Travel insurance

 It is always recommended to take out travel insurance if you are planning to holiday outside Ireland. This cover is now available from as little as €7.99 for a week in Europe and provides cover for medical expenses, cancellation, personal accident, lost baggage, replacement passport, personal liability and legal expenses. Click here to avail of a quote.  If you have health insurance you will avail of discount.  The amount of discount depends on the type of health cover you have.

It is also advisable to apply for a European Health Insurance Card (or E111 card), which covers visits to GP's and hospital's in health emergencies while abroad.  To apply for this card visit https://www.sspcrs.ie/portal/ehic/showCreate.do

There are two main kinds of travel insurance: single-trip and annual multi-trip.

As its name implies, the first product covers you for one trip only, while the second product provides cover throughout the year.

Also available are longer-term policies aimed at backpackers, and products designed specifically for the over-65s.

Multi-trip policies are more cost-effective for those who take more than a couple of holidays a year, especially if you are a regular skiier. Cover for winter sports is an optional extra in many multi-trip policies but you may find one or two that include this cover in their premiums.

The level of cover under multi-trip policies is usually much the same as the single trip policies offered by the same providers.

If you are over-65, travel insurance companies will generally regard you as a higher risk, and will therefore charge you higher premiums. In most cases, the premium is roughly double those of the under-65s.

In addition, some upper age limits apply. Some firms will not insure those aged over 70 or 75.

You may also be subject to greater restrictions than for those aged under 65.
For example, some policies will insist that the holder has private health insurance, while others may restrict the number of days covered under an annual trip policy.

Health insurance ‘top-ups’

A number of providers now offer significant discounts on travel insurance to customers who have private health insurance from VHI, Aviva or Quinn Healthcare.

These companies offer their standard travel insurance policies at a discount on the basis that they ‘top-up’ the overseas emergency medical cover on your health insurance policy, which is usually restricted to about €65,000.

What this means is that the medical expenses cover on these policies kick in when the health insurance medical cover runs out.

VHI offers annual multi-trip travel insurance to its members from as little as €49 per person. It’s certainly good value if you happen to have insurance with VHI.  Click here to avail of this cover.

However, it’s worth noting that if you take out VHI’s travel insurance and then decide to switch health insurance to another provider, this travel insurance policy will be automatically cancelled and no refunds will be paid.

Information correct as of 26th May 2010