Insurance Information

Is Purchasing Travel Insurance Smart?


To answer the question "is purchasing travel insurance smart?" let's look at what insurance is.

When you purchase insurance - health insurance, homeowner's insurance, car insurance, life insurance, or travel insurance - you're not making an investment. It's not the same as going to the bank and depositing money and expecting to reap financial rewards at some point. No, any insurance including travel insurance is about sharing risk in case of unforeseen catastrophic events.

For thousands of years, risks have been shared during times of tragedy. The first formal insurance company, Lloyd's, was formed in 1769, and their insurance concept remains today - to gather the premiums of clients as a pool of resources to return to clients who experience covered events.

Is purchasing travel insurance smart for you, then? Do you need a pool of resources from others' premiums to help you out in the event of a travel emergency? Or can you take care of any unforeseen circumstance on your own? It's not just about money, either.

To decide if purchasing travel insurance is smart for you, let's take a look at just a few of the things that could happen while you're traveling.

It's your first time in Europe and neither you nor your spouse speak any foreign language and your wallet is stolen. Your credit cards, your airline tickets, your passport and your money are all gone. What do you do now? Money may not be the primary problem here as you can always call your bank and have a wire transfer completed. Or can you? Do you know the international rules and capabilities for this? Where are the banks and do the tellers speak English? What about replacing your airline tickets? What about money to get to the airport and check out of your hotel? Your passports are the primary issue probably. They took a very long time to get. Now you can't get out of the country without them. Where do you go to replace them? If you had known this was going to happen, how would you have answered the question, "is purchasing travel insurance smart?"

Your child is involved in an accident and must have medical assistance but you find out your insurance does not cover you outside of the United States, and medical care is not adequate where you are anyway. How do you get your child back to the United States for medical care? If you had known this was going to happen, how would you have answered the question, "is purchasing travel insurance smart?"

So, to answer the question, "is purchasing travel insurance smart?" consider what could happen while you're abroad and determine if you might be grateful for outside assistance.

Steve Cogger is an avid traveler offering a wealth of travel information. For more information on travel insurance visit the 1 Happy Traveller website.


MORE RESOURCES:

Reuters

Commentary: Deposit insurance a consumer right
Reuters - 5 hours ago
Deposit insurance is a consumer right that every depositor should be aware of. As Chairman, I believe that the FDIC has a promise to keep to our nation's ...
Great Florida Bank Offers $50 Million in Federal Deposit Insurance ... MarketWatch
FDIC learns it ignores bloggers at its peril Bizjournals.com
Heading off Panic Mail Tribune
Motley Fool - Reuters
all 241 news articles


WELT ONLINE

EMC Insurance Group Inc. Reports 2008 Second Quarter Results
MarketWatch - 11 hours ago
Premium income was down 1.7 percent in the property and casualty insurance segment during the second quarter of 2008 as new business premium was not ...
SeaBright Insurance Holdings Reports Second Quarter and Six-Month ... WELT ONLINE
Chubb Reports Second Quarter Net Income per Share of $1.27 ... CNNMoney.com (press release)
IPC Holdings, Ltd. Reports Second Quarter 2008 Results CNNMoney.com
MarketWatch - MarketWatch
all 59 news articles


Earthtimes (press release)

MBIA, Rivals Sued by Los Angeles Over Bond Insurance (Update1)
Bloomberg - 4 hours ago
Officials including California Treasurer Bill Lockyer have said that insurance wouldn't be necessary if state and local bonds were assessed using the same ...
Los Angeles sues Wall St banks, bond insurers Forbes
LA sues financial firms, alleging fraud in bond issues Los Angeles Times
LA sues insurers over futile policy The Age
Reuters - CBS 2
all 21 news articles


RTT News

Auto insurers benefit as people drive less
MarketWatch - 2 hours ago
As Americans drive less, the number of car accidents may be falling, limiting the frequency of auto-insurance claims. Allstate, one of the largest auto ...
Allstate Second-Quarter Profit Falls on Tornadoes (Update2) Bloomberg
Analysts lower full-year estimates on Allstate CNNMoney.com
Allstate is Prepared to Respond to Hurricane Dolly WELT ONLINE
Reuters UK - Forbes
all 106 news articles


Montana among states to share insurance settlement
Forbes, NY - 49 minutes ago
The agreement was announced Thursday by state Auditor John Morrison, who is Montana's insurance commissioner. He says it resolves a multistate examination ...


CityNews

Small Pickups Falter In Side-Impact Crashes
Wall Street Journal - 13 hours ago
In side-impact crash tests carried out on five small pickups by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, only one model -- the Toyota Tacoma -- received ...
Video: Small Pickups Panned for Safety AssociatedPress
Small Pickups Score Poorly in Test Side Crashes FOX 9 News
Small Pickups Graded Harshly in IIHS Side Crash Testing Edmunds.com/Inside Line
WWMT - WWJ
all 298 news articles


RTT News

Sector Snap: Insurance stocks mostly rise
Forbes, NY - Jul 23, 2008
AP 07.23.08, 3:39 PM ET Insurance company stocks mostly rose Wednesday, as investors responded to a fairly positive second-quarter report from The Travelers ...
Tokio Marine Holdings to Acquire Philadelphia Consolidated in $4.7 ... FOXBusiness
Bala Cynwyd insurer is sold: Philadelphia Consolidated Holding ... Trading Markets (press release)
google news commentComment by Christopher Whalen Managing Director, Institutional Risk Analytics
Bloomberg - Bizjournals.com
all 201 news articles


AM Best to Sponsor Australia and New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards
MarketWatch - 5 hours ago
OLDWICK, NJ, Jul 24, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- AM Best Co. will participate as a major sponsor of the Australia and New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards. ...


What to Do If GM Cut Your Health Insurance
TheStreet.com - 7 hours ago
Here's an outline of what GM retirees can expect, and what steps to take to get health insurance if this has happened to you. Effective Jan. ...


UnitedHealthcare to pay $800k in North Carolina settlement The ...
Bizjournals.com, NC - 1 hour ago
Health insurer UnitedHealthcare has agreed to pay nearly $800000 in fines as part of a settlement with the Department of Insurance over alleged violations ...
Department of Insurance settles with health care companies News & Observer
Health care companies settle fine for $800000 WRAL.com
United HealthCare To Pay NC $800K In Settlement NBC 17.com
Bizjournals.com - WRAL.com
all 28 news articles

Insurance - Google News

home | site map
© 2006