Seniors Travel Insurance

The modern world has witnessed an increase in the longevity, vitality, and personal and financial autonomy of senior citizens. The contemporary trend has, in turn, led to a rise in the number and frequency of senior travelers.

Conventionally, senior travelers have purchased travelers' insurance from a travel agent rather than an insurer, the latter of which can reduce the cost of insurance by up to half of that of the former. Fortunately, accompanying the growth of senior travel are insurance policies directed specifically toward senior citizens.

While many insurers continue to offer policies with age ranges, many other companies have increased their upper age limits or conjured policies that directly benefit senior travelers and grant them security and peace of mind while traveling abroad.

One particular advantage of seniors' travel insurance concerns medical specifications regarding illness or injury. If medical assistance is needed, most insurance companies offer a 24-hour emergency telephone number. It is important to consult the insurer's Policy Disclosure Statement (PDS) to ensure the existence of such an amenity.

Carrying the insurance company's contact information at all times is also essential, for in the event of an emergency illness or injury, contacting the insurer as soon as possible is the best option. For further security, it is also beneficial to leave the details of the PDS with a loved one at home.

Medical coverage is an extremely crucial asset to seniors' travel insurance because it helps to avoid out-of-pocket medical payments or high overseas expenses. Declaring any pre-existing medical conditions is also an excellent idea to secure efficient medical coverage in the policy.

Senior's travel insurance differs in enumerable ways from other travelers' insurance policies in existence today. For example, many general policies restrict their audience to travelers under age 70 or 75. However, insurance companies that offer seniors' travel insurance have little or no age restrictions.

For example, in Australia Australia Post seniors travel insurance covers the age range of 75 and up, while in the UK Delta insurance covers seniors from age 65 with no upper age limit. Further, in the US All Aboard Benefits has no age limit in its insurance policies, and its senior insurance coverage begins at age 60.

Another difference that sets seniors' travel insurance policies apart from others is its consideration of dependants, or those who depend on guardians for financial support. Namely, many seniors' travel insurance policies offer free coverage for children, so seniors may travel with their grandchildren without hassle or worry as to whether the children are insured.

Perhaps the most important difference between general travelers' insurance and seniors' travel insurance is the medical coverage. Most travelers' insurance policies do not cover many pre-existing medical conditions, and some insurance companies exclude every one of them.

To prevent the likelihood of expensive medical payments while abroad, the medical coverage offered through seniors' travel insurance is essential. Indeed, as a crucial aspect of senior insurance coverage, most seniors' travel insurance policies cover pre-existing medical conditions, including types of cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, asthma, gastric reflux, hay fever, and more.

They also cover, in amounts that vary from policy to policy, luggage. Dependents under 21 years of age who do not have a full-time job are also covered, free of charge, by most senior travel insurance policies. Additional expenses from delayed flights, accidental death, and stolen property are covered by most senior policies as well.

Certain conditions are excluded by most senior travel insurance policies, however. Examples of exclusions are expenses that arise outside of the "Period of Insurance," from war, unlawful behavior, travel against the wishes of a physician, self-inflicted ailments, touring guides and services, loss of enjoyment from the traveling experience, failure to obtain obligatory travel documents such as a visa or passport, engagement in dangerous activities without a proper license, pregnancy, mental health issues, sexually transmitted diseases, and nuclear, biological, or chemical hostilities.

Specific exclusions vary between different seniors' travel insurance policies, and details are found in the PDS. In order to find the proper seniors' travel insurance policy, the first step is to make sure the covered individuals fall within the age range of the policy, if an age limit exists.

The next step is to ensure that, if a senior traveler has any pre-existing medical conditions, all of them are covered by the policy. It is also wise to choose an insurer with a 24-hour emergency hotline. Also, often due to conflict or the recommendations of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, many insurers refuse to cover certain geographic regions.

It is thus important to compare policies and elect one that covers the travel destination. Another significant factor is the value of personal items deemed "luggage," for traveling with valuable paraphernalia requires satisfactory luggage coverage.

Coverage of lost deposit or cancellation fees is beneficial as well, especially when traveling through a pre-booked package that risks large, collective instances of such fees. If traveling with dependents, selecting a policy that covers them for free is also ideal.

Choosing the proper seniors' travel insurance policy to suit individual needs requires time and online research, but it is worth the security and peace of mind for seniors who love to travel the world.

Young Travellers Need Insurance Too: THIA

Young Canadians confined in foreign hospitals with no travel insurance to cover their medical bills or the costs of repatriating them by air ambulance made headlines across Canada recently even though coverage for accidental or emergency illness out of the country has never been more accessible.

In August, 2012, former Toronto cheerleader Anna Leibenko, then 24, slipped on a catamaran sailing in the Adriatic and had to be rushed to a neurosurgery hospital in Croatia for intensive emergency treatment. She had no travel insurance. Consequently, friends in Canada set up a drive to raise funds to pay the hospital bill and airlift her back to Canada.

In November, 11-year old Jaylynn Graham, vacationing in Jamaica with her father, suffered what was reported in the London Free Press as a stroke requiring brain surgery. Because she had no travel insurance, friends and local London area businesses set up a donors' fund to help pay medical and hospital bills related to her care.

In December, The Hamilton Spectator reported that Robert Sitter, a long-time Buffalo Bills football fan from Hamilton was hit by a taxi while exiting the stadium in Buffalo. He sustained a brain injury that left him in a coma, unable to be repatriated to Canada for several weeks. A public donors' fund was set up to help Sitter's family deal with what would likely be at least a six-figure hospital bill.

"What makes these stories even more tragic for the families involved," says John Thain, president of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIA), "is that the burden of medical and transportation costs that accompanies accidents and illnesses abroad is so avoidable, and in the case of young, otherwise, healthy people, travel insurance is so inexpensive and accessible."

Government health insurance plans cover only a very small fraction of out-of-country health care costs, and all provincial health ministries and the Government of Canada travel websites strongly urge all Canadians leaving the country - for even one day or less - to buy private travel insurance to cover health emergencies.

Virtually all travel insurance plans in Canada offer generous benefits,some up to $5 million per policy, and they include air or ground ambulance repatriation when medically necessary, direct payments to foreign hospitals and doctors, and coverage of virtually all hospital and medical costs for applicants who meet the eligibility and health requirements.

Studies have shown that most experienced and mature travellers, and especially snowbirds, won't leave home without travel insurance. In fact, some studies show about 80 percent of snowbirds buy insurance annually. But a study done by Ipsos Reid also showed that among 18-to-34 year old Canadians, 44 percent report that they never or rarely bought insurance on any trip they took to the U.S. within the previous two years.

"Travel insurance for Canadians leaving the country for even a short trip to a ballgame, or to go shopping, or visit relatives, is not a luxury item, it's a necessity," says Thain. "One slip on the ice, or fall on a boat, or accident while crossing the street can generate medical bills that could potentially wipe out a family's savings. It doesn't have to be that way," he emphasizes.

"Travel medical insurance is readily available from most travel agents, brokers, banks, motor leagues, and companies specializing in travel insurance. Thanks to the internet, finding them is easier than ever," says Thain. "All it takes is recognition that even the young are not invincible. And hospitals and doctors don't offer cut-rates for the young."

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 3, 2013)