The most common grouse about travel insurance usually revolves around the issue of claims. More specifically, the insurance company may decline to pay for trip delays, luggage damages or trip cancellation.
Yes, these are some benefits of having travel insurance. They are good-to-have but eventually non-critical. Let’s be honest here – if you can go on an $8,000 holiday to the Maldives, the cost of a damaged suitcase is definitely affordable.
That is why you have been doing it all wrong when it comes to choosing a travel policy for you and your family.
Passing the buck
Frankly speaking, you are not solely to be blamed for this. With the proliferation of comparison websites, you have been conditioned to see where these sites want you to look.
The first thing you see on a comparison website is none other than the price!
Something like this but online!
However, modern consumers are no longer baited by throat-cutting prices alone. We recognise that the overall value is more important than just the cost. That is exactly why these comparison websites display certain benefits that you may be interested in.
We checked out a few of them and found that the common benefits displayed are
– loss or damage to baggage
– baggage delay
– discount/promotion
– trip cancellation
– medical coverage
A question that we asked ourselves is that except for medical coverage, are the rest of the items really that important to us?
Absolutely not!
We have no idea why they choose these parameters to compare but if you force us to guess, it is because of the fact that these benefits are common to all travel policies.
What should matter to you?
Look at these two pieces of news –
Singapore man in coma returning from Tokyo after daughter raises $250k online
The common themes are that
(1) people are really kind and
(2) being seriously ill while overseas costs a bomb!
Thus, you should have an idea that good travel insurance should cover low-frequency but high-cost events such as overseas medical expenses, emergency evacuation, overseas hospital benefits, etc. We also like policies that cover the cost of one family member to travel to your location when you are in serious medical condition.
Make sure your coverage is valid
In the second article, the family did get a travel insurance plan. However, the father had a pre-existing heart condition that precluded him from benefiting from his travel policy.
There is really no point having travel insurance but you may not be able to make a claim anyway.
Keeping you distracted from the thing that matters. This guy has no head!
This may be an unsolvable problem a few years ago.
However, things change for the better.
Travel policies that cover pre-existing illnesses are now available.
We know that at least 2 insurers in Singapore have them.
If you are travelling and you are in less than perfect health, it is definitely worthwhile to spend more in order to ensure that you have actual travel coverage.
We have arrived
At our conclusion, that is!
We all enjoy making claims for certain high-frequency but low-cost travel mishaps because it makes us feel like we have gotten our money worth. While we are not saying that you should not compare these, but do make sure what is critical are covered and covered well enough.
Upgrade your travel insurance to a higher tier if you feel that the important benefits are insufficient because pinching a penny is not ideal here.
And always make sure that you cover your pre-existing conditions with the right policy!
www.ClearlySurely.com aims to eradicate the knowledge gap between consumers and Life Insurance. Our Vision is that one day, every Man, Woman, and Child will be properly insured.
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