Is Travel Insurance Worth the Cost? Essential Coverages You Should Buy

When planning a trip, especially an expensive international journey, you hope for the best but must prepare for the worst. **Travel insurance** acts as your safety net, protecting your financial investment and, more importantly, your health abroad. Here are the three non-negotiable coverages that make it worth the cost.

1. Trip Cancellation/Interruption Coverage

This coverage protects the money you paid for your trip (flights, hotels, prepaid tours). If you have to cancel your trip due to a covered reason—such as an unexpected illness, a death in the family, or severe weather that closes airports—you are reimbursed for non-refundable expenses.

Trip Interruption: Reimburses you if you have to cut your trip short and helps cover the cost of flying home early.

2. Emergency Medical and Dental Coverage

This is the most critical part of an international **travel insurance** policy. Your standard domestic health plan (like the one in Article 4) rarely provides adequate coverage outside your home country. If you become ill or injured overseas, this coverage pays for hospital stays, doctor visits, and medication.

Crucial Need: A simple broken leg in a foreign country can cost tens of thousands of dollars without proper coverage.

3. Emergency Medical Evacuation

If you are in a remote area and become critically ill, you might need to be airlifted to the nearest appropriate medical facility, or even flown back to your home country for care. **Medical evacuation** is staggeringly expensive—often $50,000 to $250,000. This coverage pays for that transport, making it an absolute must-have for any serious traveler.

Who Should Buy It?

**Travel insurance** is highly recommended for anyone:

Spending more than $2,000 on a trip.
Traveling internationally.
With a pre-existing medical condition.