Many people forget to add Travel Insurance to their travel checklist because they feel it is an unnecessary expense and prefer to allocate their money to other things. Some believe that since the trip is only for a few days, insurance is not required and that nothing will happen to them. As a result, when something unexpected occurs, they often end up being treated at a local public hospital.
Throughout our journey, many questions follow us, and one of the most important among them is: Should we travel with travel insurance?
Once, during a trip to China, one of my teeth broke into two pieces. I thought I would have to live with that infection for the rest of my life. However, because I had travel insurance at that time, I called the insurance company. They advised me to visit a clinic located in a good area of Beijing.
There, I met a Chinese dentist who spoke excellent English and treated my tooth properly. He told me that the treatment was expected to last for one year, but even today—10 years later—everything is absolutely fine. If I had not had insurance, the cost of this treatment would have been extremely high, far more than the cost of buying insurance. If I had avoided treatment due to expense, the infection could have worsened and turned into a serious problem.
On another occasion, in Colombia, I was bitten by a parasite and suffered from high fever and severe body pain, forcing me to stay in bed for three days. I felt extremely weak and unwell, and as people jokingly say, I became inseparable from the bathroom. I contacted my insurance company, and they guided me to the appropriate clinic.
At the clinic, my blood tests were conducted, and I was prescribed two medicines along with rest. When I saw the consultation charges, the lab technician and the pharmacist looked at each other and said, “Fortunately, the insurance covers this.”
That is why whenever I travel, I always make sure to buy travel insurance. It is possible that nothing may happen during a trip—I have taken many journeys where I never needed to use my insurance. However, when something did go wrong, I would not have been able to afford those expenses without travel insurance.
It is true that in some countries we can rely on public hospitals, but it is also true that in many other countries this option is either unavailable or the quality of care is not satisfactory. Moreover, dealing with a complicated medical issue requires proper treatment, which can be extremely expensive.
You never want anything to go wrong while traveling, but it can happen. Therefore, when purchasing insurance, it is important to understand what coverage it provides. Medical treatment for accidents during travel can be extremely costly, especially if our family members are required to pay for it out of pocket.
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