You Do Have Travel Insurance Though, Don’t You?

Once upon a time, a very wise person was heard to say ‘If you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel.’ Its cliché, but then, clichés are often true. If you are going overseas, get travel cover – even the cheapest travel insurance deals are really quite reasonable when compared to the price of airline tickets – let alone the price you might have to pay if you break your leg or get all your bags stolen.

Medical Cover – Just Get It
Expensive but Crucial

No matter what cover you decide to purchase, even if it’s the budget version, it should have some sort of medical cover. However, you may want to beef this up, depending on where you’re travelling. Most basic options will not cover sports such as skiing, as the risk of injury and expensive treatment is just too high. The first important thing you need to worry about is what the treatment will cost you. A case often given is the traveller taking a trip through the United States, land of opportunity and appalling health systems. Many Americans live on a day to day basis with no health insurance – a fallback system is just not in place. This means that if a foreign national gets injured, they’re in the same position, and liable for some astronomical costs. You may think you won’t get ill – but broken bones do happen – one of these could cost you thousands and thousands of dollars. There are horror stories of people only stopping in the US for transit purposes for a few days, and having accidents which take years to pay off. Medical evacuations from the states can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Look for policies that deal with this.

A Little Squeamish?

At the other end of the scale, if you are travelling to a developing county, you probably won’t want to subject your delicate first-world body to the particular country’s public medical facilities. Even when planning a short trip to Bali, you might want to make sure your policy covers private health care. With lower standards of medical care (not least due to the fact the rules of global economics mean the highest qualified doctors often leave to pursue careers in wealthier countries), you are at higher risk of infection or other mishaps. On top of this, you probably don’t want to be subjected to the same waiting lists that the locals have to put up with. In countries with high rates of communicable diseases, such as AIDS in Southern Africa, paying the extra for private health care is a wise decision.

Don’t Even Think About It!

Well, you can certainly go wherever you like, but don’t expect to be covered by travel insurance companies if the country or region you are thinking of heading to has a specific travel warning from the Foreign Office. Hotspots such as Iraq or Sudan marked ‘Do Not Travel’ will most probably be snubbed by your insurer. You can generally check for a full list online with various sites offering up to date warnings. There may also be warnings ‘advising against travel’ (the next level down) to a whole host more destinations, including Indonesia (and therefore Bali), so it’s best to check with individual companies if in doubt. Unfortunately for you, the issue may have been politicised, and might even seem bizarre - Australia was recently listed as a risk destination for some time by countries including the UK following the Cronulla riots - but the company probably won’t want to hear your opinion on whether it’s safe. Finally, even if you travel to a country with no prior history of violence, your company may still get out of paying you – many policies will not cover any act of war or terrorism whatsoever.