Hiring the best travel insurance is not as easy as it seems. You look for prices, you see and compare coverage, you choose the one you like or suits you and you think you are ready, but you are not. That’s why today we leave you some Tips to find good travel insurance.
It is not a topic to be taken lightly, because your health depends on it! There are quite a few important points to keep in mind before hiring him. Therefore, in this article, we give you some tips for looking for travel insurance with the 3Bs (Good, nic,e, and cheap) and of course according to your trip.
You must always read the General Conditions “La Letra Chica”
This part is the most cumbersome, it turns out that when one opens the general conditions file one finds many pages with a lot of information that makes us dizzy. It’s true, it is made especially so that we do not read it. However, we must read this information, since here you will find all the terms and conditions of what the insurance company covers or does not cover, under what conditions, exclusions, and how we as passengers and users have to behave.
We know it is tiring, but you will save yourself several headaches in the future.
On our Travel Insurance page, you can see all the companies we work with and all their general conditions. If you have time, we recommend checking one that interests you!
Insurance Price How much do we want to pay and what are we paying?
Price is one of the most important parameters for all travelers when looking for good travel insurance, however, it is not the fundamental thing. Sometimes we have to think about the “Cost/Benefit” of what we are buying. We must compare the prices, but also what each coverage offers and what amount it covers according to each situation.
Remember that many times what is cheap is expensive! That is to say, we can invest in very affordable insurance, need it, and then realize that it would have been useful for us to invest in a better quality product. Sometimes it’s worth paying a little more for good service.
Compare coverage
Although sometimes we get carried away by the final price, you must pay attention to this item when looking for which travel insurance to hire. Your assistance will be governed by this coverage (and the general conditions).
In addition, the maximum coverage limit will depend on the destination of your trip, since health costs in Australia are not worth the same as in Southeast Asia or Europe. That is, if you are going to travel to Australia, we recommend traveling with a minimum coverage of USD 100,000, with high coverage in dentistry, since any consultation will not go below AUD 70 for example, while if you go to the dentist in Vietnam can cost you less than half.
At least we, for example, do not travel with coverage of less than USD 50,000 since we are aware that if something serious were to happen, we could quickly run out of coverage.
Say NO to Deductible/Copayment
We will always recommend that your travel insurance does not have a deductible/deductible/copayment.
The deductible means that you have to pay a minimum amount each time you receive treatment.
The prices of coverage with this deductible detail usually have lower priced products, but in the long term, we assure you that you will spend much more money. You will always have to pay the deductible amount and that money is non-refundable.
Therefore, when looking for good travel insurance, we recommend that it does not have a deductible.
Age limit
Another item to take into account is that there are plans that are for people no more than 40 years old, others up to 50 years old, and so on.
We will also find plans up to 75/85 years old. Even a few companies offer plans up to 99 years. Almost all of these companies that offer products for people over 65 years of age have an Upgrade or rate differential based on age, so keep this in mind. For this reason, to always quote travel insurance, we are going to ask for your age!!!
Refund Refund
It is essential to know how the reimbursement issue works, since depending on each urgency or emergency, we may end up going to a medical center for reimbursement (This means that we did not have the time to speak with the company or our urgency was such that we needed to treat us urgently, or that the insurance did not have any hospital available for direct care with them).
The delay times can be various, some companies refund within a period of up to 30 business days, and others take much longer.
It is also important to know how they will reimburse you for the money spent. Many companies in Argentina make this refund in the local currency, that is, ARS, others send money through Western Union or PayPal, and other companies make the refund or refund in the currency in which said service was paid.
Modification of dates and data
With almost all companies, date changes can be made. That is, if, for example, you have to apply for your Working Holiday Visa, and you need to have travel insurance, but you still do not have your air ticket booked, you can contract your insurance with us and then, before the voucher becomes effective, modify.
The part “Before your voucher comes into effect” is important because once the voucher has started, we will no longer be able to make any more modifications, the coverage begins and you cannot change the date or cancel the insurance by requesting a refund.
You can also modify data in case your passport is not ready or something like that. It is worth noting that, for example, the company Assist 365 allows modifications at an extra cost.
Buy from abroad
There are some companies that we work with such as Assist Med, Assisto Tu Viaje, Assist 365, and Net Travel Assist, which allows the traveler to contract their assistance even when they are already traveling abroad.
Likewise, if a passenger travels without assistance and decides to hire it during their trip, they can also do so.
The only restriction that companies apply to insure us outside our country of residence (whatever it may be), is that they have a penalty policy where the first 5 or 10 days, we will not be able to use the assistance, we call this deficiency.
All companies that allow you to buy it from abroad will surely apply a deficiency, so you must take these days into account, since only on the 6th or 11th will you be able to use your travel assistance.
Why do companies have this penalty policy? It is precisely in case at the time of purchasing the insurance we already have a major or urgent problem, then I buy the insurance and the next day we use the insurance. But you can’t, we will have to wait those days to use it!
Sports coverage
When coverage includes the Sports Item, you have to know that it does not refer to any sport, but to AMATEUR or regulated sports. You can read our complete article on sports coverage in travel insurance.
If you want to have coverage in a particular sport at a professional level, you should consult for an Upgrade, which will have an additional cost.
By general conditions, some of the sports considered amateur by various companies are ball sports, equestrian sports, sliding sports, team sports, strength sports, winter sports, martial arts in amateur championships, shooting sports practiced in regulatory grounds, water sports, skiing on regulated slopes, recreational surfing, kite surfing, recreational diving, swimming, skateboarding, snowboarding, when carried out as amateur practices.
Some excluded sports (Require Upgrade): «Occurrences resulting from the practice of dangerous or risky or extreme sports are expressly excluded, including but not limited to: Motorcycling, Motorsports, Boxing, Polo, Water Skiing, Diving, Hang Gliding, Kartism, ATV, Mountaineering, Ski, Football, Boxing, Canoeing, Paragliding, Kayak, Badminton, Basketball, Volleyball, Handball, karate do, Kung fu, Judo, Archery, Rifle shooting, Shuffleboard, Rappel, Diving, Torrenteering, Mountaineering, Climbing, Bungee Jumping, Athletics, Cycling, Luge Caving, Skeleton, Animal Hunting, Bobsleigh, etc., and other sports practiced outside of regulatory tracks and authorized by the respective sports federations.
