Comprehensive Travel Insurance covers expenses for unexpected events that could disrupt or cancel your trip. It also provides extra medical coverage beyond what your regular health insurance plan covers.
Some policies will require you to disclose your medical history and some will have a pre-existing condition waiting period. Others will cover you as primary insurance and won’t ask about other existing coverages.
Cancel for Any Reason
Cancel for Any Reason, also known as CFAR, is an optional upgrade on many comprehensive travel insurance policies. It allows travelers to cancel their trip for any reason (with certain limitations). This type of coverage reimburses up to 75% of insured prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs.
CFAR is an affordable way to add peace of mind to your trip planning process. It’s especially important for long trips and those that include a significant amount of prepaid travel expenses like airfare, hotel rooms, tours, and excursions.
The cost of CFAR is typically only about 40% more than a typical comprehensive travel insurance policy. The extra cost is well worth it for those worried about last-minute hiccups in their plans that can impact a big trip.
These hiccups may include illness or death of a family member, military deployment, civil unrest, job loss and other reasons not covered by the standard policy. CFAR is not available with every policy but can be found on several comprehensive plans from companies like Allianz and World Nomads.
Trip Delay
We all love to travel, but sometimes unforeseen events cause things not to go exactly according to plan. That’s where trip delay coverage comes in, offering a safety net to reimburse a certain amount of out-of-pocket expenses if your trip is delayed for a certain number of hours, usually between six and 12 hours.
Most comprehensive travel insurance plans will include this benefit, but be sure to read the policy carefully to understand its terms and conditions. Generally, this benefit covers reasonable expenses such as meals, accommodation and transportation. However, some providers may have a minimum delay period that must be met before the benefits kick in.
Keep in mind that this type of coverage is different than cancel for any reason insurance, which typically provides a percentage of your prepaid nonrefundable trip costs back without having to give a reason. Be sure to compare plans that offer this feature to find the one that best fits your needs.
Trip Interruption
Rob and Leslie are a bit nervous about their upcoming Caribbean cruise. They have paid for a lot of the trip in advance and it is non-refundable. If something unexpected happens and they have to cancel their trip, it could be years before they could save enough to go again.
This is why they are considering buying comprehensive travel insurance. This coverage would reimburse them for prepaid, non-refundable expenses and additional costs to return home if they need to cut their trip short due to a covered reason. This is a benefit offered by most comprehensive plans.
A few of the covered reasons may include an illness or injury to you or a family member, evacuations at your destination, natural disasters, terrorism, being called to jury duty and more. You should check the specifics of your policy to see the full list of covered reasons. Trip interruption coverage typically covers up to 150% of your unused pre-paid trip costs.
Emergency Medical
Travel insurance can help minimize the considerable financial risks of traveling. Policies typically cover trip cancellations and interruptions, lost luggage, and emergency medical services. They can also reimburse travelers for non-refundable trip costs if they have to cancel their plans because of illness, death, job loss, or natural disasters.
Some comprehensive travel insurance policies include flight accident coverage, which pays benefits to beneficiaries if the insured traveler is killed or injured on a licensed commercial airliner.
The main difference between comprehensive and basic or medical travel insurance is that a comprehensive policy packages together trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage with emergency medical and baggage cover.
A stand-alone medical plan only covers emergency medical expenses like a sprained ankle, but it won’t cover other trip related issues like hotel costs or alternative transportation if you miss your flight home. Depending on your personal health situation, the extra cost of a comprehensive policy may prove to be well worth it.
