What Does Travel Insurance Cover?

What Does Travel Insurance Cover?

As with all insurance policies, coverage areas and reimbursement amounts vary. The following circumstances are typically covered by travel insurance policies, although you may be given the option of mixing and matching coverage provisions within a specific policy.

Trip Cancellation

This coverage provides reimbursement for nonrefundable expenses if you need to cancel your trip at the last minute for a specific reason allowed under the policy. Acceptable reasons may vary, but they typically include:

• Illness
• Injury
• Natural disaster
• Death of a family member
• Job loss
• Jury duty
• Military orders

Learn more: Does Travel Insurance Cover Bad Weather?

Trip Delay and Interruption

If an airline or other carrier cancels or delays service for reasons within their control—equipment failure or crew shortages, for example—they typically offer refunds or meal and accommodation vouchers to get you to the next scheduled departure. Trip delay and interruption coverage, included with many travel insurance policies, provides similar help with glitches that aren't within the carrier's control, such as weather issues or natural disasters.

As long as a qualifying delay exceeds an amount specified in the insurance policy, the coverage will pay, up to a specified per-incident limit, for meals and accommodations at the point of departure. Policies may also cover nonrefundable costs of services that a delay prevents you from using at your destination, such as missed hotel stays or car rental days.

Baggage Loss or Delay

If your luggage is stolen, damaged, lost or delayed for a specified time, travel insurance coverage provides funds you can use to replace the bag(s) and their contents. Coverage amounts may depend on your policy and the value of the missing items, and filing a claim may require filing a report with appropriate authorities.

Travel Health Insurance

Medicare does not cover medical treatment outside the U.S., and many private health insurers limit coverage as well. Check with your providers and, if appropriate, consider a travel insurance policy that covers any medical treatment you may require while traveling abroad. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers resources that may be helpful.

Emergency Medical Evacuation

Also known as medevac coverage, this pays for transportation to appropriate medical facilities from wherever you may be stricken by illness or injury during your trip. Some policies may cover transport to your home country, while others will simply get you to a hospital or other facility that offers a high level of care. Make sure you understand what's covered before purchasing a policy.

Accidental Death and Dismemberment

This pays you or your designated beneficiary in case you suffer a catastrophic or fatal injury while traveling. It would supplement any other life insurance policy you might already have in place.

What Does Travel Insurance Not Cover?

Here are some things travel insurance doesn't typically cover:

• Known natural disasters: Many travel insurance policies will reimburse you for trip delays, disruptions or cancellations due to a natural disaster that occurs during your trip, but only if you buy the coverage ahead of time. You cannot get travel insurance against a disaster once it becomes known or predictable. For instance, once forecasters name a hurricane or tropical storm that's headed for your vacation spot, you won't be eligible to buy trip cancellation coverage for that trip.
• Pandemic anxiety: If you're stricken by an illness during your trip, an appropriate travel policy will cover your medical costs. But you can't file a travel insurance claim for reimbursement ahead of time if you're nervous that your destination might be the site of a disease outbreak unless you have cancel-for-any-reason coverage (see below).
• War, terrorism and civil unrest: Travel insurance policies differ in the extent to which they may cover your need to evacuate a destination due to political instability or terrorist activity. Some will reimburse for delays or cancellations and cover evacuation to safety in the event of terrorist attack but not due to ongoing war in a country or region, for example. If this is a concern, read your policy carefully to understand the extent of your coverage, and note that many travel insurance policies exclude coverage in areas that are politically unstable or known war zones.
• Intoxication and illegal behavior: If you're hurt during your trip because you've overindulged, or in the course of activities that break the law, your travel insurance policy may not cover your medical expenses.
• Risky activities: Your policy may exclude medical care (or death and dismemberment coverage) if you're hurt doing certain high-risk activities (skydiving, bungee jumping, auto racing, hang gliding or scuba diving, for example). This may even include activities you might not consider extreme, such as skiing or jet skiing. Check your policy for excluded activities and, if you want to do any of them, consider an appropriate policy add-on.

