I am actually a travel insurance underwriter/claims specialist, Rory and I can tell you travel insurance is a necessity, its NOT a luxury. If you want the honest blatant truth, you would be an absolute bloody idiot to not travel without insurance overseas.
Its actually illegal to travel in most countries without personal liability, most countries by law require it. Also most countries require a legal medical insurance policy.
Costs of medical facilities abroad vary, I know from experience that these countries have the highest fees for medical expenses:
1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. United States of America
A perfect case study that I was given on uninsured travellers as follows, from the Australian Government:
"A man was injured whilst skiing abroad, and required to be medically evacuated. He was uninsured, evacuation cost him AUD$60,000, he also required ongoing medical treatment, his bill now exceeds $250,000. His family had to mortgage the home to pay for the ongoing treatment."
If this gentleman had been insured, the evacuation would have been covered, as would the ongoing treatment.
Majority of travel policies are also actually split into sections like this, personal liability, medical expenses/emergency evacuation, kidnap/ransom (not covered in Central, South America & Mexico), Baggage/Traveller's Cheques/Travel Documents/Credit Cards & Money, Loss of Deposits/Cancellations, Hire Car Expenses, etc.
Another couple of scenarios, if you lose your passport, the insurer will reimburse you this. Also if you get sick, or if there is a death in the family the insurer, depending on illness, or the age of the person that died (insurers cap the age at 80 for death, and also it needs to be random and not pre-existing), you can be reimbursed your funds.
One thing, do you have any pre existing medical conditions? If so, unfortunately they are waivered. Insurers never are willing to take on the risk of a pre existing ailment, due to the consequences of a loss.
A couple of handy hints:
* Check the excess on your policies. Electronic goods always have excesses, a set rate I believe would be around GBP 100 in Britain. The reason being, most insurance claims on travel policies come about from loss/damaged mobile phones, laptops, stolen blackberries and ipods.
* With Credit card travel insurance, there is more than meets the eye, ALWAYS read the fine print
* NEVER leave any electronic good, camera, ipod, laptop, mobile phone in normal luggage, take it on the cabin luggage. Most insurers exclude eletronic goods subject to being stuck in the hull. In English, the onus is on yourself to look after your electronic goods.
* PHOTOCOPY your travel documents. Keep at least 10 copies of you passport on you. It may sound stupid to have 10 copies, but believe me from personal experience with claimants, that is the amount of times I'd recommend.
* Read every single section of the policy, check that medical expenses is not capped. Also make sure that the section for emergency evacuation is not capped.
Rory send me a pm, and i can provide further tips.
