Will Travel Insurance Cover The Omicron Variant?
Guess
who's back, back again. Shady's back, tell a friend. Similar to these lyrics at
the beginning of an Eminem song, Without Me, the Omicron variant has us all
shrugging our shoulders asking, "when is this going to end?" This next major
COVID strain after the Delta variant has some of us questioning upcoming travel
plans and what might happen to our airplane, hotel, and automobile reservations
we've already booked. So, you may be deliberating now if it is a good idea to
buy travel insurance, and if you do will it actually cover something like the
Omicron variant?
In
the early days of the pandemic in 2020, there was a lot of uncertainty about
what was and was not covered with travel insurance. When you actually read the
fine print, travel insurance in 2020 largely failed to protect any travelers
who wanted to cancel plans as the world came to a complete standstill. So, will
travel insurance now cover the Omicron variant?
For
the most part, the answer is yes. Travel insurance will treat COVID-19 (and its
variants) like any other major medical emergency you have. The key is that you
will need an official doctor's notes confirming your illness and why you are
unable to travel which would allow you to qualify for benefits. It's also important to really read the fine
print of the policy. Most policies will
offer this basic coverage, but some policies will say in the fine print that
they don't cover pandemics altogether.
One
way to protect yourself altogether would be to purchase a Cancel For Any Reason
(C.F.A.R) policy. Under this type of travel insurance policy, you could cancel
for any reason, but you'll typically only be eligible to collect roughly 50% to
75% of your non-refundable expenses. Remember, these types of policies will be
much more expensive than a regular travel insurance policy, but it gives you
the ultimate protection no matter what happens with lockdowns, shutdown, or changes
to your specific travel plans.
Some
people wonder what happens if you book a trip internationally and they close
down their borders as Israel did recently. Unfortunately, under most travel
insurance policies, you simply aren't covered if your foreign destination
closes its borders. As we see massive spikes of Omicron cases in the U.K.,
Germany, and other countries, your investment to travel could be at significant
risk even if you do have a travel insurance policy. In addition, some countries
are requiring travel insurance to be able to travel to their country.
Singapore, for example, requires at least $22,000 of U.S. dollars of coverage
in order to make the journey.
AirBnb
has changed their policies over time and were more stringent in 2020. But keep
a close eye on the fine print with AirBnb reservations, as the Omicron variant spreads,
they may revert to the cancellation policies they used last year.
If
you are going to shop for these policies, there are multitude of websites to
purchase a good travel insurance policy. Insure
My Trip
and Allianz Travel Insurance are two respectable places
to start the search for a travel insurance policy. It's never fun thinking
about spending money on any type of insurance that you may never collect a nickel
but given the uncertainty of the Omicron virus and other possible strings of
COVID, this may be a necessary evil for you make sure your trip has smooth
sailing.
If you would like to receive more information on making smart money moves for your future, be sure to contact us today!