Travel Insurance Add-On Coverage

If your travel plans, medical circumstances or personal preferences require additional levels of protection, you can add a variety of additional types of coverage to most travel insurance policies. Here are some of the options:

• Adventure travel insurance: If your trip includes plans for extreme sports or other activities that standard travel insurance policies exclude as high-risk, consider adventure travel coverage. It may be available as an add-on to your travel policy or via a separate standalone policy, to cover potential rescue and medical care related to your thrilling activities.
• Cancel for any reason (CFAR): A CFAR travel insurance policy reimburses up to 75% of your nonrefundable travel expenses no matter why a trip fails to happen, including simply changing your mind. As you'd expect, CFAR is considerably more expensive than traditional travel insurance; it can add as much as 50% to the cost of a standard travel policy.
• Preexisting medical condition coverage: Health coverage included with traditional travel insurance typically addresses illnesses and injuries incurred during your trip, but may exclude treatment of chronic or recurring conditions such as asthma or diabetes if they flare up on your trip. Add-on coverage for preexisting conditions can protect you if that occurs.
• Auto coverage: If you'll be driving in a foreign country, neither your travel insurance policy nor your regular auto coverage may shield you in case of accident or injury.
• Interruption for any reason (IFAR) coverage: This option, available with some travel insurance policies, refunds the cost of the remainder of your trip if you must return home for any reason during your travels. While standard trip interruption coverage provides refunds for specific covered reasons, IFAR coverage can provide refunds for any reason at all.
• Cancel for work reasons coverage: Standard trip cancellation travel insurance may cover some work-related issues, but adding optional cancel for work reasons coverage can protect you under a wider range of circumstances. These reasons could include your employer revokes your time off, your company goes bankrupt or enters into a merger, a natural disaster occurs and you're part of your company's emergency response team or your company transfers you to a new location.
• Rental car insurance: If you rent a car while traveling, add-on coverage can protect you in a variety of ways. A collision damage waiver can protect you if the car is dinged up while you're using it, and other coverage options will reimburse costs related to theft of the vehicle or its contents and even liability for injuring passengers or pedestrians.
• Pet bundles: Some travel insurance policies let you insure a pet that's traveling with you against illness or injury and even pay to send them home if illness or injury detains you during a trip. Other policies will reimburse extra pet boarding expenses incurred if your return home is delayed.
• Destination weddings: Wedding insurance policies are available to cover event-related expenses if weather or other circumstances force cancellation or postponement of a wedding in any locale. Guests and members of the wedding party at destination weddings can use travel insurance to protect themselves, as long as its trip cancellation provisions cover the reason the nuptials are delayed.

Travel Insurance Coverage at a Glance

^*Refers to standard travel insurance, which can vary in nature and extent of coverage by carrier and policy.

What Is Credit Card Travel Insurance?

Many travel-related credit cards (those that offer rewards in the form of air miles, hotel stays or points toward cruises or theme park stays, for instance) include travel insurance as a perk. Consult your cardholder agreement or the issuer's website for coverage details and exceptions. Credit card travel insurance is typically secondary to any primary travel insurance you purchase.

Learn more: Best Travel Credit Cards

How to Choose the Right Travel Insurance Plan

Here are tips for selecting travel coverage that's best for you.

• Know the options you already have. Check your credit cards to see if any include travel insurance. If they do, check out the extent of coverage to see if you need more.
• Shop around and compare policies. You may be able to get favorable rates on travel insurance policies through your credit card issuers, airline or excursion company loyalty programs, insurance carriers or membership organizations such as AAA or AARP. Look for the best "insider" deals, then do a search to see how other providers compare.
• Confirm coverage over your full itinerary. If your travel plan includes multiple countries, make sure you're covered in all locations, and be sure to understand any restrictions or exclusions that may apply to specific countries.
• Double-check coverage limits and exclusions. Before signing on to a travel insurance policy, make sure you review the fine print and are comfortable with what is and is not covered, and the reimbursement amounts associated with specific types of coverage.
• Ask about add-ons. If you have special medical concerns, are interested in extreme sports or want CFR coverage, ask about additional coverage options.
• Consider policy types. There are several types of travel insurance policy lengths you can choose from. You can simply purchase a single-trip plan, or consider a multitrip or annual contract that covers multiple trips.

Learn more: Should You Buy Travel Insurance?

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Because life (and Mother Nature) can spoil even the most meticulous travel plans, travel insurance offers a way of limiting your financial loss if events force cancellation, delay or other disruptions to your trip. It's critical, however, to be clear on what kinds of events are (and are not) covered by your policy, and limits on reimbursement for relevant expenses. If a travel rewards credit card meets your needs, it could include travel insurance coverage as a perk—and provide a convenient way to earn bonuses as you finance trip-related expenses.