Know These Facts Before Buying
Cheap Travel Health Insurance

Cheap Travel Health Insurance: Read our necessary facts that all travelers must know before purchasing a policy. Find which exclusions in policies can deny you benefits that you assumed you were entitled to.

But first, let me say this: If you're planning a trip, I'm jealous!! Now, with my pathetic whining out of the way, let's commence with laying out some EXTREMELY important areas to look at when shopping for travel insurance.

Deep Sea Diving Travel Insurance Photo by: scubaben

In this day and age, people in all countries and of all ages are trekking to numerous romantic getaways or adventurous destinations. So whether your shopping around for the cheapest foreign travel health insurance, going on a honeymoon, deep see diving, or off to college in a foreign land, you need travel insurance or at least some cheap travel health insurance . If you don't, you are playing with a loaded gun!

Whether you're healthy or not, an accident or health issue could arise while you are thousands of miles from home. And with the reality that medical transportation back to your home, could cost close to $100,000..Yep, a hundred grand...you need medical insurance for travel!

So scourer the tips and advice I've listed below as you shop around for some the best of the best or even a cheap travel health insurance company.

Buyer Beware Tips

Did You Know?

Often times, stolen property left in a hotel room will NOT be covered. Check your policy. You might need to make changes or rent a safe if the hotel offers this service.

As usual, don't sign anything until you have done your research. Especially the viewing of your policy's exclusions. Below are some MUST READS regarding what sometimes IS NOT covered in a cheap travel health insurance policy.

Pre-existing Medical Conditions. An example might be...if you have heart complications while on your trip and you have had prior heart surgery, most travel insurance companies will not cover this.
Cancellation of Your Trip. This is a biggie!! If your trip is cancelled for some weird reason, only some insurance companies will award money for costs that you might have already paid up front. This happens all the time! Double Check....then check again!!

Side Note

Travel Insurance For Seniors: Have an older parent or grandparent going on a trip with you? Some cheap travel health insurance companies have cut offs regarding age. I have seen companies have a limit at 80 years of age. But I've seen them go as high as 100 years of age.

Stolen Money...Lost Money. Many companies choose not to cover this. I find this hard to believe, and I'm sure you do to. But, it's true! (Perhaps they believe you shouldn't be carrying it with you...that's the only reason I can think of.)
An Incident where you are involved with Drugs and/or Alcohol (Actually, this is very common. Bars, niteclubs, etc. So watch out!)
Dental Work. This is a big one. A lot of consumers would consider this covered. But often it is not. Please double check with your company if procedures are covered or not.
Activities where you purposely put yourself in harms way. For ex., if you are in Africa on a Jeep tour and decide to step out of the vehicle. Any incident with animals, etc. most likely will not be covered.

Coverage You Should Probably Get

Did You Know?

ALWAYS check your policy exclusions for specifics on any item. For instance, certain companies might cover a funeral if in another country, but not transportation of the body back to the home country.

Most people purchase travel insurance for protection against loss of luggage and personal belongings. But did you know you can acquire coverage for these items:

Computers, Jewelry, etc. Expensive items can have extra coverage added for them.
Medical Costs
Medical Transportation To Your Home
The Cost of a Funeral
If Your Trip is Cancelled

Did You Know?

You can usually purchase policies for a few days all the way up to a year.
Most though, won't let you purchase the policy over a year in advance.
Most policies will end when you return to your home.
One key fact to keep in mind, is that while on a trip, most travel insurance companies will allow you to extend your coverage. So a smart thing to do might be to purchase a shorter amount of time, and if you decide to stay away longer, coverage could then be extended by adding another month or so to the policy.

Side Note

Globe Trotting? Need cheap insurance? Travel worldwide with peace of mind but only if you know your policy covers the different areas you will be in. There is so much red tape in insurance policies, that this could actually be over-looked! So be upfront with your agent on ALL the destinations you are planning to see. You never know, one of them might not be covered!

Planning Crazy Excursions? You may or may not be covered!

Did You Know?

You could most likely purchase a cheap travel health insurance policy even if you have already started your trip.

Here's the deal. If you plan to travel to some far off land and do some wild and crazy things like spelunking (cave exploration), that's all fine and dandy. But double check with your company, because oddly enough, they may not cover that.

I've seen companies that covered spelunking in Sweden, but NOT zip lining. At the same time, the same company might cover zip lining in Japan, but not spelunking! (Do they have caves in Japan??....well, you get the picture.)

Zip Lining Travel Insurance Photo by: stevendepolo

Another example? Sometimes the policy dictates what you can do depending upon the country you are from. For example, if you are from the United States, tons of companies will not cover you if you choose to play Cricket while away! While they WOULD cover you if you rode a gigantic Elephant in India!!

That seems odd...but those who write these policies, and the exclusions that go into them, have the statistics to back up there reasoning....or at least they say they do!!

Wrapping up...just make sure you check your policy and especially the exclusions (that's where most cheap travel health insurance companies hide the stuff they don't want us to know). And in the end, even if you have everything on your checklist marked, double check the policy again. You never know, someday while abroad, you could be glad you did!