I’m a traveler. On any given day you can find me planning, plotting or preparing for my next getaway. Usually when I travel the only insurance I think about is travel insurance, you know, just in case my bags get lost or the flight is canceled or delayed. It never occurred to me to that I might need medical insurance too, I mean why should I, I already have coverage through my job. However, it wasn’t until my most recent set of adventures that I decided to have a change of heart. This year I somehow turned into the animal whisperer and took several trips that left me playing with tigers, snakes, monkeys, elephants, and even bulls, and it wasn’t until I started planning these trips that I realized the importance of making sure that my health was covered as well as my bags.

Of course on most of my trips I’m not pretending to be the female Steve Irwin, but it doesn’t take an extreme trip for your worst nightmare to come true. A sad example of this fact would be 24-year-old Anna Leibenko, a former Toronto Argonauts cheerleader, who is in the hospital in the Croatian city of Split with a brain bleed after falling off a boat and hitting her head. Anna wasn’t doing anything dangerous when her accident occurred; she was simply enjoying a good time with friends and now her grief stricken family needs $94,000 dollars to bring her home because she didn’t have any travel medical insurance. No one, including Anna would’ve thought that a simple getaway for some fun in the sun would turn so tragic. But the reality is Anna’s story could be our story.

During my vacations this year I purchased travel medical insurance from HTH Travel Health Insurance and for the average one week vacation you can pay as little as $10.40 for a $500,000 medical limit in addition to you current medical coverage. Willing to spend a little more? You can get a $1,000,000 medical limit for as little as $18.96*. Now I know you’re probably thinking that you’ve gone on tons of trips and nothing has happened so no need to start spending extra cash now, and I have to admit that after buying insurance for my animal adventures this year and coming home safe and unscathed I’ve questioned the necessity also. However reading Anna’s story reminded me that I never want myself or my family to have to find out what could possibly happen the one time I travel without it. This is one instance that spending $20/$30 on a ‘what if?’ is definitely worth it.

Do you purchase travel medical insurance? Why or why not?

*Based on rates out of NY. Individual rate coverage will vary.