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The following is a brief summary of what Cancellation Only insurance will cover and what is not usually covered:
Want cover for more than just cancellation and luggage? Compare 16 travel insurance brands
The type of travel insurance you choose will depend on the type of travel you’re undertaking. As mentioned previously, if you are only travelling within Australia, you won’t need medical and hospital cover as you are already covered by Medicare or private health insurance.
Other considerations might include whether it is a single trip or one of several (in which case multi-trip cover would be more beneficial), whether you are travelling alone or with family, whether you plan to partake in any risky activities or sports while away, whether you are taking expensive luggage or personal effects with you and so on.
Whichever type of travel insurance you opt for, make sure you read the fine print first, as every policy contains different limits to benefit amounts and exclusions where cover is not offered. You should also buy your policy as soon after you have booked your trip as possible, so that you are covered for cancellations that could occur prior to your departure.
Travel insurance is like any form of insurance; the insurer will only pay when costs are not redeemable from any other source. So, there are instances where you won’t be covered by travel insurance and must seek compensation from the carrier instead. But compensation varies with each carrier and is usually at their discretion.
As can be seen, the extent of a carrier’s liability depends on the circumstances and any compensation is largely at their discretion, so foregoing travel insurance in the hope of being reimbursed by your carrier for any mishaps would probably not be the wisest move.
Relying on your carrier for insurance is not a great idea and neither is assuming that because you are travelling to a country with a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement (RHCA) with Australia that you don’t need travel insurance with medical and hospital cover.
And that’s because, while RHCA countries will provide Australian travellers with subsidised health care similar to Medicare, they each offer different levels of cover and some medical costs are not covered at all, including:
Australia has Reciprocal Health Care Agreements with 11 countries, so if you are travelling to one of them, be sure to have travel insurance that includes adequate medical and hospital cover.
Find out more about the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement
As this guide shows, there are few instances where you can forego travel insurance and rely on other sources of compensation if something goes wrong. Whether it’s Cancellation & Luggage Insurance in Australia or Medical & Hospital cover when overseas, travel insurance is something none of us can afford to leave home without. Compare the providers offering travel insurance with no medical using the table above or, if you've changed your mind and think you'll need travel insurance with medical cover, use the comparison tool below.
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Have 2 stents after heart attack. Age 70 going way for 4 months. Will travel insurance be out of reach ?
Hi Garry!
You may enter your details and compare your options here on Seniors Travel Insurance.
Once you’re shown the results page, you may make use of the filters on the lower left of the page that matches your preferences.
Then you may choose an insurer to consult with on your medical history to be considered in your quote.
Please note that finder.com.au is a comparison and information service and we are not permitted to provide our users with personalised financial advice or product recommendations. However, we do help guide you through the process of comparing options.
I hope this helps.
Cheers!
Maria
Your heading reads as follows:
“Travel Insurance Without Medical.
Looking for travel insurance without medical? Compare travel insurance for cancellation and luggage only”.
This is a con: when contacting the companies listed, none of them offers such cover for international travel!
Your heading is false, and causes a waste of time to those who fall for it.
19 May 2017
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for your comment.
We’ve double checked our page, and STA does, in fact, offer a Cancellation and Luggage only policy as stated. If you click on “Get quote”, it will take you to a page where you will need to provide information about your trip, and one of the options should be Cancellation and Luggage only.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
May
31 May, This refers to the reply from May, dated 30 May 2017. I did inquire on the web, and got in reply a message that there was a problem. There was no indication whatever as to the nature of the problem. I rang the telephone number given in that message. In that conversation, which led to no result, I was given another ‘phone number in Melbourne. I rang that number. After some conversation, it transpired that I exceeded the age limit for such policies. It would have saved me a lot of trouble this that had been indicated in the original reply on the web.
Moreover, an age limit may make some sense just for medical reasons. But if medical insurance is not included in the policy, there seem to be scant justification for an age limit. A cancelled flight affects every passenger no matter whether they are young or old.
31 May 2017
Thomas
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for getting back and for this information you gave.
Please accept our apologies – we weren’t aware that there is a maximum age for cancellation and luggage cover. We have confirmed with STA that the maximum age is 80 years old for this particular policy, and we have updated our page to reflect this. You may want to check out Boomers Travel Insurance which offers the non-medical Essentials policy and applies no age limits to single trips (please note that annual policies do have an age limit of 74). You can read more about Boomers Travel Insurance and the Essentials policy here.
Cheers,
May