As New South Wales prepares to scrap quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated overseas arrivals, an expert has cautioned residents itching to travel again to consider the “whole heap of complexity” around travel insurance before booking that flight.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced last week that his government will remove quarantine requirements and caps for fully vaccinated overseas travellers from November 01.
However, Quentin Long, founder of Australian Traveller magazine, warned that continuing complexities from the global COVID-19 pandemic could still impact travel plans – particularly around purchasing travel insurance.
“There’s a whole heap of complexity around travel insurance,” Long told Sky News. “The first thing about [it is] whether you need [to be vaccinated] to buy the insurance. That will definitely be part of the requirements that you’ll have to show – whether you are vaccinated or not – and that will definitely impact what policies you’ll get offered. Aside from that, the airlines will be asking people if they’re vaccinated or not regardless of travel insurance.”
Long added that travellers would likely need to buy policies that has COVID-19 coverage on top “just so that if you get COVID you’ll be covered for any medical expenses.”
“This is particularly important when you’re going to places like the United States where we know the medical expenses are incredibly expensive and have bankrupted people in the past,” said Long.
Long also advised travellers to think about extending the period of coverage because of potential delays that can happen from getting COVID.
“If you’re going away for two weeks, don’t buy two weeks-worth of travel insurance because if you do run into trouble, you’ll be away for a lot longer than two weeks,” Long concluded.
