Name (or search terms etc) for enhanced travel insurance for locations with travel warnings

3/10/2015 2:07:32 PM

On about the 5th attempt, I found some useful stuff with searches based on "travel insurance against foreign office advice".

This kind of insurance is sometimes called “high risk travel insurance” or “war and terrorism travel insurance“.

Travel Insurance Center has a handy compare tool for high risk travel insurance that lists about 6 providers and includes the most important top level information – for example most of them are US citizens only, but BUPA IPI and Insuractive had cover available internationally, and of those two, BUPA IPI seemed to be the only one to include medical costs.

Ball park figure – the BUPA IPI one I went with in the end worked out at around £90 GBP (around $135 USD), for one person, 2 weeks. It claimed to cover medical fees, repatriation, personal possessions and indemnity (with the option to add cancellation for a bit extra). Luckily I didn’t need to use it… so I can’t comment on how helpful or willing to cough up they are in an emergency, but I had no problem booking it while abroad.

Make sure you check the details thoroughly, for example:

  • Check they cover people of your nationality.
  • Check that vague terms like “medical support” actually do mean they cover hospital bills, medical repatriation, etc. I’ve seen a few that talk about offering “medical support” – but in reality after checking the small print it boils down to nothing more than a few multi-lingual nurses in a 24-hour call centre somewhere who you can call for advice if you quote your reference number – but nothing towards the cost of ambulances and hospital treatment (i.e. the important stuff).
  • The BUPA IPI one requires that you contact them before they accept Iraq or Afghanistan cover (not unreasonable…!).
  • Double check that they really do cover your target country including areas with travel warnings, and that they don’t have any cunningly hidden clauses invalidating the insurance if you do things you’re likely to do.

Here’s a couple of companies I saw mentioned who seem to specialise in this sort of thing, and who seem to sell specialist travel insurance to individuals as well as to companies, NGOs etc.

Big international NGOs and aid agencies have this problem all the time and need insurance they can trust – so if you can, up-to-date info on who they use might be a good strategy.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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