What is Travel Insurance?
Travel Insurance covers you for medical, financial and loss of belongings whilst you are away.
You can purchase travel insurance for a small amount of time for such a 2 days if you go on a weekend trip, annual cover which covers you for a certain amount of trips during the year and backpackers cover which is for people who are going to be out of the country for a prolonged period of time. Backpackers cover usually covers more activities than standard insurance such as adventure sports such as white water rafting and bungee jumping.
Why get travel insurance?
Medical treatment can be very expensive and if you were unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident whilst away you could be looking into a bill of $20,000.
Not only does the travel insurance cover for medical bills but also if you were to get some of your belongings stolen, your insurance provider should reimburse you for your losses.
How much does it cost?
Travel insurance is generally not too expensive but you do get what you pay for so make sure you look at the small print for any exclusion’s.
A weekend trip away to Europe starts at as little as £5 with annual multi trip from £30. A yearlong backpacker’s trip starts at around £100.
Can I cancel my policy?
With all policies you get a 14 day cooling-off period where you can cancel your insurance for a full refund.
Is the European health insurance card (EHIC) the same as health insurance?
No it is not, the EHIC only entitles you to free or reduced cost emergency treatment within the EU only. You will still need to get travel insurance to cover you for non emergency treatment and to cover you for non medical problems you may occur.
How to find out if it is safe in the country I plan to go to?
Every country should have a government website giving you there recommendations on safety in each country. The British one is the FCO (http://fco.gov.uk) which gives you lots of information about travel to foreign countries.
