Jet-Set Safely
Travel Insurance may provide you with a sense of security as you go about your trips. This layer of security shields you from unnecessary pressures that come with uncertainty when you travel. If you are someone who travels a lot, taking multiple trips annually and especially trips overseas, getting a Multi-Trip travel insurance is one of the best decisions you'll make. Having a multi-trip insurance plan will do you a lot of good if you aim to streamline the logistics of your travel insurance or cut down costs. In this article, you will find out if a multi-trip travel insurance policy is best suited for you.
Multi-Trip Travel Insurance: What Is It?
Multi-trip travel insurance is a travel insurance policy that covers an unlimited number of trips for the course of the coverage period. This policy provides coverage for a specified period, starting from your policy's effective date.
Most times, single-trip insurance doesn't cut it for frequent travelers, so multi-trip travel insurance is an option. Most multi-trip travel insurance gives coverage of one year and is usually termed "annual travel insurance." During the coverage period, every trip embarked on within that year is under the insurance policy's coverage.
Like most insurance policies, the benefits of multi-trip travel insurance vary. Different plans under this broad umbrella cover different things, ranging from medicals in cases of medical emergencies, trip cancellations, baggage insurance, etc. You can choose any of these plans to cater to your needs or subscribe to an all-encompassing plan that includes all these packages.
Benefits of Multi-Trip Travel Insurance Plans
As opined earlier, there are different multi-trip travel insurance plans. These plans can vary depending on their coverage and the benefits they are set to provide. The best multi-trip insurance plans feature these crucial benefits:
- Medical emergency: This insurance plan covers expenses related to medical emergencies during your trip. These expenses may include doctor visits, x-rays, medication and hospitalization costs. This may also include an emergency evacuation that is not medical.
- Baggage insurance: In this kind of insurance plan, there is security for your personal belongings. If there is damage to your bags or they get stolen, this insurance plan can help you recover the costs. If you lose your baggage temporarily, baggage delay insurance will provide you with the costs of the basic things you will need, like clothing or toiletries.
- Trip cancellations: With this insurance plan, you can get reimbursed up to the insured amount for the prepaid, non-transferable and non-refundable travel expenses, should you need to cancel your trip before leaving. This trip cancellation must be done before you leave home for a reason covered in the plan before you can be reimbursed.
- Travel accident insurance: This travel insurance plan is tailored to cater for the event that you are fatally injured or that you are killed during your trip, like while you are in flight or transit. It pays out to your family or estate.
- Travel interruption: Unlike the travel cancellation plan that caters to the cancellation of a trip before you leave home, the travel interruption plan caters to when you have to cut your trip short to return home due to an emergency or any other reason covered in the plan.
Since every organization is out for profit and insurance companies are included, most multi-trip plans have a limitation on the duration of each trip outside the home country. Generally, most insurance policies cover between 8 and 60 days of trips within 365 days.
How to Know if You Need Multi-Trip Travel Insurance
Generally, your choice of whether to opt for multi-trip travel insurance or not is best determined by the types of trips you are planning. Some metrics to help determine if travel insurance is best for you or not include:
- You are a business person who travels frequently.
- You are an adventure lover who takes multiple trips per year.
- You want to save money, as multi-trip travel is much cheaper than insuring individual flights.
- You take a lot of last-minute trips and prefer the convenience of having a year-round travel insurance policy in place.
Companies That Offer Multi-Trip Travel Insurance and Their Plans
Different insurance companies provide diverse types of insurance travel plans designed to serve frequent travelers. Depending on what you are looking to get out of your insurance, you can either opt for a basic plan that covers basic things, e.g., medicals or go for a more comprehensive plan that offers you more.
Allianz Travel Insurance
This company offers an annual medical plan for 10-30 days for up to $10 million. This covers emergency medical or dental, emergency medical transportation, meals and accommodation due to delay. It also offers 24-hour assistance.
AMA Travel Insurance
This travel insurance offers up to $5 million in emergency medical care in its Multi-Trip Medical Plan. It also offers a comprehensive annual premium package, covering both trip protection and emergency medical for periods ranging from 15 to 60 days.
Manulife
This company offers a Multi-Trip All-Inclusive Plan with up to $10 million in medical emergency costs. This all-inclusive plan also offers up to $6,000 per policy and $3,500 per trip for trip interruption and cancellation. These all span between 4 to 60 days.
Blue Cross
This company offers two plans for frequent travelers: the Annual Package Plus, which includes trip protection, and the Annual medical plan with $5 million in emergency medical. These all span between 4 to 180 days.
Travel with Peace of Mind
Whether considering a multi-trip or single-trip insurance plan, one isn't better than the other at face value. You have to consider the kind of traveler you are and compare quotes from the policies with your budget to know what is best for you.