Have you ever noticed when booking a vacation you’re almost always offered the opportunity to buy travel insurance? It doesn’t matter if you’re buying direct from the airline or through an online travel agent, you can easily tack on the price of the travel insurance premium to your trip purchase. It sure is convenient but is it a good deal? A quick comparison of leading financial institutions, airlines and travel agents shows that often you’re paying a hefty premium for this convenience.
Take a look at the prices below for a basic emergency medical plan for a single traveller under age 30, travelling for 7 days with similar coverage:
| Basic Medical Plan* | Kanetix.ca | Financial Institution | Airline | Online Travel Agent |
| Single traveller under age 30, 7 day trip duration to a US destination | $13.00 | $24.00 | $26.00 | $26.25 |
If you take a look at family plans, the difference in price is even more startling:
| Basic Medical Plan* | Kanetix.ca | Financial Institution | Airline | Online Travel Agent |
| Family of 4 including 2 adults over age 30 and 2 children under age 16, 7 day trip duration to a US destination | $24.00 | $48.00 | $104.00 | $105.00 |
In no time, you can shop, compare and save
Thanks to the Internet and websites like kanetix.ca, you can easily uncover the price discrepancies for similar products, to see how much you’re actually paying for that so-called opportunity.
Why pay more than you have to? Because, if it’s about convenience and ease in getting covered, you’ve got better options for getting the travel insurance you need at a better price.
*The basic medical plan, and corresponding rate, was pulled from the websites of a major Canadian financial institution, airline, online travel agent, and kanetix.ca-an online quote comparison service. In each case, the lowest price is published and is accurate as of March 26, 2008, but may be subject to change at any time.
This article was written by kanetix.ca and was reproduced with permission on tripatlas.com/new.