Insurance for travel isn’t just for pricey getaways. Not simply international travel need travel insurance. Additionally, not just long trips require travel insurance.
Every journey should have travel insurance since you never know what could occur while you’re away from home. 35 million Americans bought insurance from Allianz Global Assistance in 2017, confident that they were covered for the most frequent travel accidents. The top seven causes to purchase travel insurance are shown below.
1. In the event that you have to cancel your trip, you don’t want to lose all of your money
Even the best-planned vacations must occasionally be postponed. However, a lot of tour companies, cruise lines, and airlines, in particular, provide little to no refunds for last-minute cancellations. Can you afford to lose all the money you invested in your trip if this happens?
Having the security of trip cancellation benefits is among the finest justifications for purchasing travel insurance. When you must cancel for a covered reason, these may be able to compensate you for planned, nonrefundable trip fees. When you receive your money back, you can plan your vacation for a day when the weather is better.
2. Because mishaps do and can occur while traveling
Customers of American Allianz Global Assistance who are traveling and are having a medical emergency, such as trauma, broken bones, heart attacks, or strokes, call us more than 4,000 times a year. If you have travel insurance, you can contact Allianz Global Assistance’s emergency hotline for assistance. Even paying in advance for covered emergency medical care may be possible with the help of our team.
3. Because it’s likely that your health insurance won’t be accepted abroad
Do not count on your health insurance card to provide assistance if you become extremely ill or injured while traveling. “Foreign medical facilities and providers do not accept American insurance plans and demand upfront cash payment. According to the U.S. State Department, Medicare does not offer coverage abroad. 1 If you have emergency medical and dental coverage with your travel insurance, it may be able to cover any losses incurred as a result of covered medical and dental emergencies that arise while you are traveling.
4. Due to the high cost of medical evacuations
It can be very expensive to be transported by helicopter to the closest high-quality hospital if you become extremely ill or injured while traveling abroad. A medical evacuation in some regions of the world may cost six figures, and that’s before you factor in the price of returning home.
If you have a covered illness or injury while traveling and our medical assistance team determines that the nearby medical facilities are unable to treat you appropriately, travel insurance with emergency medical transportation benefits may pay for your transportation to the closest suitable facility. Once your illness has stabilized, it may also cover the cost of specialist transportation to take you home.
5. Only 80% of flights into the United States are on time
Nearly 18% of the over 1.1 million domestic flights in 2017 were delayed, while 2.4% were canceled.
3 For this reason, you want travel insurance with travel delay benefits, which can pay for extra lodging, food, or travel costs as well as lost pre-paid expenses as a result of a covered departure delay. If you have insurance that will pay for your airport meal or unanticipated extra hotel night, you’ll be lot happy.
6. Because a lost bag can make your journey miserable
21.6 million baggage were mishandled by airlines worldwide in 2016, which means they were either lost or momentarily misplaced. The good news is that even as passenger numbers rise, airlines are growing better at tracking luggage. The unfortunate fact is that some bags, about 7%, are never returned to their owners.
Travel insurance can come to the rescue when your suitcase disappears. If your baggage is delayed or misdirected by a common carrier for more than 24 hours, baggage delay benefits may be able to reimburse you for the reasonable additional costs of purchasing necessities while you are traveling. Based on the limitations in the letter of confirmation from your insurance policy, baggage loss/damage benefits may pay you for the actual cost, actual cash value, repair, or replacement of your lost/damaged items, whichever is lower.
7. Because occasionally even seasoned travelers require a little assistance
The assurance that help is only a phone call away is among the top reasons to purchase travel insurance. You can always call the 24-hour Allianz Global Assistance hotline if you have a crisis while traveling, such as a medical emergency, lost passport, stolen wallet, natural disaster, etc. Our staff of U.S.-based travel specialists will exert every effort to look after you and put things right.
