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 Travel & Outdoors | March 2008 
More Tourists Buy Travel Insurance in Case of Trip Cancellation, Illness
 Elizabeth Piet - Grand Rapids Press
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| Lee and Jerry Hough of Cannon Township were on a cruise in Mexico in February when his appendix burst. Luckily, they had bought travel medical insurance.
TYPES OF COVERAGE
Emergency medical/health expenses: Many HMO medical policies do not cover travel abroad. Medicare almost never covers healthcare in a foreign county.
Trip cancellation: This is the most common type of travel insurance. It generally covers non-refundable payments if a trip is canceled or interrupted due to unforeseen circumstances such as a sickness, death in the family or another matter listed in the policy.
Trip delay: This coverage provides reimbursement when a trip is delayed.
Lost baggage: This would provide coverage if your personal belongings are lost, stolen or damaged during a trip.
Bad weather: Some policies cover you if airports are closed due to weather before you flight out, but don't cover you if you're already there but want to come home early to escape bad weather. Be sure your coverage gets you safe lodging or a trip home if your vacation hideaway becomes unlivable.
TIPS ON GETTING THE BEST DEAL
Check your current coverage: Check your health, life and homeowners insurance. You may find you're already covered. Also many airlines still re-book or give credit for canceled flights.
Shop around: There are many companies that offer insurance, so do your research. Check online and with travel agents.
Read the fine print: Before you buy, make sure the risks you want to cover are covered. Also in most situations, it pays to get your insurance immediately after booking a trip because many exclusions kick in after a certain period of time.
Source: Angie's List | | |
Cannon Township couple Lee and Jerry Hough never bought travel medical insurance for their four previous cruises.
But for the fifth one last month, Lee, 49, decided an extra $150 seemed worth the peace of mind.
It proved to be a wise decision.
Several days into the trip, Jerry, who has faced heart troubles before, felt ill and insisted his wife take their planned excursion into the Mayan ruins alone. When Lee returned, Jerry had been rushed ashore to a tiny Mexican hospital where they learned his appendix had burst.
It was 4:30 p.m. and the ship would return to sea in an hour.
"I didn't know what was going to happen," said Jerry, 53. "You're out of control."
Protecting against vacation unknowns has become a growth businesses for travel insurance companies. Americans taking leisure trips spent more than $1.3 billion on travel insurance in 2006, a growth of 20 percent over 2004, according to a survey conducted by the U.S. Travel Insurance Association.
The most popular polices for travel insurance include trip cancellations and interruption coverage, which account for 77 percent of sales, according to the association. Medical insurance, like the Houghs purchased, accounts for only 4 percent, but grew 34 percent between 2004 and 2006.
While Jerry spent five days in Mexico recovering from surgery, insurance company AIG arranged last-minute flights home, hotel rooms, reimbursement for prepaid excursions and missed cruise days and an interpreter to help transfer medical bills home.
"They called two to three times a day just to make sure everything was OK," Lee said. "It saved us thousands of dollars, and just for them to coordinate the process. ...
"I will never, ever travel without it again."
Travel agents and experts attribute the rise in insurance purchases to increased fears since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and a rocky U.S. economy making the prospect of losing hard-earned vacation dollars more scary.
Prior to 9/11, only 8 to 10 percent of American travellers purchased travel insurance. That has risen to about 25 percent, said Carol Mueller, an AIG spokeswoman.
Brenda Anderson Newhof encourages her clients at Rainbow Travel of Grand Rapids to purchase travel insurance protecting against delayed flights and canceled flights, lost baggage and other pre-trip occurrences.
She estimates about 90 percent of her spring break clients purchase the policies.
But in the last six to eight months, a new reason has influenced some travelers -- job worries.
"They say, 'I'm going to purchase it because you never know what's going to happen with my job,'" Anderson Newhof said.
For $59 to $100 per person, a trip can be canceled for any reason up until the day before, she said.
Hot travel spots for spring break include Riviera Maya and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. Travel agents recommend checking personal health insurance policies for coverage outside the United States.
At Antor Travel Agency of Rockford, some medical coverage is packaged with cancellation insurance, said consultant Mary Ann Wilson.
One couple who purchased a $2,800 vacation spent an additional $112 for the coverage, she said.
While travel agencies sell travel insurance, they earn minimal profit on them, said Antonia Van Os, a consultant for Witte Travel & Tours of Kentwood.
"We don't want to make it a pushy situation, like now we're trying to add one more thing," she said.
The different options are presented and about half of customers purchase a policy, Van Os said.
"A lot of people save a lifetime for these vacations," she said. "Unfortunately, unforeseen things happen." |
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