What travel insurance covers

Cancellation refunds the nonrefundable prepaid costs when you cancel before departure for a reason on the policy's list: illness, injury or death of a person on the trip or a close family member, severe weather that makes the destination uninhabitable or stops the carrier, jury duty, a home rendered unlivable, and on some plans job loss or a work transfer. The list is closed; changing your mind is not on it. Interruption pays the unused portion of the trip plus the cost of getting home early for the same reasons.

Cancel-for-any-reason is an add-on that pays back a partial share of the trip cost for reasons the list does not cover. It must be bought early, usually within the same window as the pre-existing waiver, and the trip must be cancelled a set number of days before departure.

Emergency medical pays doctor and hospital bills for an illness or injury that begins during the trip, either as primary coverage or after your health plan has paid. Evacuation pays to move you to a hospital that can treat you, by air ambulance if needed, and to bring you home once you are stable; on a cruise, a trek or a trip through a country with thin hospitals it is the benefit that matters most, because an air ambulance across an ocean costs more than most people would guess. Original Medicare generally pays nothing outside the United States apart from narrow exceptions, and many employer plans pay abroad only at out-of-network terms or not at all.

Travel delay pays meals and a hotel when a covered delay strands you for longer than the policy's threshold of hours, and a missed connection benefit pays to catch up to a cruise or a tour. Baggage delay pays for clothing and toiletries while a checked bag is missing. Baggage loss pays for luggage that is lost, stolen or destroyed, at depreciated value, subject to per-item limits that fall well short of what a camera or a laptop costs.

A pre-existing condition, on a travel policy, is one that was treated, tested, or had its medication changed during a look-back period before the policy was bought. A claim caused by such a condition, including a cancellation because a parent's condition worsened, is excluded unless the policy carries the waiver. The waiver is granted when the policy is bought within the window after the first deposit, the full trip cost is insured, and the person is medically able to travel on the day it is bought.

Someone who travels several times a year can buy an annual plan that covers every trip within a set length, usually with medical and evacuation as the main benefits and thin or no cancellation coverage. Rental car collision coverage is an add-on that pays for damage to a rental where a personal auto policy does not follow you, which is the case in most countries outside the United States and Canada.