Budget Travel Insurance – What You Need To Know

We all should know that travel insurance is a must when on holiday or vacation. Medical emergencies can cost up to $100,000 or more if an evacuation is required. Cancellations to plan, cruise or tour tickers can also cost a lot of money and sometimes there is nothing you can do it avoid it. Even loss of luggage can be costly now that more people travel with laptops and mobile phones.

Travel insurance can be expensive and you may be tempted to skip it for your holiday. For long trips it may actually cost more for insurance than it does for airfares. This is especially true of budget holidays through places like South East Asia or Europe. Also backpackers may not have costly tour packages or baggage to be worried about. The normal comprehensive level of travel insurance is often a waste for these people.

Many holiday insurance providers offer plans suited to the budget traveller and backpackers. These plans tend to cover general medical expenses such as hospital visits, doctor and surgical fees, dental costs, and medical evacuation. Sometimes these will also offer minimal cover in other areas such as baggage, credit card and passport replacement. It is up to you to decide if you want this as it will raise the price.

Some companies in Australia that offer budget and backpacker travel insurance are: iTrek Travel Insurance, Downunder Insurance, 1Cover Direct Travel Insurance, Insure4Less, and Travel Insurance Direct. Reading travel insurance reviews can help determine the best insurance for you.

Watch out for the excess. The normal excess tends to be $100 but some providers charge a higher excess in order to offer lower premiums. It is usually best to avoid high excesses as it discourages claiming. However, this tends to not be a problem on backpacker travel insurance as it really only covers costly medical expenses which means that the excess will only be a small percentage of the overall bill.

Since each policy offers a different level of cover with its own terms and conditions it is wise to review the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). In Australia it is required that a company provides with a PDS prior to purchase as it details all the conditions, exclusions and limits of the policy.