When families are booking trips, you are often asked whether or not you want to add travel insurance to your trip. The need for travel insurance depends on how much you are spending, the likeliness of cancellation, and the cancellation policies of the trip you are booking.
First, consider how much you are spending. If you are going on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, or one that is using much of your personal savings, you may want to get insurance. If you have to cancel for some reason, you don’t want to lose out on another vacation. Insurance is really meant to protect you from catastrophic events, and in most cases, you probably aren’t spending enough money to warrant the additional expense.
You may also consider insurance if you have some reason to believe that your trip may just be canceled for some reason. When I was pregnant with my daughter back in 2004, I added insurance to a vacation I booked on Priceline, because I was afraid I might have to cancel due to pregnancy complications. I didn’t have to cancel, but I would have
Finally, even if insurance does seem like a good idea, check your reservations to make sure they aren’t refundable. In addition, check with your credit card company – some companies do offer some level of coverage for cardholders.
Good tips Jodi, especially assessing how much money you have at risk and whether it is worth insuring.
An additional point to consider is traveling overseas where your insurance from home probably won’t provide coverage. An accident or illness abroad can quickly become serious and require medical attention, and in a worse case scenario you might need a medical evacuation.
Travel insurance package plans (trip cancellation plans) include coverage for medical expenses and evacuations. If you do not want cancellation coverage, but are traveling abroad and want medical/evacuation coverage, a Travel Medical plan is very cost effective.
Great points! Thanks so much for sharing.