Travel insurance provides people with protection in the event that they encounter various kinds of emergencies while traveling. An insurance policy typically only provides coverage for an individual, but a family travel insurance plan provides protection for an entire family. Insurers issue different kinds of policies that vary in price and in terms of the types of events that the policies cover.
A basic family travel insurance policy reimburses any financial loss that the insurees suffer as the result of a vacation, flight, or other type of ticketed journey being canceled. Some policies provide coverage for situations that are out of the insuree's control, such as when a travel firm goes bankrupt or when a natural disaster makes traveling to a particular area impossible. Other policies provide reimbursement of travel expenses if the family decides to cancel their travel plans for some reason.
Travelers can buy a comprehensive family travel insurance policy that includes medical insurance coverage. Standard medical insurance policies do not generally cover individuals who travel overseas, which means that tourists who need medical treatment often have to pay medical costs out of pocket if they need some form of treatment while abroad. A family travel insurance policy usually provides reimbursement of medical costs for each member of the family up to a specified per person maximum coverage level. Rather than imposing individual coverage limits, some plans include a total coverage limit for the entire family.
Some policies provide additional medical protection that covers the cost of medical evacuations for people who need to return to their home country in order to receive the type of treatment that their illness or injury necessitates. Major insurance firms provide 24 hour contact telephone numbers that insurees can use to seek medical treatment while abroad. A policy may also include the cost of flying other family members back to their country of origin when the injured family member is evacuated.
Many travelers become crime victims while overseas and may suffer financial hardship as a result of having personal property damaged or stolen. Most travel insurance policies provide coverage for loss or stolen property up to a maximum amount per family or per person. Travel insurance policies generally do not cover lost or stolen cash or cash equivalents, such as traveler’s checks.
People who buy family travel insurance policies normally pay a single premium which is made at the time the policy is purchased. The insurance lasts for a specified period of time, which typically coincides with the end of the insurees' proposed trip. Policies are normally priced so that the family as a whole pay less for insurance as a group than they would if separate policies were bought for each family member.