Travel Insurance - Why It Is Important
I don't like spending the money either. However, for peace of mind, take out insurance which offers health cover, as well as loss and/or damage to luggage, including laptops and cameras, all in one package. If you are into adventure sports, make sure that your favourite activities are covered as well, just in case you have a mishap. Since I am a scuba diver, I recommend that divers check out DAN membership as well.
In all the years I had been traveling, I made one single claim, and came very close to not taking out travel insurance any longer, and for some very short trips I must admit, I didn't bother. But then I decided to go on indefinite leave of absence from my job in Cairns, and took out insurance for 12 months. $1200 is a lot of money, but since I was going to spend all my time diving and traveling around South East Asia, traveling on my own, I felt that it was absolutely essential that I was covered.
Sure doctors' consultations and medications in this part of the world are cheap, compared to western countries, but what about the costs if you need to stay in a hospital?
About 10 months into my trip, I was in the unfortunate situation to find out. Somehow I got a very bad bacterial infection in my leg, which, if left untreated, could have resulted in my leg having to be amputated. Within 30 minutes of seeing a doctor I was in hospital and on intravenous antibiotics. The 10 day stay in hospital, in a ward reserved for westerners and wealthy local patients (not that I asked for it, but it was deemed that being in a ward for locals would have been rather traumatic), plus medication and specialist doctors' visits, would have cost me approximately $3500 - so in one fell swoop the insurance premium paid for itself. The biggest bonus, of course, is the fact that I still have both legs.
So if you are tempted to "save" on insurance - don't. It's not just that you are financially covered, but you also have someone to talk to when you are worried. My insurance company, for example, phoned me from Australia every couple of days in Indonesia, just checking that I was comfortable with the care and treatment I was receiving. The only thing which did not work was the 24 hours emergency phone number, as I tried to call from my mobile phone. When I tried to make a reverse charges call, as instructed on the little card I had from the insurance company, that did not work either, as the Indonesian telephone providers don't let you make reverse charges calls, so I emailed the insurance company a couple of days after I was admitted to hospital, which was fine. It might be worthwhile checking out before you leave home, whether the company you take out insurance with, has a 24 hours emergency number which can be reached by mobile phone - even if you can't reverse the charges.
Most insurance companies these days let you take out a policy online, and also online, extend your cover whilst traveling. If you take out travel insurance through your local travel agency, check if you can get a discount, as insurance companies pay travel agents quite a big commission.
enjoy your trip - maybe we meet along the way.
Sybille
For more travel tips check out my website http://www.divetravelindonesia.com