Should I buy travel insurance?

If you travel often, you probably hear a lot about travel insurance but haven’t stopped to consider it. In short, travel insurance covers your medical expenses and other financial losses while you’re traveling. This goes for international travel as well as inter-state travel. But do you really need it? Here are some considerations.

• Your existing insurance policies (such as homeowners, medical, and automobile) may already cover you for a majority of possible scenarios. In this case, travel insurance would be a waste of money.
• Some of your credit cards even offer insurance in the event of emergency that you might not be aware of. Look into this.
• Beware the expensive up-sell. A lot of travel agents like to try to tack on travel insurance, but if you do decide to buy it, you should go through a third-party insurer.

Before you buy, make sure that you’re not buying duplicate coverage that you already have. For more information about what travel insurance covers, talk to your travel agent or a third-party insurance company.