Why Take Out Travel Insurance?
You’ve got your passport ready, bag packed and your money ready but have you remembered, probably the most important item before travelling abroad? Travel insurance for Thailand is often overlooked, but is crucial.
Leaving home without travel insurance could be one of the biggest mistakes you could ever make. No matter how careful you are mistakes can and will happen even if it’s not your own doing, credit cards can go missing, flights can be delayed and expensive electronics break, so why, take the risk and worry of not being insured when you should be enjoying yourself.
Nine times out of ten travel insurance will be the biggest waste of money on your travels because that means you haven’t needed to use it, but that one time you do need it your be thankful you’ve got it.
This post is inspired by the tragic story of a British man who was critically injured in a motorbike accident in Thailand recently. Sadly, he didn’t have insurance that covered this eventuality.
So what kind of travel insurance do you pick?
A quick search in Google and you will be presented with hundreds of companies offering thousands of different policies, so where the hell do you start? First off you need to decide what you want/need to be insured for, are you going to participate in extreme sports? Perhaps you’re going to be carrying a lot of expensive camera gear or maybe you’re going to be visiting a high-risk country? All theses factors have to be considered when selecting the insurance policy which best suits your needs.
When choosing your insurance policy these five things should be included for any trip.
1) Coverage for lost or stolen items
For this you need to try and get enough coverage to cover the price of electronics and valuables, unfortunately a lot of policies provide nowhere near enough coverage so be wary when choosing your policy as you may need to pay for higher coverage or insure your valuables through a separate specialised insurance company. The majority of policies will only pay out if you have filed a police report and have proof the item was yours in the first place, i.e a receipt of purchase.
2) Coverage for lost baggage
Baggage can go missing, especially if you’re catching many flights through different countries, things happen and even though it’s rare you can find yourself stood at the baggage carousel waiting for your non-existing bag. Before you pack, make a note or take a picture of the contents, it will help and make the process of the claim easier.
3) Trip cancellation or interruption
This coverage is ideal to get if you’re paying upfront for an expensive organised tour which is difficult to cancel or has a no refund policy or if you have a family member at home in poor health and something happens to them before or after your trip has started. One thing to check is that your credit card doesn’t already cover you for this, quite a few do and it’s worth checking.
4) Emergency medical transportation
Fingers crossed you never have to use this but it’s always worth making sure you’re quite substantially covered for medical transportation. If you have a medical emergency and need to be airlifted by helicopter you be great full your covered as a medivac doesn’t come cheap, even in poorer countries.
5) Emergency medical and dental care
Another one to make sure you’ve got substantial coverage for. And while it won’t cover a doctors check up it will cover any major medical emergency you may be unfortunate enough to receive such as severe illness or broken bones. Your more than likely have to pay up front and be reimbursed lately but some insurance companies will pay directly to the hospital after a phone call.
Finally, once you have chosen the best policy for travel insurance to Thailand and have checked it’s suited to your plans, make sure you completely understand it and check the small print. Insurance companies are well known for trying to get out paying out. Make sure all the information is correct and truthful if you have any long term illnesses be sure to declare it as the insurance company will find out one way or another and you could be left with a large medical bill to pay.
One final tip is to keep all your receipts for everything, including accommodation, transport and doctors bills, you will need them if you make a claim. Most importantly purchase travel insurance so you can have worry free travels knowing you’re covered for any emergencies.
Stay safe and make a note of the important local emergency numbers for Koh Chang. These can be found here.