You’ve never needed travel insurance until you needed it. Let me start by telling my story.

In my early 20’s, I booked a trip to the Dominican Republic. Being young, naïve and somewhat confident that “it wouldn’t happen to me”, I decided to forego the purchase of travel insurance while away on my one week getaway.

On the very first day of my trip, I had an uncomfortable feeling on the surface of my abdomen. After lying in the sun all day, I felt further irritation. I knew that something was wrong when I woke up the next morning with massive blisters on my stomach.

By day two and three, I was in even worse shape. Major pain and irritation led to a huge concern for my well being. My attempts to find good medical care were fruitless and I ended up spending the rest of my trip in bed until my return back to Canada when I found out that I had contracted the shingles virus.

Since then, I now remind my clients about the importance of having adequate travel insurance. I was lucky enough to escape a huge medical bill in the Dominican and I am definitely a living example of why you want to avoid this.

Below are 4 things you want to watch out for in the fine print of your travel insurance policy:

1. Exclusions on Specific Activities

Some policies have specific language and clauses voiding the policy if the client participates in certain activities. Examples usually include activities deemed dangerous by the insurer such as sky diving, bunjee jumping, etc.

As time goes on, the list of activities considered risky seems to be getting longer and longer. With a downward trend in the cost of travel insurance due to competition in the marketplace, insurers are now taking on less risk to compensate for the reduction in cost to the client.

2. Policies With Poorly Designed Questionnaires

Some travel insurers will use the medical questionnaires to help identify what level of insurance to sell to a person, but are then set aside to be reviewed only after a claim is made to look for any “misrepresentations” that the client made on the questionnaire. In effect, the policy is never fully underwritten upfront and the client is at risk of a denied claim.

When engaging in a medical questionnaire, make sure you fully understand the questions being asked and if not, consult with your medical practitioner for clarification on your medical history.

Also make sure to ask your travel insurance agent if the policy is fully underwritten upfront to ensure a better chance of having a good and fair experience should a claim need to be made.

3. Long Stability Periods

Stability clauses will identify a period of time for which a pre-existing condition must be stable before coverage begins. A shorter stability period is better and one-week stability periods are common. Make sure that you fully understand the stability periods before signing on the dotted line of your insurance policy.

4. Policies With ‘Change of Health’ Clauses

Watch out for policies that require calling the insurer to report a ‘change of health’. This clause protects the company by allowing them to void the coverage if the client fails to report even the slightest medical condition and also positions insurers to be able to significantly increase the price for the coverage if the client does report a change in health.

Authored by Isaac Musial on July 20, 2016