How well covered are you for risky activities?

TRAVELLING to a foreign country can be a great adventure, but it can also be risky. Travel Insurance Consultants (TIC), a division of Santam, published findings showing that 50 percent of travel incidents involve accidents, so it’s wise to prepare for the unexpected by understanding travel insurance and ensuring you have enough of it.

Seeking treatment for a fall overseas can be a costly and traumatic experience. Kevin Gibson realised the importance of having comprehensive travel insurance when he joined a group of friends on what should have been a week-long ski trip in Slovakia. The trip ended with the first-time skier slamming into a pole and having to be hospitalised for eight broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

Santam shares three top tips for making sure you are properly covered on your next trip:

1. Check that your insurance includes cover for the activities you will be undertaking.

Be aware of the list of those that insurers automatically include. A good policy should include skiing and scuba diving (provided the diver is licensed or accompanied by a licensed instructor), leisure and most competitive sporting events.

Pay attention to the exclusions, compare different insurers’ offering, and know when to top up.

2. Verify that your medical benefit is your key focus of cover.

The medical benefit is the heartbeat of travel insurance. If Gibson had not had the medical benefit included in his travel insurance, he would have had to pay all his medical transportation costs.

Gibson’s injuries meant that his travel insurance needed to hire a private driver to drive from Vienna to a Slovakian town four hours away to collect him as there were no local taxis willing to drive that far. His cover also allowed him to fly back to South Africa in business class so he could lie down for most of the flight, as per his doctor’s orders.

3. What about free travel insurance through your credit card?

Most credit cards will provide travel insurance if you use your card to buy a full-fare return ticket. This may include limited medical cover at South African scale, which doesn’t help when incurring bills in foreign currencies. In some cases, this will include limited personal accident cover. Generally, free insurance will not protect you from all the risks you might incur while travelling, such as cancellation and luggage cover.

Hospitalisation for pre-existing illnesses is usually excluded.

Make sure you understand what the package includes and to boost your policy. |