In this day and age, travel insurance is a necessity to give you peace of mind before setting out on your holiday, whether on a short getaway or long-haul vacation
Increasingly, more people in Singapore are travelling overseas – travel has now become an integral part of our lives, be it for work or leisure. Hence, travel insurance is essential to provide travellers peace of mind in the event of unforeseen circumstances that may result in possible losses before, during and after an overseas trip.
In Singapore, there is a wide range of travel policies to choose from but what are the things we should look out for when purchasing travel insurance? The decision to buy the right type of travel insurance for you or your family should not be based solely on premium.
A premium saving of 50 cents could mean missing out on some great benefits, or getting as much as $100,000 less in Personal Accident or Medical Expenses benefits. Thus, it is important to select a travel product that is based on where you will be travelling to, the activities that you will be doing and the kind of medical care available at your destination.
Here are some tips on what you should look out for:
- Under the Personal Accident coverage, you may want to compare if by paying a slightly higher premium with another insurer, would the coverage be significantly higher.
- In view of unforeseen political events such as terrorism, do look out for policies that provide full terrorism coverage that covers chemical, nuclear and biological terrorism.
- Many people think that travelling in Asia may not require high medical expense coverage. However, for Singaporeans who are used to the quality of care here, many may end up opting for foreign-run hospitals or clinics when they require medical care in some parts of Asia as complications that might develop should the diagnosis or treatment have not been carried out correctly is too high a risk to bear. Treatment in foreign-run hospitals or clinics can cost as much as ten times of the same procedure at a public hospital, because of better medical facilities and internationally-qualified medical personnel. You may want to consider a plan that adequately covers the high expenses of medical care in foreign-run hospitals or clinics.
- Higher Medical Expenses coverage is recommended for travel to countries such as Japan, USA and Europe where medical treatment costs are higher.
- In any event, please ensure that the policy provides sufficient Medical Evacuation/Repatriation coverage to move you back home or to a hospital better equipped to render the treatment.
- It is also important to know the Medical Expenses coverage on return to Singapore. Some plans provide a much-reduced coverage unless evacuation is required.
- If you have not sought treatment overseas, within how many days would you have to seek medical treatment beyond which there is no coverage? Of course, the more days given the better.
Coverage for Financial Collapse of Travel Agency
Only the very adventurous wake up one day and decide to go on a trip tomorrow. For most of us, we take time to plan for a trip to our dream destination and apply for leave, and that could be months ahead of the actual day of travel.
For those who like to take it easy and to get a professional travel agency to do all the planning, or like going on a long-haul cruise, we would need to part with our money as soon as we make the booking and pay up all the balance at least a month before the trip commences. This could be a big sum of money if you are going on a luxury package, a far-off destination or when you are bringing your brood with you.
From the time we part with our money, how will our deposit be protected? Recently, we heard of another travel agency suddenly closing down and leaving its clients in a lurch.
This is where travel insurance will come in most handy. Coverage for Financial Collapse of Travel Agency registered and operating in Singapore is available in some of the comprehensive travel insurance plans, and commences from the date that you purchase the policy! In the event of the financial collapse of the travel agency, you will be able to claim for the loss of your pre-travel cost or additional expenses incurred if your trip has to be curtailed.
Do read all the fine print to ensure that the amount of coverage is sufficient for you and if there are other conditions on the type of Travel Agencies covered under this benefit.
For more information on travel insurance coverage, please visit https://www.tenetsompo.com.sg/PersonalIns/TravelJoy.aspx or call 6461 6555.
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