Types of Travel Insurance Coverage

Your investment in a vacation can be significant. When you work with us to plan your trip, we’ll make sure you understand the different ways you can choose to protect that investment and to cover yourself in case of a medical emergency. We provide the following information to help you understand the options. Your Vanguard travel counselor will provide more specific information and quotations based on your requirements.

 

There are several general types of consumer travel insurance available. The coverage and limitations of each will vary depending on the insurance company issuing the policy. Travel Insurance providers often offer packages that combine a variety of these coverages, tailored for specific needs and types of travel. The following is a brief description of some of the general types of travel insurance.

 

Trip Cancellation

This is the most important and common type of travel insurance. It generally covers non-refundable payments or deposits if a trip is canceled or interrupted due to unforeseen circumstances.

 

Trip Delay

Provides reimbursement for expenses incurred when a trip is delayed.

 

Accident/Sickness Medical Expenses

Covers costs incurred due to injury or illness that occur while on a trip. This feature does not include medical evacuation.

 

Limitations on Coverage There are four typical limitations that arise regularly regarding travel insurance coverage. These include: 1) definitions; 2) pre-existing conditions; 3) exclusions; and 4) items not covered.

 

Definitions - Travel insurance policies typically use definitions when disclosing the terms of coverage. For example, a policy might cover customer cancellations due to illness or death of an “immediate family member.” However, one policy could define “immediate family member” to include aunts and uncles, while another policy does not. This definition would become critical when used to determine whether or not a claim is covered by a trip cancellation policy.

 

Pre-existing Conditions - Insurance policies often have limitations on coverage for illness or other conditions that existed prior to or at the time of the purchase of the insurance policy. Different policies define this term differently, and some companies waive this restriction if the policy is purchased within a specified number of days after the initial trip deposit.

 

Exclusions - Most travel insurance policies provide exclusions for highrisk activities (e.g., hang-gliding) as well as certain activities that are beyond any reasonable person’s control (e.g., war, insurrection, seizure under quarantine or by order of any government). See note below regarding coverage for terrorist events.

 

Items Not Covered - No policy provides payment for alleged loss as a result of business opportunities that were lost because of accident, illness or another reason. The policy should be reviewed carefully for other items not covered.

Medical Evacuation/Emergency Transportation

Covers transportation when a medical emergency during a trip requires transportation to a hospital or other medical facility. This feature is often included as part of travel insurance packages, and is also available as a stand-alone product. The stand-alone product has significantly different features and should be compared carefully to a product that has medical evacuation as an included feature. To learn more, Click Here.

 

Supplier Default

Covers deposits or payments lost due to the financial default of a travel supplier. Note: Not all travel insurance products cover all travel suppliers in the event of financial default.

 

Baggage/Personal Effects Loss or Delay

Covers losses due to items lost, damaged or delayed during a trip.

 

Supplier Protection Plans

Many travel suppliers offer their own protection or waiver plans to protect customers in the event of loss from trip cancellation, lost baggage, etc. It should be noted that supplier protection plans may provide very different coverage than third party insurance and usually do not protect the consumer in the event of supplier default.

 

Please contact a Vanguard leisure travel counselor at 800.783.6028 for more information about safeguarding your health and vacation investment with travel or medical evacuation insurance.

 

Evaluating Insurance Products and Supplier Protection Plans

We consider the following items when evaluating travel insurance products and supplier protection plans for your trip:

• What does the policy/plan cover and what are the limitations on coverage?
• What is the age and general health condition of the travelers?
• How does the claims process work and how quickly are customers reimbursed?
• How are customer claims paid? (Some products provide credit for future travel, rather than cash or credit card refunds)
• Does the policy/plan cover supplier defaults? If so, are some suppliers excluded from coverage?
• Is there a deadline for trip cancellation? (Some policies/plans do not cover cancellations made within a certain amount of time before travel.)

 

An Important Note on Terrorism Coverage: Some trip cancellation and trip interruption policies protect travelers in the event of a terrorist event. However, these policies usually carry very specific criteria for coverage. For example, where and when the terrorist event occurs in relation to the date and place of travel will be relevant. Some policies do not cover trip cancellations resulting from domestic terrorism and some will only cover terrorism if the event occurs within 30 days of travel.