How much is your insurance really worth?
You may not have the insurance you think you have through no fault of your own, according to the article “You’re covered - what could possibly go wrong?” When booking insurance for a gap year or an ordinary trip abroad several factors come into play to present the details of your insurance cover in a less than clear light. We need to know exactly what we are covered for.
A Medicare International survey recently produced information that confirmed people taking out an insurance policy were to a greater extent concerned that their healthcare was provided for. Twenty per cent of respondents replied their valuables were more important when it came to cover and the remaining eighty per cent were essentially after healthcare provision.
On a gap year or holiday abroad, problems with healthcare are the worst and most expensive situations that can happen to you. Should something go wrong in far off climes where you require medical provision, if your insurance is not adequate, this would inevitably lead to an absolute disaster. With medical bills to pay and repatriation required, if your travel insurance lets you down this is nightmare territory!
Always read the small print when about to set off on a gap year expedition or you could come disastrously unstuck. The story about UK student James Pinnington who had a scooter accident in a remote Vietnamese village is a shocking but all too common one. He purchased insurance that he believed would be decent coverage because he believed in the brand. Unfortunately, there was a stipulation in the policy that he wasn’t aware of, that it was necessary to possess a full UK MOTORCYCLE licence (as opposed to a full UK car drivers licence which James did in fact have). Due to this James was not able to return to the UK on the cover he bought, instead out of their own pockets, the Pinnington family stumped up the cost of £25,000.
The Consumer Action Group confirmed that this key piece of information should have been supplied in their policy accompanying travel brochure.
Medicare International confirm that many of these insurance policies are on the market today. They are travel policies with other items like healthcare ‘thrown in’. They are popular with young people in particular because they are quickly drawn up with a minimum of hassle and consequently the small print is rarely read. They insist that this situation can be avoided simply by taking out specialist medical insurance while keeping travel insurance and cover for possessions separate. Avoid hybrid insurance cover where everything is thrown in without discussing the vital points of information and reading the small print.
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Tags: gap year, insurance policy, medical provision, travel insurance