Who doesn’t like to travel for their holidays? Going someplace far to see discover faraway places, to relax at the beach; or maybe to visit the family. Either way, it helps to know about travel insurance. It will save you money and help your mental wellness overall.

There are three types of insurance, each designed to protect you differently. Let’s take a look at each and when it’s a good idea to get them –or not!

Travel insurance

It’s designed for coverage in the

following circumstances:

• Trip cancellation if you’re sick or injured;
• Trip cancellations by the airline, travel company, agency or cruise company;
• Delays on your trip that cause connection or lodging issues; and/or
• Lost or destroyed luggage.

This type of insurance is good when you’ve paid a considerable amount of money for the trip. It’s also recommended when you have connecting trips, organized tours or a cruise. You won’t need it for domestic flights, short trips, and trips where your destination isn’t fixed because you want to keep your options open day to day.

Travel medical insurance

Like its name indicates, it provides medical care if you need it when travelling. There are all kinds of medical trip insurance:

• For vacations;
• For business trips;
• For internships; and even
• For visiting relatives.

Coverage depends on your choice of levels, and you can obtain it for an individual, for couples or families. Some are renewable within a certain period of time, ideal for the frequent traveler; it will save you money.

This kind of insurance is good any time you travel abroad. We also recommend it for cruises and organized tours. You won’t need it if your trip is within your own borders, or if you’re going on a short trip (granted, you could get it for a short trip in case of accidents; that’s entirely up to you). One thing to keep in mind is that it won’t work for care of a pre-existing condition; don’t get it for that reason.

Full travel insurance

It’s the one that combines both insurances listed above. It has the advantage of saving you money if you get it all together; just remember that there are times in which it won’t help much.

When it’s worth getting full travel insurance:

• Long trips of more than one person;
• Trips with children;
• You worry about possible medical issues:
• The trip includes a cruise;
• The trip says that they won’t reimburse you in case of cancellations or delays.

And when it isn’t worth it:

When the credit card with which you’re paying for the trip offers this insurance.

• You aren’t going abroad.
• It’s a short trip.
• It’s a last minute trip.
• You have a pre-existing condition.
• The insurance overlaps a policy you obtain somewhere else automatically when booking the trip.

  

How much does it cost?

Experts say that a good insurance will cost between 4% and 8% of your upfront paid trip. Any policy that costs less than 4% should make you pause: it might be a policy with so many rules that you’ll never see a payout. By the same token, any insurance that costs over 10% of the trip is simply not worth it.

In conclusion: we recommend that whenever you plan on getting insurance for a trip, you purchase it as early as possible; sometimes there may be conditions that could alter the type of insurance that you could get.

Keep in mind that the OAS FCU affiliated provider Worldwide Coverage Network offers all types of travel insurance, travel and medical, and available for US citizens and residents, and also people abroad; the specialize in coverage for people who are from one place but live, work or travel in other countries. We suggest you contact Boris Fernandez, be it by phone to 202-817-8273 or by email, as he can provide you a great quote within minutes.

A final word of caution

Whenever you have a claim, we urge you to start filing it and provide the needed information as quickly as possible. Many travel insurance policies have time-sensitive claim procedures, and you may lose out on benefits if you wait until you’re home to file.