Tommy has over 15 years experience within the insurance industry, and his primary focus is helping travellers find the right cover for their medical conditions.
It is important that when you are looking to compare holiday insurance you read the policies to ensure that the travel insurance you are looking at taking out covers you for everything you need. Insurance policies, however, can include wording and terms that are difficult to understand.
With travel insurance you want to ensure you are covered for the basic things that can go wrong should you need medical treatment when you are abroad or if any of your belongings get lost or stolen. With so much information and so many details, things can get lost in translation.
In this guide, we try to help you out by sharing some explanations of the most common travel insurance jargon which you are likely to come across.
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The different types of travel insurance policies
Annual multi-trip travel insurance
This is a type of travel insurance that will cover you for one whole year from the date the policy starts. Annual multi-trip travel insurance means you can go on multiple holidays in the year and be covered by this one policy, although these policies will have a limit as to how long you can be out of the country. If you are planning to take more than one or two holidays a year, this type of annual cover can save you money.
Single trip travel insurance
This is a type of insurance that covers you for one trip only and is designed to cover one-off, individual trips and will insure you for the period of your specified travel dates. Single trip travel insurance will cover you for a variety of things like cancellations, lost or stolen luggage, and any accidents that occur during your time away.
Cruise travel insurance
This is an additional cover for cruise holidays and it can be added to a single trip or annual multi-trip policy. The cruise travel insurance includes cover for pre-existing medical conditions as well as insures you against specific cruise-related issues that you wouldn’t normally get protection for with standard cover.
Long stay travel insurance
This is a type of policy that is perfect for people planning to travel for several months or a year. With a standard single trip or an annual multi-trip policy, you are generally covered for a certain amount of days and you therefore will need long-stay travel insurance to keep you covered for a longer duration of time per trip.
Winter sports travel insurance
Winter sports travel insurance is an add-on to a policy that can cover you for medical treatment should you incur any injuries on the ski slopes or in any other winter sports setting.
Gadget cover travel insurance
A phone, camera, laptop, tablet, earphones or other electronic items can be expensive and gadget cover travel insurance is a policy that will cover you if anything was to happen to them. If someone steals one of your gadgets, or a tablet is dropped into a swimming pool, this insurance will cover the cost to replace the damaged or stolen item.
COVID-19 travel insurance
COVID-19 travel insurance is something that here at Medical Travel Compared offer on all of our insurance policies. So, should you catch COVID-19 abroad meaning you have needed medical attention, this part of your cover will help you with any medical costs and can even bring you home for treatment if required.
READ MORE: Travel Rules for Returning to the UK
Other travel insurance terms to be aware of
Pre-existing medical condition
This cover is for any medical condition that existed before you took out your travel insurance policy. You must notify insurers of any medical conditions that you suffer from and during the process, you will be asked about your medical history.
Undiagnosed condition
This refers to any pre-existing medical condition that is currently under investigation or has not yet been diagnosed by a medical professional. Unfortunately, most insurers will be unable to offer you cover for an undiagnosed condition.
Baggage and belongings
When an insurance policy says it covers this it means that if your belongings are lost, damaged or stolen, either during transit or whilst you’re on holiday, you will receive money back. You should check your policy documents as there will be a limit as to how much is covered.
Repatriation
This is a term used in insurance policies which means that should you fall ill or get injured on holiday and your insurer has to arrange for you to return home for medical treatment.
Curtailment and cancellation
These are two terms that are very important ones to read. If cancellation and curtailment are covered in your policy it means if you have had to cancel, or cut short your trip, the cost will be covered. You should read your policy to see what is covered, but most policies will cover scenarios such as cutting a holiday short because a family member has fallen ill.
READ MORE: Why Do I Need Cancellation Cover?
Delay
If your flight has been delayed by a certain amount of time (usually 12 or 24 hours), then you can choose to abandon your trip and you can claim the cost of the holiday back. Alternatively, you can wait for the delayed departure and claim back reasonable expenses that you’ve had to buy such as any food or accommodation.
Missed departure
If you have missed a departure through no fault of your own, you may be able to claim for some additional travel or accommodation expenses. Some examples of when you will be able to claim include your vehicle breaking down, being caught in a traffic jam, or being involved in an accident.
Geographical limit
Some policies may have this term in their wording and this means that your policy will cover you to travel to this country. If, for example, the geographical limit is Italy, this is the only country in which you are covered.
Personal liability cover
Many people mistake this term for some form of legal matter. It is something much simpler than that and it actually means that if you injure someone else during your holiday, personal liability coverage will cover the damages that the other party make against you.
Catastrophe
In regard to travel insurance, this term refers to any additional accommodation or travel costs in the event of a catastrophe that will be covered by your insurance policy. Generally, costs are covered if you have had to relocate during your trip or curtail it due to a natural disaster such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes to name just a few.
We hope this guide has been helpful. For more informative travel insurance articles like this, make sure to head to our guides page.
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“Pre-existing” refers to any medical condition for which medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment was recommended or received before applying for a travel insurance policy. For some conditions, we'll need to know if they have ever been present, whilst, for others, we need to know if they occurred within a certain period
We'll ask you a series of questions about the medical history for you and any travellers on your quote. If you answer yes to any of these, you will need to tell us more about that condition. This could be a condition that a traveller has now or has had in the past. This makes it easy to know what you need to disclose.
If you are not sure what conditions you need to declare, we have online support available to help you 24/7!
Once you've declared all your relevant pre-existing medical conditions, we'll only show you quotes that cover the conditions you have told us about.
No, we are unable to provide cover that excludes any of your pre-existing medical conditions.