Are you planning your next big trip? Buy travel insurance. Travel insurance coverage is essential, especially if you’re planning on traveling abroad. The cost of travel insurance varies depending on a variety of factors, so the overall estimate for yourself or your group will be unique to you and your situation.
Before you commit to anything, it’s a good idea to do thorough research on the types of travel insurance plans that are available to you from an insurance provider, and the pros and cons of each. The type of coverage you need can also differ depending on your trip details — where you will be and for how long.
Here we will cover what affects the cost of travel protection, how to pick the best coverage for your situation, and answer the question — is it worth it?
How Is a Travel Insurance Quote Determined?
Travel insurance rates are determined by factors like where you’re going, how long you’ll be there, how many people you’re with, their ages, and more. Here is a breakdown of the different factors that are considered when travel insurance companies are calculating your rates.
How Long Is Your Trip?
The length of your trip will play a big role when it comes to your total trip cost. Understandably, the longer you’re planning to be away, the more money you’ll spend on travel insurance. This is because longer trips are typically more expensive, especially if you’re going out of the country. So you’ll need to pay more for travel insurance in order to account for the high level of risk the insurance company is shouldering on your behalf.
How Old Are You?
Age also plays a major role in how much you spend on your travel coverage deductible and which coverage limits and exclusions apply to your policy. Older people pay more for travel insurance because they are considered a high risk to insure. The reason for this is that senior citizens (age 60 and up) are much more likely to fall ill and need urgent medical care.
Older people are also more likely to have pre-existing conditions that incur health care and medical expenses, which means it’s very possible that they could find themselves needing medical attention during the trip. If you’re an older person, be prepared to pay significantly more for travel coverage, and factor this into your overall budget.
However, you can look forward to reimbursement thanks to medical coverage from comprehensive travel insurance that includes travel medical insurance.
Young children can often be covered under travel plans for a low cost, or even no cost at all. Young, otherwise healthy children are seen as a much lower risk to insure than adults and elderly people, so if you’re traveling with little ones, it shouldn’t affect your rate too much.
How Many People Are With You?
The more people you travel with, the more you will pay for trip insurance. A large number of travelers in your group — family members and friends — poses more of a risk, since the likelihood of someone incurring medical costs is much higher.
If you’re traveling as a group, you’ll want to make sure you account for this. You’ll also want to factor in any pre-existing medical conditions of the people in your group.
If you’re traveling by yourself, you’ll likely pay less, unless you add on additional coverage, or are a senior citizen. Make sure you are preparing for any additional costs that could result from the size or unique needs of yourself or your group.
How Expensive Is Health Coverage at Your Destination?
The amount that you would have to pay out-of-pocket for travel insurance also has a lot to do with where you’re going. Some countries charge less than the U.S. for health insurance, others charge nothing at all. If the country you’re traveling to has expensive health coverage, you’ll be paying more for your travel insurance policy to account for that.
If you’re traveling to a place that charges less for health coverage, or nothing at all, you’ll be quoted less for travel insurance. If you anticipate needing medical care during your trip, make sure you’re considering this when you’re planning and budgeting for where you want to go.
Looking for Additional Coverage?
If you want to add on any additional coverage, you’ll have to pay extra for that as well. There are a number of protections that people will commonly ask to have included in their policy as an extra layer of security.
Additional coverages you can opt to add on include:
- Trip delay insurance. If your trip is delayed or postponed due to a covered reason, you’re eligible to be reimbursed for any expenses you have to cover as a result. If you end up having to extend your hotel stay, or purchase meals at the airport when you didn’t plan to be there that long, you can have those things paid back to you under your insurance plan.
- Trip interruption insurance. This coverage is good to have for people who have an existing medical condition, or who would be considered elderly. If your trip is cut short due to a covered emergency, you can be reimbursed for everything you’ve already paid for. If you’ve already begun to stay at the hotel you booked, you’ll only be refunded for the unused portion of your trip. This coverage also extends to natural disasters and other covered reasons.
- Trip cancellation coverage. Cancellation coverage is great to have if you often get pulled away from plans due to personal health reasons. With this protection, you can have all of your upfront costs refunded to you. So no matter how much you spend on a trip, if you need to cancel for your health, or other circumstances outside of your control, you can have peace of mind knowing you won’t be at a loss.
Is Travel Insurance Worth It?
Travel insurance is definitely worth it. The hefty price tags that come with many of the vacations people book these days are more than worth insuring. At first glance, you might want to overlook it, but you should consider all of the benefits that come with having travel insurance.
Your Travel Budget Is Safe
Imagine saving up thousands of dollars for yourself and your loved ones to go on your dream vacation only to lose it all because you couldn’t attend due to a medical emergency. Most experiences have some sort of time frame during which you are able to request a refund at no charge to you. Some experiences are non-refundable no matter what.
