As a student, you understand the importance of saving every bit, especially when the holidays are arriving and you’re considering traveling. Many students do all they can to make their travel dreams come to pass, but they don’t consider travel insurance. However, you must be insured in case the unexpected happens. It would do more for your peace of mind to pay that little extra to insure yourself while ensuring you still have more than enough.
Is the student travel insurance important?
In reality, you may not find specific insurance for student travel, but it doesn’t stop you from insuring yourself for your trips as a student. You may decide for or against purchasing travel insurance, but here are a few reasons you should consider it:
1. It isn’t expensive
You may not have considered insuring your travels because you think it may be too costly, but that’s untrue. In reality, you’ll be paying more for dinner at a restaurant than you would insure yourself over a short trip, and the price for overseas travel isn’t significantly larger. So you’re getting outstanding value for money considering that it covers the cost of emergency assistance and medical expenses overseas if anything happens. Also, it costs a lot to transport and repatriate an injured person from abroad, and you may not be able to pay for this ordinarily.
2. It covers your activities.
The fun part of traveling is participating in several activities you don’t do, such as cycling or horse riding at different locations. Although the standard travel insurance may not cover all activities, a few activities such as skiing, hiking, bungy jumping, and others may be covered by your insurance.
3. Reimbursement for additional travel and accommodation expenses
If something such as bad weather or your passport gets missing and you’re forced to stay over for a short while, your travel insurance covers this additional cost.
4. Medical bills
It’s a nightmare to get sick or injured in a foreign country, and then you’re forced to pay huge sums for your treatment. However, it is only a nightmare if you don’t have travel insurance. You have nothing to worry about if you’ve purchased travel insurance as it covers medical expenses abroad.
5. Stolen or lost luggage cover
Although recovering lost or stolen items may be difficult, you can get back the value of these items in cash if you have travel insurance. Always safeguard your travel documents, but if you lose them, the insurance can help you recoup the extra expenses incurred through the loss.
What your student travel insurance policy should include
Note that your eligibility claims and the extent of your insurance coverage vary across policies. So be sure to read the details of the disclosure statement for a policy before going ahead and be sure of what it covers. Here are some things a good policy should include:
- Hospital expenses and emergency medical: Getting injured or sick overseas can happen, and it’ll cost you too much to pay for by yourself. So your policy should cover medical emergencies, so you only have to worry about your recovery and not the bills.
- Delays, amendments and cancellations: the policy covers the cost of delays and cancellations, and you should be reimbursed for the extra accommodation expenses due to the delay.
- Lost, damaged, or stolen belongings: this happens a lot, and while you try to prevent it, it’s still possible. So, ensure your travel insurance policy covers the possibility of this event and the financial pain it may cost to replace the items single-handedly.
Exclusions to be careful about in your student travel insurance
As good as they are, travel insurance doesn’t cover everything. There are usually exclusions, so you should read the Disclosure Statement for the policy and check out the exclusions. Some common exclusions listed by essay writers on collegessaywriter.com include:
- Unattended luggage: if your luggage was left unattended or unguarded before it got stolen, the insurance policy might not cover it.
- Intoxication: if you got injured under alcohol or drugs, the insurer might not accept your claim. It may not matter that it was an accident and you were not at fault.
- Traveling against warnings or advice: some countries issue travel advice or warnings to travelers. So if you travel to a country with some warnings, your insurer may not cover any claim for whatever happens. So, check that your destination isn’t on any such list, or at least confirm the warning level.
- Pre-existing medical conditions: some health conditions aren’t covered by some travel insurance. So ensure to inform your insurer if you have a pre-existing condition and be sure it’s part of the health issues the insurance policy covers.
Conclusion
Travel insurance is as important for traveling students as it is for anyone else. Buying an insurance policy ensures you have less to worry about while traveling or settling in a foreign country.