Two trips, two lessons
A couple in their fifties, eight years into a travelling life, lose their luggage the moment they land — credit cards and travel documents included. With very little cash left, a three-month trip ends within days.
On the next trip everything goes smoothly, until a week before flying home one of them falls down a flight of stairs and breaks a hand. In a foreign country, with no medical insurance, they can only afford first aid at the first private hospital they reach. Both incidents were insurable. Neither was insured.
What a travel policy actually contains
Policies differ, but almost all of them are built from these four parts.
Medical insurance
The most important piece for any traveller. Illness can follow a change of environment, food or altitude, and accidents happen anywhere. Overseas treatment is billed at local private-hospital rates and paid up front — a single fracture abroad can cost more than the trip itself.
Flight cancellation and delay
Compensates you for the cost of a delayed or cancelled flight, including the knock-on hotel and rebooking expenses that are rarely refunded by the airline.
Trip interruption
For the things you cannot foresee in a destination country — socio-political disruption or extreme weather that cuts a trip short. Each insurer defines the triggers differently, so read those clauses rather than the brochure.
Luggage theft, loss and damage
Bags, documents and cards go missing at the worst possible moment. This is what turns a lost-luggage day into an inconvenience instead of a trip-ending emergency.
Add-ons such as emergency evacuation and adventure-sports extensions are usually optional, and worth taking if your itinerary calls for them.
Before you buy
- Buy the policy when you book the trip, not the night before you fly — cancellation benefits only apply from the date the policy starts.
- Match the sum insured to the destination: medical costs in North America, Europe and Japan run far higher than in South-East Asia.
- Declare pre-existing conditions honestly; an undisclosed condition is the most common reason a foreign medical claim is rejected.
- Check the excess (deductible), the per-claim sub-limits and whether adventure activities — trekking, diving, skiing — are excluded.
- Save the insurer's 24x7 international helpline and your policy number on your phone and with someone at home.
- Frequent flyers should compare a multi-trip annual policy against buying single-trip insurance each time.
The bottom line
Never travel without insurance — you never know when an accident or incident happens. And treat it as one layer in a wider plan: your domestic health insurance usually stops at the border, and a travel policy does not replace it.