Travel Insurance

When travelling to Orlando or anywhere in the USA, it is essential that you have good travel insurance.

The USA do not have a National Health Service like here in the UK. All medical expenses are paid privately normally through medical insurance.

Medical bills in the USA can run into thousands of dollars even for the simplest of things. It may be tempting to go un-insured if you are on a tight budget but our advice is if you can not afford proper travel insurance then do not visit the USA, it's just not worth the risk!

Purchase your travel insurance as soon as you have booked your holiday. Many people leave buying the travel insurance until close to the date of departure. This is an unwise decision as the travel insurance not only covers you for the time you are actually on holiday, it also covers holiday cancellations and other things before you actually travel.

We would recommend shopping around for travel insurance as policies vary widely in what they cover and what they pay out on. Make sure you read the small print before purchase.

We would also recommend not taking out the travel insurance offered by the travel agent you booked your holiday with, as very often these are overpriced or have lower limits than policies you can get elsewhere.

If you are reading this online then you are already on the internet, so it's a quick easy step to do a search and compare what is on offer in the travel insurance market place.

Check with your Bank or credit card issuer, as some of these offer free or discounted travel insurance to their customers. If you have this, then still do a compare with other travel insurances as the one offered might not cover everything you need.

Whatever travel insurance you purchase make sure it covers you for what you expecting to be doing on your holiday. An example of this is if you are going to be doing sports, make sure the sport is fully covered on the travel insurance.

If you have a pre-existing medical condition then you must declare this to the insurance company at time of purchase, otherwise your insurance will more than likely be invalid. When you get your documents, make sure that any medical conditions are duly noted on the policy. It's no good arguing afterwards that you told the telephone salesperson about the condition. If it's not written into the policy then the insurance company can and probably will avoid paying out.

Medical expenses cover should be at least £2 million, and personal liability at least £1 million. Also check the excess amount that may apply if you make a claim. Loss of baggage in transit may not be included in all policies, so this is something else you should check.

If you're going away more than once in a year, look into annual multi-trip Travel Insurance policies, as they are often much better value. They may even work out cheaper than single trip policies if you're going for more than 2 weeks.