Australian Travel Tips: Choosing Travel Insurance
The ICA advises travellers to:
• Look out for exclusions that may help keep the premium low, but may affect your ability to claim successfully.
• Make sure the policy will be recognised around the world. In some countries, if they don’t recognise the insurance underwriter, they may not admit you to a hospital.
“Make sure you are provided with an international emergency contact number, and ask your travel agent who the underwriter is, and where they are based,” advises Frail. “Especially if you are travelling to a remote place, where large insurance companies are not likely to have a base.”
Most travel insurance policies won’t cover luggage that is left unattended in public places or your loss if your tour operator or airline goes broke and leaves you stranded. Travel policies also usually don’t cover for war and may not cover for terrorist acts. In most cases a travel insurance policy won’t provide cover if you fly home early because of a death in your family.
Some insurance companies base a refusal to cover travel to certain “unsafe” countries. If you cancel your trip in the absence of an official warning, your insurance may not cover the cancellation, so check first.
Travel insurance is usually based on the policy holder’s age, destination (it is easier - and cheaper - to get insurance to travel to New Zealand than to countries such as the US, for example), your length of stay, and any pre-existing medical conditions. If you are over 65, you may need to pay a higher premium.
Source: The Age
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Filed under: Travel, Travel Guides