Am I covered?
Well before we get into this, having your medical bills paid is little consolation if you are stuck in a foreign hospital for 8 weeks. The bottom line is that the aim of the game is to do as much as you can to keep yourself safe.
Pretend for a moment that you don't have any travel insurance. How would you behave? Act as though you are uninsured! This mind-set is a good way not to ever have use of our excellent services. While we cover travel for every country of the world, unfortunately the small print of travel insurance inevitably contains exclusions that make easy generalisations about any sport or activity almost impossible.
For example, if you are wildlife-watching in the extremes of Alaska and are attacked by a polar bear, are you covered? It depends. You see, if the bear attacks you while you were watching them as a part of a wildlife safari or trekking, then YES we would cover you (assuming the bear didn't catch you of course), but if you were chasing the bear having had a beer too many the night before and you thought it would be a laugh... err... then NO, we wouldn't.
Or if you are skiing and you're caught in an avalanche, are you covered? It depends. Your level of cover varies based on your country of residence and your particular level of insanity. For example, if you leap out of a hovering helicopter while trying to pretend that you're in a Hollywood action movie, then NO, you aren't covered.
Or, if you meet a 'friend', agree to engage in sexual activity and as a result wake up in the morning with no bag, passport and a headache, are you covered? It depends. YES, you are covered for unprovoked assault by a third party, and you would be covered for replacement of your personal belongings and passport, but NO, we wouldn't cover you if the "liaison" was illegal under local sex-tourism laws.
Got the message? If you are unsure about anything, ask us and we'd rather clear up a grey area before you have a claim
What we don't cover
A good rule of thumb is to remember that insurance is there for things that might go wrong and will not cover extreme risks such as:
- Medical conditions that exist before you travel
You can still take out the insurance for other benefits but you should be aware that costs of treatments that you knew were likely or possible before you travel won't be covered.
- Deliberately put your life in danger
Trekking across the arctic in a t-shirt is not conducive to picking up your pension
- Involve alcohol or drugs
Apart from the risks that you take while off your face in a place that you aren't familiar with, you probably won't get your claim paid.
- HIV or STD's
We know this is a little weird but if you contract STD's or HIV while you are away, these aren't covered. We are working with our insurance partners to review these exclusions.
Policy exclusions
All travel insurance policies have specific exclusions so it's common-sense to take the time to read the policy wording carefully.
Policy wording varies depending on which country you are from.
