Travel insurance is designed to protect you from the cost of unexpected events when you are on vacation or before you forcibly cancel your vacation. Buying a policy is up to you. Covers vary greatly from deal to deal, so it's important to read the small print before you buy.
Advantages of the cover
A good travel insurance policy will pay for unexpected medical expenses and ensure you can go home in an emergency. According to the insurer, even routine surgeries such as appendectomy amount to about 7,500 pounds in Europe and to £ 25,000 in some parts of the United States.
In addition, if your baggage is lost or stolen, we will cover the cost of your new baggage and compensate you if your trip is canceled, your trip is delayed or you miss your departure.
Medical expenses
Regardless of whether you purchase insurance, you must bring your European Health Insurance Card (Ehic) with you when traveling on the continent.
This allows you to get free treatment not only in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, but also in EU countries, but only up to the level of free treatment offered to locals. You can see that this is much less comprehensive than NHS, leaving a large bill and no reimbursement costs. Therefore, you should not rely only if you get sick or have an accident abroad.
You can apply for Ehic online at the NHS.uk website. Getting is totally free. Don't be fooled by the unofficial Copycat website. If you apply through the website, you can charge for Ehic.
Cover cost
Getting travel insurance is cheaper than ever, and the cost of some single travel policies is about one fifth. But the cheapest is not necessarily the best, as the cover may be inadequate and the service may be a bit thin.
Start with a price comparison site. Depending on the situation, different quotes are available to choose from among different levels of coverage. Make sure that the policies covered by each policy are the same. More expensive transactions may have higher payouts if you lose less excess or lose the amount or baggage you have to pay for the claim.
Purchase a cover directly from an insurance company instead of a travel agent or travel agent. It will be cheaper, and if a problem arises, you will have to ask the Financial Ombudsman Service for compensation.
Select policy
If you travel more than once a year, it's probably a good idea to invest in annual multi travel insurance rather than a single travel policy.
No matter how many times a year the police go out a year, there is no risk of forgetting to buy insurance. As a rule, they guarantee a maximum of about 31 days of travel, and if the trip is longer than this, you can consult with the insurance company and purchase certain insurance.
If you are traveling around the world or planning a vacation, you may need to choose a backpacker policy. This includes 1 year or 18 months of travel.
Cover level
The level of insurance required depends on a variety of factors. For example, if you have an overseas vacation destination that is visited four times a year and travels on a low-budget airline, you may not need to apply cancellation in your annual policy. In this case, you can choose a less expensive policy, which only covers repatriation, medical and personal liability insurance.
However, if you're departing from an expensive cruise of thousands of pounds, canceling your trip can result in a huge amount of loss, so you can pay a higher premium to pay more. Inexpensive policy allows you to limit the cancellation cover to £ 500, but generally £ 3,000 is recommended.
The baggage fee you need depends on the value of your belongings. There is often a limit of £ 200 per item, so you need to buy home insurance for expensive items outside your home.
To check whether special procedures are necessary, report valuables such as cameras or jewelry to the insurance company (for example, lock them in a safe or pay extra premiums).
The recommended minimum level of medical care in Europe is £ 1m and £ 2m in the US where hospital costs are high. However, many quality policies automatically support up to 5 million pounds.
The excess amount is the amount you must pay for the claim before it is covered and depends on the policy. Some insurance companies cost little, but they do not charge you. Generally it is around £ 50- £ 75.
Exclusion check
Carefully study the small print and make sure you know the exclusions. Alcohol will need to be considered. If you are sick or have an accident after drinking alcohol, the insurer has the right to refuse the claim.
The insurer does not provide coverage for areas where travel from foreign offices is prohibited. Some policies don't cover terrorism, so if you have an accident, you won't cover medical costs.
Most sports like standard water sports and horse riding are allowed by default. This means that some policies have strange exceptions, so check them carefully. Recently, there have been policies about cricket, but they do not apply to football.
If you want to ski, check out "Winter sports" and what it means. For example, you may not be able to claim if you do not wear a helmet or leave the ski equipment left unattended.
Other activities with additional risk factors such as jet skiing, hang gliding, parachuting and bungee jumping are not included in the general policy, but professional covers are easy to find.
Claim
You must provide proof of all the incidents.
• Quickly report any theft or loss to the nearest police officer and request a police report. Receive a receipt from the airline or baggage handler for lost or damaged baggage.
• Get paperwork for medical claims and keep all receipts for all costs.
• Contact your insurance company as soon as possible for a claim form. Complete and submit with proper evidence, including receipts, photographs, and copies of police or medical reports.
• When sending the original document, always check it via recorded delivery and keep a copy.
• Maintain all correspondence between yourself and the company. Accurately record all phone calls, the name of the person you speak with, and the duration of the call
• If your claim is dismissed, appeal the decision. You need to present additional evidence that will help the insurance company make a favorable decision. If this does not solve the problem, contact the Financial Ombudsman Service to see if it can help.
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