Insurance - A Necessary Evil?

Insurance is most definitely not a sexy subject, but I thought it was worth focusing on considering recent events that occurred to prompt me. An unexpected IT problem caused hundreds of planes to be grounded, stranding thousands of passengers traveling around the world.  

I’m very fortunate to only have had one couple traveling home from a cruise who fortunately escaped the problem and made it home safely. I know so many other Travel Advisors who weren’t so fortunate and had to work through getting clients to cruise ports or from one place to another and it’s been a nightmare. They’ve had their work cut out for them with helping their clients sort through the various situations. And, hopefully for those situations that will cost people unplanned spending, they have insurance to cover this issue.

I know not everyone purchases travel insurance although more have been swayed to do so following the ugly Covid issue from a few years back. Many more may decide to consider it based on the most recent issues that have occurred with the Crowd Strike software update that caused grief for many travelers when this event occurred recently.

I also never used to purchase insurance when I was younger until my husband had an unexpected heart attack at the age of 57. Ever since then, I’ve been a believer from a personal perspective although it is a very individual choice for people to make on their own.  Having older parents sometimes causes many of my clients, including me, to elect to purchase insurance as well.

Purchasing insurance can be very complicated and I’m far from being an expert but the two most important factors to review with any travel insurance is the coverage for both medical expenses and emergency evacuation. It’s also good to ensure that there’s a sufficient amount of each of these covered depending on the type of trip taken and how far from home and/or how difficult it is to get from the location back home or the required medical facilities.

Another very important piece about insurance is ensuring that it’s purchased in a timely fashion relative to when the first expense is made for a trip and keeping within the required timeline. If this is done, most companies enable a pre-existing waiver that means one’s previous medical history is not considered for any claims processing done by the insurance company. Some companies don't require this, but many have as much as 21 days for this, while others are less and there are even some Canadian insurance plans that actually only allow for a three-day window.

Most travel insurance plans have coverage for trip cancellation, trip interruption, trip delay, change fees, baggage delay and baggage and personal effects. One can also go for insurance that has “Cancel for any reason” coverage that enables one to cancel even if one is 'having a bad hair day, so to speak', versus requiring one of the ‘covered reasons’.

Covered reasons vary with insurance companies but most policies allow coverage with sickness or death of a family member, travel companion or business partner; airline strike; terrorism or mandatory evacuation at the destination; natural disaster or inclement weather that affects destination or service; jury duty, military duty, or job termination; stolen passport or visa, and there may be others. Each policy needs to be carefully reviewed and analyzed to confirm that it’s sufficient for each traveler’s purpose.

Insurance is most definitely one of those things that until you need it, you may not think you need it but when you do need it and it’s there, you’re very happy that you actually have it. I’ve certainly heard my share of horror stories where people haven’t had insurance and wish they had and also had plenty of clients who have had issues that were taken care of, thanks to having had travel insurance in place. There’s no question that I always recommend it to my clients, whether they arrange their own or have me help them with it. It’s well worth the peace of mind, in my estimation.