What does travel insurance cover?

When you buy travel insurance, you’re buying peace of mind. But many inquiring minds may also want to know: What, precisely, does travel insurance cover and offer protection for?

Travel insurance coverage offers a range of benefits that fall under three main categories:

1. Financial reimbursement
2. Travel medical insurance
3. 24-hour assistance

With a company like battleface, you can customize and personalize your policy so it suits the precise needs of your trip, paying for only what is required. Here’s a more specific look at what types of situations a good travel insurance policy may cover.

Financial Reimbursement

You’re most likely to make a travel insurance claim for something under this category. It includes common travel mishaps such as the below.

• Trip cancellation coverage – This ensures you get your initial trip deposit or the entire trip cost back if you have to cancel your trip before you even depart. Covered reasons include sickness or injury of you or a family member, natural disasters, terrorist incidents at your destination, civil unrest, strikes, and many other events.
• Trip delay or trip interruption – If you experience a travel delay or cannot complete your itinerary for a covered reason, then trip delay can reimburse you for extra expenses. Trip interruption coverage can ensure you recover the cost of your unused trip arrangements, as well as any additional costs to return home.
• Missed connection – If it’s one of the covered reasons on your policy, a missed connection or missed connecting flight will be only a mere inconvenience on your trip.  You can be reimbursed for the cost to catch up with your trip.
• Baggage delay, lost baggage or stolen luggage – It’s bound to happen to every traveler at some point, so make sure you purchase a travel insurance policy with coverage for lost, damaged, or stolen luggage.
• Natural disaster – If disaster strikes, you could lose your entire trip investment. You could also incur additional expenses for mandatory evacuation from your resort or vacation home, or even to return home. The right policy will help you with this. Make sure you understand the specifics of how travel insurance covers for natural disasters.

Travel Medical Insurance Coverage

It’s important to know that the medical insurance or health insurance you have access to inside the U.S. may not cover you if you’ve traveled abroad. Even if your plan does provide coverage outside the U.S., it can be exceedingly difficult to make a successful claim on it. That’s why travel medical insurance is so important to have.

• Comprehensive medical coverage – Whether it’s a minor illness, injury, a road accident, or a sudden medical emergency like a heart attack or stroke, you do not want to have to pay out of pocket for medical expenses with no way to get reimbursed down the line. This is especially true if you are over 60, or are traveling with pre-existing conditions.
• Emergency medical coverage – Not only do you want to cover minor medical scrapes, but also more serious catastrophes, including emergency medical evacuation, air ambulance, or even repatriation of remains.
• Emergency evacuation coverage and repatriation coverage – There may be times when you need help with an emergency medical situation In some cases, you may need to be evacuated to the nearest adequate medical facility, or even returned home in an air ambulance with a medical escort. Emergency medical evacuation insurance has you covered.
• Accidental death and dismemberment – A standard part of most travel insurance policies, if an unpleasant one to think about. You need to have coverage for your surviving loved ones in the event of your accidental death as a result of travel.

Travel Assistance and 24 Hour Services

The world is an uncertain place, and when you travel abroad, or even domestically, that only becomes more true. 24 hour assistance provided by your insurance company can help connect you with the information and services you need when things go wrong.

• Assistance with hotel and rental car rebooking – Plans change when you’re on a trip, and if it’s a covered reason, your insurance provider’s assistance hotline can help you rebook accommodation or transportation if your prior plans are disrupted, at no expense to you.
• Assistance with visa requirements – Your travel insurance can offer you guidance if unexpected entry requirements come up, or if the conditions on the ground change during your trip.
• Global assistance phone lines – Most travel insurance companies offer this benefit, as well as experts who can help you find the urgent assistance — such as an embassy, medical referral, or other emergency services — when things go dramatically wrong.
• Assistance for lost passports or travel documents – Getting urgent help is crucial if you or your traveling companion lose your travel documents or have them stolen.

Good insurance plans provide coverage for a variety of scenarios and offer many benefits you will hopefully never need to make a claim for. Reading all the fine print and understanding what benefits your travel insurance company offers as well as your coverage limits you is the work of any savvy traveler.