Travel Insurance…An Important Consideration         

          For the first time in all my years of wandering the world, I purchased travel insurance for my trip to China last summer.  Unsure of the medical care that would be available in some of the out of the way places that I planned to visit, it seemed prudent to have coverage in case of the unexpected.  While there are a number of different types of travel insurance which can be purchased in combinations or separately depending on your needs, there are three basic types that should be considered before a trip.  First there is trip cancellation insurance which might be wise depending on the upfront cost of your trip, particularly for older travelers.  Since the only upfront investment for my trip was the plane fare, I decided I did not need this.  The second type is health care or medical insurance.  It is important to check with your health insurance provider in your home country to see if you are covered while traveling overseas.  If not, it is wise to purchase supplemental coverage while traveling.  Fortunately, my insurer does cover me wherever I travel, so I decided I also did not need this.  The third type of travel insurance is coverage for medical evacuation, and this I decided I should have.

A Worthwhile Expenditure

          I was surprised to learn how reasonable medical evacuation coverage was considering the staggering costs if one had to pay for it out of pocket…we’re talking thousands and thousands of dollars!  The cost of medical evacuation insurance is based on your age and where you are going and I was able to purchase coverage from FrontierMEDEX for a few dollars a day.  Thankfully, I didn’t need to use it, but it was reassuring to know that while I was out in the hinterlands of China they would have brought me back dead or alive.  Travel insurance is an important consideration for anyone venturing out of the country and, as I found out, it is easy and economical to tailor a policy specifically suited to your individual needs.