October 2024: Best Travel Insurance for Puerto Rico Residents

When we're planning a trip, we want it to go smoothly. However, unexpected things happen, and the least we can do is prepare for them and lessen their impact. Whether you are a resident of Puerto Rico visiting mainland USA or traveling outside the USA, trip insurance can protect you financially in the event of canceled flights, delays, medical emergencies, or other unexpected situations.

There are several types of travel insurance plans (platinum, gold, or plus) and here are common types of coverage that can be included:

- Travel medical insurance: provides health insurance while you are away from home. This plan does not include routine medical checkups and has other limitations on coverage and exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Also, you may need separate health insurance for adventure or competitive sports.

- Trip cancellation, interruption, and delay: with these plans, you can reimburse your prepaid, nonrefundable expenses if your trip is canceled, interrupted or delayed for one of the reasons outlined in the policy, such as your own illness or natural disaster.

- Baggage and personal belongings: the coverage reimburses lost, stolen, or damaged baggage and personal belongings during the trip.

- Emergency medical assistance, evacuation, and repatriation: this helps to cover expenses if you get sick or injured on a trip.

- 24-hour assistance: a hotline when you need help to book a flight after a missed connection, find lost luggage, or locate a doctor.

- Accidental death and dismemberment insurance: this policy pays a lump sum to your beneficiary if you die in an accident while on the trip, or a portion of the sum to you if you lose a limb, eyesight, speech or hearing during the trip.

- Rental car coverage: this policy will cover you when you damage your rental car in an accident or if it's damaged by vandals or in a natural disaster. This coverage has exclusions, including countries where you are covered.

Before you choose what your travel insurance would include, check out components of your trip that may already be covered. For example, if you book a trip with your credit card, depending on the card, you may automatically get trip cancellation and interruption coverage or lost luggage insurance. Your homeowners insurance may also cover personal belongings while you are traveling.