With the proper travel coverage, you won’t need to worry about this at all. Trip cancellation coverage would apply here, and you could handle your personal emergency without worrying about what’s happening with the funds you put towards your trip.
Insurance allows you to cancel your event for any covered reason, and be reimbursed for everything you paid for in advance. You’ll be able to rebook your adventure on your own time without missing a beat instead of having to save up again from scratch.
Travel Insurance Covers Emergency Evacuation
If you’re on vacation and suffer a major injury, the last thing you want to hear is that they can’t help you unless you pay. If you’re leaving the country for your trip, your health coverage won’t be valid. On top of that, many companies request that people who do not have adequate coverage pay upfront before receiving any treatment.
Plus, emergency medical evacuation can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. With travel insurance, not only will your medical care be taken care of at a local medical center, but you’ll also be able to be transported back to your home country at no cost to you.
Travel insurance can make the most stressful moments much easier, and while you may think an emergency of this magnitude would happen to you, it is possible. So it is worth it to be prepared for anything that might come your way.
Missing Items and Travel Delays Are No Big Deal
Under your policy, any items that come up missing (like your luggage) are covered. This means that you will be reimbursed for having to re-purchase your entire wardrobe in order to continue following a trip delay.
If there were any personal and irreplaceable items with your missing bags, you can file a claim for those as well. This is not to say it isn’t disheartening to have your things go missing, but that you won’t need to go back and forth with the airline about compensation. Non-refundable expenses like airfare and prepaid rental cars can also be covered by some insurance plans.
If your plans are delayed due to baggage mishaps or plane flights running behind, you don’t have to settle for this loss. If you had to spend money you didn’t plan to spend on food or personal items that were in the luggage you’re missing, you can receive compensation for these things as well.
How Much Does Travel Insurance Cost?
While the factors that influence the cost of travel insurance are numerous, it’s not going to cost you very much in the grand scheme of things. The more expensive your trip is, the more you should consider purchasing travel insurance. If you’re traveling with a group, you all can split it to save money.
On average, you can expect to pay six percent of your total trip cost for travel insurance. So, if your trip is $8,000 total, you can expect to pay around $480 for travel insurance. This isn’t accounting for many other pricing factors mentioned above, but spending a little less than $500 to avoid losing $8,000 if an emergency comes up is worth it.
Get Travel Insurance Before You Need It
While you can apply for coverage at any point during your trip, travel insurance is not retroactive. This means it is only applicable to covered events that occur after it is purchased. It’s easy for people to think the worst will never happen to them, especially if they’ve never had a trip that didn’t go according to plan.
Nonetheless, waiting until after something happens to get coverage, or opting out altogether could end up costing you more in the long run. If anything of yours gets damaged or stolen, you’ll have to come out of pocket for it. If you become ill and need extensive medical care, you’ll have to cover that on your own as well.
Don’t wait until the worst happens, because at that point it’s much too late. Let Insured Nomads cover your trip in case you find yourself in an unexpected situation that you can’t handle on your own.
Travel With Ease
At Insured Nomads, we want traveling to be a stress-free experience for our customers. So we have designed comprehensive insurance plans to ensure you receive the highest quality coverage possible.
If you are concerned about pricing, you’re not alone. Many people opt out of travel coverage because they feel it would be a waste of money, or they aren’t sure what they’re even paying for. With our transparent, easy-to-use platform, you can get a quote for the cost of your trip in just minutes.
Here are some of the perks you get if you work with us:
- We will cover the cost of replacing your stolen items
- We offer 24/7 mental health and wellbeing counseling for group travelers
- You have access to the medical care you need 24/7 along with crisis responders
- Coverage for up to a year for a single long trip or multiple small trips
- COVID-19 protections
To sum it up: travel insurance isn’t as much as people think, and it is definitely worth it. Let us cover you and your family so you can travel with confidence knowing you have every protection possible. Check out what Insured Nomads has to offer.
About Insured Nomads
Insured Nomads is the first to take an integrated traveltech, fintech and insurtech solution to the world for remote workers, globally distributed teams, expats, and travelers. Their purpose is to make travel as safe and smart as staying at home. They do this by providing health insurance with exceptional medical benefits in tandem with wellbeing, safety, security, and advanced tech-enabled solutions for ease of payment for healthcare, emergency response and evacuation. Insured Nomads is available through affinity relationships, direct, embedded and through select brokers and partners for groups and individuals.
Information on integration, collaboration and partnership contact Brett Estep: brett@insurednomads.com
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Sources:
Everything you need to know about travel insurance before you book your next trip | CNBC
How to Find the Best Travel Insurance | NerdWallet
Average Cost Of Travel Insurance 2022 | Forbes Advisor