3 Reasons to Take Out Travel Insurance

Every time you plan a trip overseas you are making a major investment both in time and money. Protecting your investment with travel insurance should be a no-brainer, but if you still need convincing that is worthwhile considering some salient points.

There are so many things which can happen during a holiday, especially in today's uncertain economic times and in some countries where the political climate seems to change every week. You can miss a flight connection, fall ill because of food poisoning, become hospitalised after unfortunate accident or even just lose your passport and valuable travel documents. All of these things may be beyond your control but one thing is certain, any of these events can cause you great distress as well as financial loss.

It's no wonder that many government websites advises their citizens that they should take out travel insurance as a matter of course, especially when travelling overseas.

If you ever had any doubts, just consider the following points.

• Statistics show that well over 25,000 Australians experience some sort of difficulty acquiring some form of government assistance, whilst travelling overseas. The Australian government website alone reports 1200 hospitalisations, 50 evacuations for medical purposes and 900 deaths in any one year. Apart from the personal distress that each of these events may cause to individuals and their families, the problems are compounded when you consider the massive financial costs involved. Recent newspaper reports show that one night in intensive care in a New York hospital costs an average of $20,000. Even in cities such as Bangkok, a similar stay in hospital will cost over $3000. It's easy to see how travel insurance can easily pay for itself. In fact, where evacuations are concerned, the government reports that costs can stretch as far as $300,000. This figure a loan should be convincing enough to take out travel insurance.
• Consider the case of a young Australian who was working in a ski resort in the USA. He allowed his travel insurance policy to expire only a few days before he left home. Soon after his arrival in the US he was hit by a motor vehicle and eventually had to be evacuated back home in an unconscious state. The total cost was $80,000 and his family had to refinance their home loan to raise the money.
• What if you have to cut your trip short because of an unexpected illness of a close family member? Without travel insurance you will have wasted your money, and as we all know, even a short holiday can cost several thousand dollars. An international travel insurance policy can guide you against such unexpected events and at least allow you the opportunity of continuing a holiday at a later date.

Naturally, if you are going on a holiday and engaging in dangerous activities like some high-risk sport you may have to pay more for your insurance. You can offset this with a higher excess but whichever way you look at it the price will be more than worth it when you get the peace of mind that comes with any travel insurance package.