It was meant to be the trip of a lifetime. My mum had spent a year planning a three-month victory lap of Europe to celebrate retirement. While crossing the road in Paris on the fifth day of her trip, she fell and broke her shoulder. She assumed her travel insurance would allow her to return home and resume her holiday once she had recovered. Reading the policy’s fine print from her hospital bed, she discovered she wasn’t eligible to claim.
“Resumption of travel” is a benefit typically buried in the cancellation section of a travel insurer’s policy. At first glance, it permits travellers to return home early and then resume travel at a later date, but claiming the benefit isn’t as simple as travellers think.
The biggest catch is that most clauses don’t apply to the policyholder, but to a close relative or business partner back home. Travis Wendt at Sage Insurance says this most often means elderly relatives, providing travellers with peace of mind that they can return home if their loved one is hospitalised or dies suddenly while the policyholder is on holiday.
“The devil’s always going to be in the detail. Insurers can be quite prescriptive about what events need to occur for this benefit to be triggered,” says Wendt, noting there is no consistency across travel insurers.
For instance, some require medical documentation that could be challenging to obtain due to privacy restrictions. Others require more than 50 per cent of your trip to be outstanding when you make a claim.
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Policy limits can also vary dramatically from $1500 to $10,000. Depending on the time of year, a $1500 reimbursement to resume your trip would barely cover a return flight to Paris.
Another detail to look out for is the window of coverage. There may be a deadline by which you must resume your travel, or the benefit may only apply within a specified window of coverage.
“An exclusion that a lot of people don’t consider is when the triggering event must occur. If the event happens before you depart, it won’t be covered by the resumption clause,” says Wendt. This could put travellers in a compromised position as cancelling an upcoming trip due to a relative’s ill health may not be covered under standard cancellation clauses.
World Nomads’ insurance does include a resumption of travel clause that covers the policyholder’s own medical repatriation. Combined with their medical treatment and repatriation benefits, their policy is an outlier in the sense that travellers will be covered for their recovery and picking up where they left off.
The only catch is that the condition for which you are treated then becomes a pre-existing condition under the policy, meaning there is no additional cover if symptoms emerge again or the injury is aggravated during the resumed trip.
Because of the inconsistency across the industry, Wendt says the best advice for travellers is to find an insurer who spells out their terms in clear language and look for three key criteria. “Check the limit, check what the triggers are, and check what documents are needed to substantiate your claim.”
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