621 18th St
Oakland, California 94612
(415) 729-3748
AnolikLawGroup@Travellaw.com 

The Importance of Travel Insurance

The Importance of Travel Insurance

Mar. 22 (ABC7) — Now is the time many are planning their summer vacations; picking destinations, hotels and flights. 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney says many are missing out on an important purchase.

Phil Cameron of San Francisco is thumbing through photographs from his European vacation. His snapshots aren't like yours. He was in a terrible bus accident in Italy.
Phil Cameron, San Francisco: "Everyone on board was injured. My foot was trapped under the seat and my foot went through my computer screen."
Luckily Phil had bought a $25 dollar student travel card that came with $3,000 dollars worth of travel insurance.

The Olson's bought travel insurance for their trip to St. Martin. That was a good thing because an armored car ran over their then two year old daughter, Hailey.
Kim Olson, Racine, Wisconsin: "I said, 'We have insurance, here's my insurance card.' And they said, 'We don't take your insurance. You're foreign.'"
Travel insurance kicked in paying $21,000 dollars for medical care and a private jet back to the states.

Attorney Alexander Anolik wrote the Frequent Traveler's Guide. He says that's just half of what travel insurance can do for you.
Alexander Anolik, attorney: "The other side of insurance is bankruptcy, failure to get to a destination. There are really two different types we are talking about."
Al's most important travel insurance rule? Watch who you buy from.

Alexander Anolik, attorney: "Never buy insurance from a tour operator who is self insured, because if they have a problem you don't get anything."
And now back to Phil, who says the insurance he had was better than nothing at all, but not what it could have been.

Phil Cameron, San Francisco: "In retrospect I would have bought the additional insurance that would have paid for all my medical bills and paid for the computer so I could have gone back to Oxford and kept studying."

The cost of this stuff is negotiable, so bargain. Depending on the trip and coverage, the cost can range from a couple hundred to several hundred dollars.