Most travel insurance plans cover medical emergencies, medical evacuation, lost/damaged or stolen luggage, trip cancellation, delays and trip interruption. Different travel insurance can include many specific types of coverage, but most fall under several main categories.

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Let’s take a look at how travel insurance can cover the three big things that you worry about when you travel – you, your stuff and your experiences.

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1.Protecting you

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a) What does travel health insurance cover?

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You need to know if your travel medical insurance is primary or secondary. If your travel health insurance is primary, it will be your first policy to pay your travel emergency medical bills.

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If your travel medical insurance pays secondary, all travel medical bills first go to your health plan for payment. So, your travel insurance will pay what’s left up to the benefit limit.

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b) Pre-existing conditions

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Many travel health plans have certain rules around how they’ll cover pre-existing conditions.

Some plans have a “look-back” period, which is meaning that they will check your medical history to see if a condition appeared during a period that could range from three months to one year.

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Before you buy your insurance you should understand how your plan defines and treats “pre-existing conditions”.

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2. Protecting your stuff

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Travel insurance includes different ways to protect important items on your trip. It can help pay for replacement items when your luggage is stolen or lost.

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Some travel insurance baggage claims are not fully paid until you provide a list with lost travel items and the original receipts. While other plans can reimburse you for delayed or lost luggage and no receipts are required.

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Some travel insurance companies may even pay you for a return flight home if a disaster or fire destroys your house while you’re away from home.

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3. Protecting your experiences

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Travel insurance can help protect your experience as well. For example, the insurance company could reimburse you for unused prepaid expenses. Only if some circumstances (which are covered) force you to cancel or interrupt your trip prematurely.

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Some plans have benefits when your flight is canceled and you have to spend the night in a hotel. They could cover expenses if a travel delay messes up subsequent scheduled tours or in case your operator goes bankrupt.

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So, you’d better check if flight departure delays, missed connections and tarmac delays are included in your travel insurance.

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a) Travel assistance

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This is very important as well. Most travel insurance plans offer travel assistance. Travel assistance is not insurance. So, what does it mean?

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This is a 24/7 hotline for emergencies – in case you are stranded, have a medical emergency or lose your documents. It’s important to have a team working for you in case of a travel emergency.