Travel Insurance For Pinoys: Why, How and Where To Get It

Filipinos are becoming more and more open and active in traveling. Be it domestic or international travel, Filipinos seem to have been bitten by the travel bug over the past few years. We’ve learned how to get the best value flights by chasing seat sales and doing DIY trips with the help of Facebook groups members.

It’s great and all that we’ve all opened up our selves to going out of our comfort zones. We’ve gone to search for adventures, new sights and new tastes to experience. But what most all of us fail to discuss and work on are the risks that comes along with it. Yes, everything may seem to turn out the way we intend it to be as we plan but what we fail to realize is that there’s a reason why they are called Risks.

Many would just dismiss the things that may go wrong while on the road. Some of us would  not even want to think about it, thinking that if don’t think about it, it wouldn’t happen. Some of us would just avoid thinking about these possibilities deeming it as too morbid or being too negative. “I don’t wanna attract bad vibes” some would say.

But all of these in reality will not matter if something goes wrong on the road. Then you regret not preparing for it.

As much as we like being positive and all, we need to acknowledge that there are things that we don’t have control of. You might lose your passport or money. You could unknowingly eat bad or mishandled food in a nice fancy restaurant. Political unrest and you need to be evacuated. It could also be small things such as losing or having your luggage delayed and you don’t have anything to wear! Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about what to do or spending so much money when uncontrollable things like these happen.

For a small amount, you can always buy your travel insurance either online or through a physical agent. Like literally a few hundred pesos can SAVE YOUR LIFE!

I Already Have Travel Insurance With My Plane Ticket

That’s great! Like all insurance policy though, always read the small prints carefully. I use to purchase those insurance as well in case that they lose my luggage. But then when I read their policy and compared it with stand alone travel insurance it turns out that I will be having limited coverage with lots of exclusions.

When I discovered this, I stopped buying insurance at all. I didn’t think that it was a need at all. But then when I started taking friends into budget tours. I saw things on a different perspective. I was in charge of more than a dozen of people’s lives, who thinks that they are in good hands. But then what if something happens to them or to our flight or anything that could put them in danger. Will I be able to handle the financial burden? This is when I started looking into stand alone travel insurance.  See sometimes you have to look outside of the situation to get a better understanding.

Types of Travel Insurance

As far as my experience goes I’ve encountered two types of travel insurance. The first one is called the reimbursement plan. These plans most if not every time are way cheaper. These kind of insurance will cover you only after you pay for the expenses needed. Say you got into an accident and you needed to be taken to the hospital, you will have to pay for your bill first in this case. Once you settled your bill, you have to send in the paperwork like the receipts to you insurance provider. The insurer will then reimburse all of your expenses that they deem covered by their policy.

travel insurance

The second type of insurance, the one that I prefer is the Cashless type. The Cashless type covers your needs real time. This means that if you are in a situation that is covered by your insurance policy, such as hospitalization for example, you do not need to shell out any money anymore. All you need to do is have the paperwork done and report the situation to your insurer and you should be good. I find this more convenient.

What To Look For In A Travel Insurance

When I started taking travel insurance coverage seriously, I always look into a few things. First of all and most important for me is its Medical coverage. I want to make sure that when I get sick, get my self into an accident or any unforeseen event is that I wouldn’t have to worry about paying the bill. I want to know that everything will be taken cared of while I get better.

The next important coverage factor I look into is their repatriation policy. If I were needed to be sent back to my country because of say, inability to continue with my journey this coverage will allow me to go back to my country without a problem. They should be able to cover my tickets and all the necessary facilities needed to take me back home. This clause also is useful if there are natural disasters or sudden political unrest where you need to evacuate from the country. The important thing to remember here is that you should have the ability to go back to your country if you need to in unforeseen cases.

Other clauses you should be check out are coverage in cases of lost of money, theft, lost of passport, flight cancellation, flight delayed and lost luggage. It is crucial that check the most important things for you. Those things that you absolutely want to make sure that you wont have to worry about in case it happens.

How To Get Insured

traditionally, you can call and see a licensed insurance agent. If it is your first time and not that familiar with insurance jargons or you need someone to explain the clauses included in your policy it would be better to call on someone who knows about it.

If you have done this several times or are in need of an insurance immediately, you can turn to the internet to actually buy a policy in as little as five minutes.

There are a few insurance companies that offer insurance purchase online. Some of them are Axa, World Nomads and Standard Insurance. I use standard simple because it is affordable and covers what I need. The good thing is that there are more and more insurance companies that are starting to roll out their business available online.

I hope this post has given you some light on why you should get travel insurance specially when you go out of your own country. We know that we plan for the best trips of our lives but there are times that things just happen no matter how much we prepare to avoid it. If not at least I hope I sparked something in your mind to start thinking about

 

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