Costa Concordia leaves many asking about travel insurance

After the recent cruise ship disaster many travelers are left wondering how such a thing could have happened. And while Titanic-like disasters like these are extremely uncommon, there are many things that can interrupt a cruise or other vacation which occur much more frequently. If you’ve ever considered travel insurance, you’re most likely wondering about it more so now. Here are a few common travel mishaps that travel insurance can often help with:

Cancellations/Interruptions: This is typically the top reason that most people purchase travel insurance. If you are planning a big trip you always have to consider that something, anything, could go wrong at the last minute. If it did, would you lose all of the money you paid up front already? Travel insurance typically reimburses you in the event that you have to cancel your trip (or cut it short) due to:

• Sickness, injury or death of a family member or you
• Loss of a job or change in work schedule that doesn’t allow you to take vacation
• Jury duty
• Hurricane damage to your destination

Medical Expenses: If you are traveling abroad and a medical emergency occurs you could be faced with the reality that most health insurance policies (including Medicare) won’t cover you when you are outside of the United States. Travel insurance policies typically reimburse you for uncovered medical expenses up to the coverage limit purchases.

Baggage Loss: This portion of a travel insurance policy reimburses you in the event that your bags are lost or delayed and you must purchase personal belongings to replace them.

24/7 Assistance: If you experience any type of travel emergency, a travel insurance policy would provide you with a 24/7 “lifeline” to call in order to get advice, directions and accommodations that you need.

Evacuations: This type of coverage is most often needed on a cruise when someone experiences a medical emergency and must be transported (often by helicopter) off of the ship to a nearby hospital. This type of medical evacuation is not covered by a standard health insurance plan so in the event you needed one, a travel insurance policy would typically cover it.

Trip Delay: Last but not least, most travel insurance plans will provide you with reimbursement in the event that your flight is delayed and you incur costs for hotels, food, etc.

Note: Like other insurance plans, travel insurance policies do have coverage limits and the amount of reimbursement you are eligible for depends on the amount of coverage you purchased, not necessarily the total cost of out of pocket expenses.