The Importance of Quality Travel Insurance! 🌍
- hayleymareebridget
- Oct 13
- 3 min read
Travel insurance. The one thing (apart from your passport!) which you should never leave home without when taking an international trip. The amount of people I know who skip this step is mind blowing to me and so incredibly risky. Travel insurance is an absolute must. As soon as I have booked international flights, I take out a policy immediately or very soon afterwards. Unfortunately though, I have still been caught out.
You need to treat travel insurance as you would any other insurance product. Not all travel insurance is created equal. The products vary greatly in cost and offerings and if it comes down to it, service when actually needing to submit a claim. It is so important to do adequate research before selecting a travel insurance policy and fully reading the terms and conditions of coverage. A lot of the well known popular brands which are pushed by travel agents are an inferior product and you may end up with buyers regret if you do need to claim. This happened to me.
I was 21 years old and on a trip when I became gravely unwell flying Mexico to America on the last leg of my travels. I attended a medical clinic who then sent me on to the hospital who admitted me for treatment. Not only was I in hospital receiving care, it also meant that my friend and I missed our flight home to Australia. It certainly wasn’t ideal but at least I thought it would all be covered by travel insurance. Wrong. Whilst still an inpatient of the hospital, my Mum had gotten in contact with the insurance provider who were refusing to cover these medical costs and were trying to coerce my Mum into footing the bill. At that point, my hospital bill had reached $24,000 AUD. Because I had no means to pay and the insurance would not accept the charges, the hospital ceased care and discharged me. My parents and my friend’s parents then had to pay to fly us home once I was well enough to travel. The insurance company ghosted us. If our parents hadn’t paid to fly us home, we would have been completely stranded on the streets in a foreign country, with me still unwell. The next few months were agonising. It took daily phone calls to try and get them to pay up. They were dodging and trying to find loopholes and making things difficult in the hope we would just give up and go away. After a long battle and finally threatening to go to the media, it was resolved. Since this, I have heard of countless similar (and even worse) stories with this company. Always ask around and read reviews of real people who have actually needed to claim before purchasing travel insurance.
I have since needed to make two medical claims on seperate trips for my children. Kids get sick and often, so I am so glad I learnt the hard lesson early on about the importance of quality travel insurance. Both times I have had absolutely no issues with submitting these claims and getting the charges paid. Both times were simple and easy processes. When your child is unwell, that is your only concern and you do not need additional stress. With having quality travel insurance you can trust, getting them better is your only priority as it should be.
Check the fine details of the policy and ensure you list any pre existing conditions and give truthful information about your activities. And remember, travel insurance doesn’t just cover medical costs. There are so many unfortunate things which can happen-make sure the cover is right for you. If they can get out of paying it, they will! Keep all receipts and documentation in case of any unforeseen events and get into contact with them as soon as possible if something does happen that you need assistance with.
Have you been caught out before? Let me know below! And share this with someone travelling soon so they don’t make the same mistake I did! Travel safe, travel smart and enjoy the moment without any stress or fear if something does go wrong.
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