Margaret Richcreek recently interviewed for an article appearing in the Sunday Patriot News on Travel Insurance.
ANNETTE REIFF
Midstate Traveler column for The Patriot-News
MIDSTATE TRAVELER
Insurance policy can help protect dream vacation
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Travel insurance is a particularly hot topic these days because of the economy.
In addition to all of the regular things that can go wrong before and during a vacation -- your child is unexpectedly hospitalized before departure, you miss your cruise because of a canceled flight, you break your leg in some distant locale -- travelers need to be more concerned than normal about the possibility that the company providing their trip might go bankrupt.
They also need to be concerned about the possibility of losing their jobs and not being able to afford to go away. Depending on the policy they purchase, both of those circumstances can be covered.
However, considering the odds that any of these things will happen, should you buy travel insurance for your next vacation even though it will add to the cost of your trip, and you might never use it?
Before you answer, ask yourself two other questions: Can I afford to lose the money I paid for my vacation? And can I afford to pay potentially huge, unexpected expenses during my trip?
Travelers looking for coverage can buy a cancellation waiver or insurance. According to Margaret Richcreek, owner of Richcreek Vacation Center in Lower Paxton Twp., waivers cover trip cancellations but don't provide any coverage during the trip, while insurance covers travelers before and during their travels.
Coverage can be purchased through a travel supplier -- such as a cruise line or tour operator -- or from an insurance company. Either can be purchased through a travel agent.
The cost of cancellation waivers and insurance can vary greatly from one company to another. Tour operators generally charge a flat rate for their coverage, no matter what the price of the trip, and it's usually cheaper than buying it from insurance companies, which charge based on the cost of the trip and the policy holder's age.
However, the tour companies' coverage is not as comprehensive as that from an insurance company.
Richcreek has found that insurance sold by cruise lines is generally more expensive than buying coverage from an insurance company.
Richcreek sells policies offered by Travel Insured International, whose least expensive policy includes coverage for trip cancellation (though not for any reason), trip interruption, missed flight connections, baggage and personal effects, baggage delay, terrorism, emergency accident and medical expenses, emergency evacuation and transport of remains.
The company's most expensive policy offers higher coverage amounts for most of those problems along with additional coverage for preexisting medical conditions, financial default, accidental death and dismemberment.
For all four levels of the company's coverage, policy holders can buy optional protection that allows them to cancel for any reason up to 48 hours before departure and receive a 75 percent refund of nonrefundable costs.
Because there are so many different companies offering so many different policies, how do you select the one that will give you the best coverage at the lowest price? Next week, we'll discuss factors to consider when making your decision.
Part Two
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Last week, we suggested you ask yourself two questions before deciding whether to buy travel insurance for your next trip:
Can I afford to lose the money I paid for my vacation?
And can I afford to pay potentially huge, unexpected expenses during my trip?
If you've decided to buy coverage, you now have to choose which policy to buy. Margaret Richcreek, owner of Richcreek Vacation Center in Lower Paxton Twp., sells insurance from Travel Insured International, which offers three levels of coverage within four categories, along with an array of optional upgrades. And that's just one company.
So, what are factors to consider when deciding which policy to buy that will provide you with the best coverage for your needs at the lowest price? Here are the major expenses to consider:
Cancellation protection. Cancellation coverage varies from full reimbursement if you cancel for any reason to a specific list of reasons to a partial credit for future travel with your trip's supplier. You'll generally pay a higher rate for the more lenient policies.
Many insurance policies now cover travelers who cancel due to a loss of job, Richcreek said. But read the fine print.
Richcreek noted, for example, that Travel Insured International requires that the policy holders must have held their jobs for at least three years to take advantage of the layoff clause.
Protection from supplier default. Some travel suppliers don't offer it for a basic reason: They're their own insurer, and if they go bankrupt, they can't cover themselves.
But some suppliers, notably cruise lines, offer insurance policies that are underwritten by insurance companies, Richcreek said. In that case, supplier default is covered.
Medical and evacuation insurance. Even if your medical insurance covers you out of state and out of the country -- and remember, Medicare does not cover costs outside the United States -- you still might have additional out-of-pocket expenses. Plus, some insurance companies' coverage includes assistance in finding medical care and English-speaking doctors.
Medical evacuation insurance might not mean much to someone vacationing in Myrtle Beach, but if you're far from home, it might become your lifeline and will pay for itself several times over.
"Your travel agent should look at what you're doing and who you are and pick policies that meet your situation and the coverage you need," Richcreek said. "We're here to wade through all of this for our clients."
Richcreek typically selects two policies for her clients to choose from that best fit their lives and trips. For example, a family vacation to Walt Disney World might require less insurance than a trip to Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains of Peru, where medical evacuation is difficult. A traveler with elderly parents might need more flexible cancellation insurance than someone with healthy dependents.
Among Richcreek's clients, 95 percent buy some type of travel protection. "It doesn't make sense not to have some coverage," Richcreek said, even if it's the minimum available. |
