the couple assumed that the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) would cover them and that they didn’t need travel insurance, it is not clear why travel insurance was not bought in the other case.
A recent report by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, British Behaviour Abroad highlighted the number of Britons travelling abroad without travel insurance and requesting consular assistance. The government must do more to publicise the need for appropriate travel insurance when you go abroad. Many Britons who do fall ill while abroad are facing costly treatment and repatriation bills, because they have either not taken out travel insurance, omitted to declare a pre-existing medical condition or have wrongly presumed that if they are travelling in the European Union their EHIC would fully cover them for all medical costs and repatriation. It is
left to their families and friends to raise the money to pay for medical costs and to bring them home, some taking our huge loans or bankrupting themselves in the process
There is a serious lack of information from the Government about the EHIC cards, even the name European Health Insurance Card gives the public the impression they have health insurance whilst in Europe and they naturally assume it will be the same health care they enjoy in the UK. This is not the case and the Government needs to do some sort of publicity to clarify the situation or we will> continue to hear about families saddling themselves with debt to pay for their loved ones medical and ancillary costs abroad or to bring them home.
Travel insurance is something we all grudge paying for, but is worth its weight in gold when we do need it. Buying travel insurance does not have to be prohibitively expensive even if you have a medical condition, www.insurancewith.com specialises in providing affordable travel insurance for people diagnosed with cancer and other pre-existing medical conditions.
