2021 has brought with it the opening to tourism and international trade in most countries. Without yet speaking of total relaxation, nor of a full return to normality, since a particular and unique health and pandemic situation is still being faced, displacements are again possible, although some restrictions remain in force. For all this, traveling with travel insurance is more important today than ever.
What is travel insurance and what does it cover?
Before all this well-known situation, most of the people traveled in a tourist way or even on business, without hiring a good travel insurance. Even with the pandemic, many people still viewed travel insurance as an unnecessary expense. However, due to the social reality that we live, it is today inadmissible not to take out travel insurance before facing any destination, and for this, a basic understanding of its characteristics is useful.
Travel insurance is a coverage offered by insurers to people who travel to one or more destinations on a specific date, or to those who, due to their work or lifestyle, travel too much throughout the year – in fact, They can hire depending on those cases. In all cases, however, travel insurance will cover medical assistance at the destination, lost luggage or delays in flights and transport, with indemnities and coverage according to each case, saving time, providing peace of mind and covering expenses that otherwise could be very representative.
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How much does travel insurance cost?
One of the most frequent doubts is knowing how much does travel insurance cost and the reason is that there is no single cost that can be mentioned as an answer, Rather, it will depend on various variables that in turn will be subject to the destination, the number of people and the duration of the trip.
As a general rule, the longer the duration of the trip, the cheaper the cost of the travel insurance, since it will always be cheaper when calculating a 90-day travel insurance per day than a 7-day one; the cheaper the private health services in the destination, the cheaper your travel insurance will be, for example, a policy for Europe will always be cheaper than for the United States or Australia, but it will be more expensive than a policy for Latin America.
In turn, the amount of additional services and coverage that are contracted should be considered, since some will cover priority medical care, repatriation, high medical expenses -in countries with first-rate but extremely expensive health systems-, or long stays, and worldwide, for people who live traveling between many countries and continents, where coverage is higher.
Reasons why travel insurance is needed in 2021
Protection and assistance 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
Travel insurance includes many additional services -some within the figure of the initial policy- that make it possible to affirm that the insured will be protected and duly assisted whenever he needs it, during 24 hours -with immediate attention in case of need- and all the days of the year or, at least, the duration of the travel policy contracted.
Quality medical care without geographical distinction
One of the essential reasons for contracting travel insurance is have high-quality health coverage in countries where public health systems leave much to be desired, as they can be in Asian or Latin American destinations. In these countries, in general, travel insurers have commercial agreements with the best clinics or private centers, and allow their users to have access to the best services, regardless of their location.
The same happens in countries where healthcare is very expensive, which would limit the possibility of accessing many health services on their own. In those cases, and just to serve as examples, an insured person would stop paying 4,000 euros for a night of hospitalization in countries like the United States, paying only 100 euros or less, for what their travel insurance policy represents.
Save money
The foregoing also serves to demonstrate the most notorious fact behind travel insurance. When they are not necessary, the trip will mean that it will have been rewarding in all its glory; But when this is not the case, when there are problems, instead of paying fortunes for medical services, only the fee for the insurance policy already contracted will have to be paid, which will represent a very important saving, added that to the quality and the priority to be taken care of the problems that the traveler may have.
Incidents and coverage related to COVID-19
As we indicated at the beginning, the pandemic has not been fully overcome, although many countries already allow travel and transfers. Therefore, it is necessary to speak of COVID travel insurance, which in addition to everything that the coverage of a traditional travel insurance already offers, It considers all the incidents that a contagion or a bureaucratic procedure of access to a country or city can trigger.
Thus, this travel insurance will cover the costs derived from preventive quarantines, PCR tests under medical prescription, medical assistance in case the insured is positive in a test, among many other incidents, which in addition to the discomfort, will add days of accommodation and medical expenses to the original trip.
It is mandatory in many countries
Before the pandemic, travel insurance was mandatory to enter many countries. Following it, the list of countries that require travel insurance has increased, being most of the Latin American countries of great tourist potential -Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Panama, among others- some of them, and despite all the above, said insurance being mandatory to be able to travel with peace of mind, regardless of the destination to which you have to travel.
For all the above, 2021 is a year in which traveling and having travel insurance will be exactly the same.
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