Most people consider purchasing travel insurance when taking international trips and vacations. However, it is equally important to consider purchasing domestic travel insurance when taking domestic trips—that is, trips within the United States. Why only in the USA? Because this sort of travel insurance is only available to US residents.
There are many domestic travel insurance plans available. You just need to make sure you're taking a trip that's typically more than 100 miles from your home. Most domestic trip insurance plans won't provide coverage for shorter trips than that (it isn't local travel insurance).
What Does Domestic Travel Insurance Cover?
The best domestic travel insurance offers an array of different coverages to protect your finances before and during your trip.
Depending on which plan you choose, travel insurance for domestic travel can provide these coverages:
- Trip Cancellation - When you plan a vacation, you typically pay for things like airline tickets, hotel reservations, resort passes, etc. ahead of time. However, these costs are usually either nonrefundable, or they charge hefty refund fees. If you have to cancel your trip, you could be stuck paying for it anyway. Trip cancellation coverage eases this worry. It can reimburse you for your nonrefundable, prepaid costs if you have to cancel your trip for a covered reason.
- Trip Interruption - Similarly, when you are already on your trip, you may need to return home early. This can be covered under by the trip interruption feature of your domestic travel insurance, which is based on the percentage of your trip cost, and can be 100% or even 150% of your trip cost.
- Cancelling for Any Reason - If you don’t want to worry yourself with trip cancellation or interruption only for specified reasons, you can consider purchasing cancel for any reason travel insurance, where you can get up to 75% of your prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs back. Just keep in mind that there are certain restrictions for purchases and for claims
- Emergency Medical Care - Depending upon your health insurance plan at home, you may or may not get emergency medical coverage when you are on a trip. Even if there is coverage, if there are no participating providers at your destination, you may get out-of-network coverage, which would subject you to higher deductible, coinsurance, copay, and out-of-pocket maximums. Emergency medical coverage in domestic travel insurance plans provides the coverage for unforeseen medical emergencies as secondary health insurance.
- Baggage Loss or Delay - Even when traveling domestically, travel insurance plans can provide coverage for loss of checked luggage or for baggage delay. When you arrive at your destination and your bags don’t, you may need to purchase essentials. Baggage coverage helps you with that, as well. Make sure to keep all your receipts. You'll need them to file a claim with your domestic travel insurance provider.
- Travel Delays - Flight cancellations and delays are possible due to various reasons such as inclement weather, mechanical failures, and so on. If your flight is delayed beyond a certain duration, your domestic travel insurance plan can provide reimbursement for accommodations and additional meals up to the limit specified in the insurance policy.
Are Flight Insurance & Domestic Travel Insurance the Same?
Not necessarily. Domestic flight insurance is primarily low-cost life insurance that can pay our benefits in the event of death or dismembement due to a commerical flight mishap. However, some plans can provide similar benefits to domestic travel insurance, so both can function as suitable travel insurance for domestic flights depending upon your needs.
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