OK, so I fell for the clickbait headline: “Ten reasons why you shouldn’t get travel insurance”.
But, when I clicked on the article (it’s clever and it’s a quick read), it was in fact 10 reasons why you do need travel insurance.
I wouldn’t normally suggest you spend money that will probably buy you nothing, but I’ll make an exception in this case.
Everybody who travels needs insurance. And everybody who travels should hope that they never have to make a claim.
Of course, you may already have some insurance automatically when you use your credit card to buy a flight or other travel product. But check out what that covers and whether it’s adequate for your needs.
You might want to gamble that you won’t lose your personal belongings, or be prepared to accept it and replace them out of your own pocket if you do.
But where travel insurance really comes into its own is health cover.
Every so often, a story will appear in a newspaper or on TV about somebody who has had an accident or an illness in a foreign place and can’t afford their treatment.
When you consider how quickly medical bills can add up — in America, for instance, an operation can cost the equivalent of a mortgage — you’d be foolish not to take the best health cover you can get.
Now, here’s the tricky part. Because — touch wood — I have never had to make a claim, I really don’t know which insurer to recommend.
I use World Nomads, which distributes products from some well-known global insurers, and seems to have a good corporate responsibility program. I urge you to do your own research and find insurance that’s right for you.
Having said that, I hope you never have to make a claim.
Update: Make sure you read the terms and conditions of your policy. Read this cautionary tale about a woman who had a motorcycle accident in Thailand. she had travel insurance but it was void because she didn’t hold a licence in her home country to ride a motorbike, even though that is not a requirement in Thailand.
