Travel Insurance
Travel Insurance - Key Points for Consumers
Travel insurance is a priority when considering business or recreational travel.
The travel insurance market is highly competitive and consumers have a range of coverage options. It is important to purchase cover that suits your individual circumstances and travel plans – shop around and read the policy documentation.
Travel insurance Policies contain exclusions for things the policy will not cover, you should carefully read the policy before purchasing cover to ensure that it meets your individual needs.
The Product Disclosure Statement details the types of pre-existing medical conditions that could exclude you from cover. If in doubt make contact with the insurer to discuss your circumstances. Failure to declare a pre-existing medical condition could jeopardise any claim you subsequently make.
Background
Regardless of whether you travel regularly, infrequently or on a once-in-a-lifetime trip, travel insurance is very important. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade assists more than 20,000 Australian travellers a year who find themselves in difficulty, including over 700 hospitalisations, 600 deaths and 100 evacuations of Australians to another location for medical purposes.
Travel insurance can cover the policyholder for insurable events that may occur before or during travel, such as trip cancellation/interruption, medical expenses, baggage damage/theft and more.
The cost of travel insurance is based on the type of cover requested, the age of the insured, the destination of travel, length of stay and any pre-existing medical conditions. It is important to obtain the right type of travel insurance to suit your individual requirements.
Insurance Council members who provide travel insurance products include:
Each of these insurers is a signatory to the General Insurance Code of Practice.
Exclusions
Like most insurance policies there are exclusions on most types of travel insurance policies – Exclusions identify issues and circumstances under which your policy will not cover you.
Exclusions can include issues related to acts of civil unrest, self inflicted injury, loss/theft of unattended baggage, loss/theft of cash and pre-existing medical conditions.
The Product Disclosure Statement for travel insurance policies will detail the exclusions applicable to the policy – you should carefully read the policy before deciding to purchase a particular travel insurance product.
The Product Disclosure Statement will also detail the types of pre-existing medical conditions that could exclude you from cover. If in doubt make contact with the insurer to discuss your circumstances. Failure to declare a pre-existing medical condition could jeopardise any claim you subsequently make.
Where you cannot obtain travel insurance to cover personal medical circumstances, you should consider the potential financial risks very carefully before deciding whether to proceed with planned travel.
Travel insurance policies also have exclusions for claims relating to Quarantinable disease outbreaks, for example Swine Flu.
Many insurance policies will not cover claims made in countries where the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade recommends against travel for issues relating to terrorism or civil unrest.
Prior to travelling - Consumers should visit http://www.smarttraveller.gov.au/ and familiarise themselves with warnings about the location to which they intend travel.
There are locations in the world where it will be very difficult to obtain travel insurance cover for.
There are activities that are excluded from many policies or may require an additional premium to be paid. For example, snowboarding, surfing, rock climbing, kite surfing, hunting, bungee jumping and underwater activities involving the use of an artificial breathing apparatus.
When choosing a travel insurance policy you should:
Always read the product disclosure statement prior to purchasing your travel insurance.
Travel insurance policies are competitive so it may pay to shop around to find a policy that suits your individual requirements.
Ensure that you understand exactly what your travel insurance covers, as travel insurance cover is not unlimited.
Speak to your insurer to clarify any policy issues that may cause any confusion.
Read the policy carefully to make sure you are aware of any excess and where it may apply.
Ensure that any medical cover is adequate for possible expenses in the country you are going to visit. In regions such as North America, Europe, Africa and some parts of Asia medical costs can be very expensive.
Ensure you declare any pre-existing medical conditions you may have.
Personal Belongings
Generally, cover for luggage and personal belongings will be limited.
It is important to know the total amount of cover along with any per-item limit that may apply to any expensive items you may wish to cover, such as cameras, laptops and/or jewellery.
This information can be found in the product Disclosure Statement.
Credit card insurance
Some financial institutions provide travel cover as part of their credit card service to their customers.
As with full travel insurance products, it is important to read your credit card provider’s policy carefully to determine the extent of the coverage provided by this policy and whether certain eligibility requirements need to be met.
Disputes
The General Insurance Code of Practice ensures that the industry is committed to be open, fair and honest in the way it deals with its customers.
If you have a dispute with your insurer you can take your dispute to your insurance provider’s Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) process and ask for an IDR decision.
If the dispute remains unresolved, or you are unhappy with the decision, you may then contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) who independently and impartially determines general insurance disputes between insurers and their customers.
The Code of Practice for insurers can be found at http://www.codeofpractice.com.au/
Insurance Council Contact:
Karl Sullivan
General Manager Risk & Disaster
p: (02) 9253 5155
f: (02) 9253 5111