Insider's experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). In some cases, we receive a commission from our our partners, however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.Anyone taking a trip should consider travel insurance. It can help offset the cost of emergency medical care and reimburse you for lost belongings, canceled flights, or other issues that may come up while you're away.If you're looking for a reputable travel insurance provider that offers a straightforward and easy-to-understand travel insurance policy, Cat 70 is a great option. Cat 70 is backed by the well-known and respected travel insurance comparison provider Squaremouth. Its Travel Plan, the only policy it offers, can be used for domestic and international trips.Cat 70 only offers one travel insurance plan, the aptly and simply named Travel Plan. One of the best aspects of Cat 70's Travel Plan is its sizable emergency medical coverage limit of $500,000. In addition, the plan will cover you for a wide range of other potential problems, including stolen baggage, trip delays, and more.Below are the coverages and corresponding coverage limits of the Cat 70 Travel Plan.Cat 70 also offers a pre-existing medical condition exclusion waiver, which means that your coverage won't be restricted because of your health history. This will apply only if you buy the Travel Plan to cover the full cost of the trip within 14 days of making your first trip deposit.Cat 70 offers a "cancel for any reason" policy, which allows you to cancel your trip without being penalized, even if the reason is not already listed in the base policy. Say, for example, that you find out your favorite football team is playing an important game during your planned dates — under this coverage, you could easily get a refund. Cat 70's CFAR coverage will reimburse 75% of what would have been non-refundable otherwise. Just make sure to purchase Cat 70's CFAR within 14 days of initially putting down a deposit for the trip, and be mindful that claims must be made at least 48 hours before departure time.The price you pay for a policy with Cat 70 will depend on a variety of factors, including your age, travel destination, and total trip cost. We've included a few different scenarios as examples below. This quote is for a 35-year-old North Carolina resident traveling to Spain with a total trip cost of $5,000. At $223, the cost of coverage is just 4.5% of the total trip cost, which is on the lower end of industry averages. Though that's to be expected given the younger age of the traveler.Next, let's look at what it would cost for a 50-year-old resident of New York traveling to Argentina and spending $4,000 on their trip.This policy costs a bit more than 4.5% of the total trip cost, likely due to the age of the traveler. But again, that's still a very reasonable rate when compared to market averages.Lastly, we'll look at the price of coverage for a 40-year-old visiting New Zealand and spending $7,000 on their trip.As expected, due to the higher trip cost compared to our other examples, this plan costs about 5% of the total trip cost. However, it's still within the industry average for travel insurance of 4-8% of the cost of the trip.To file a travel insurance claim with Cat 70, start by downloading and filling out a claims form to initiate the process. You can also call 800-567-3512 to request a claims form by mail or email.Cat 70's claims department can be reached Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST at 866-477-6741, or by email at starrtravelclaims.com.AIG Travel Guard is another popular travel insurance company. We'll use AIG Travel Guard's mid-tier Travel Guard Preferred plan to compare coverage with Cat 70.With AIG's Travel Guard Preferred plan, you'll get trip cancellation coverage up to $150,000, trip interruption coverage up to $225,000, emergency medical coverage of $50,000, coverage for baggage loss, theft, or damage up to $1,000, and travel delay coverage of up to $800.The piece that stands out most prominently when comparing the two is the emergency medical coverage limits. Cat 70's coverage of $500,000 is 10x more than AIG's Travel Guard Preferred plan. But otherwise, the two plans are relatively comparable, with the AIG Travel Guard Preferred plan offering a bit more coverage for travel delay and baggage loss, theft, or damage.Now we'll look at how Cat 70 compares to another popular travel insurance provider, AXA Assistance USA. AXA offers three levels of coverage, Gold, Silver, and Platinum. But for the purpose of this review, we'll use the Silver plan. With AXA Assistant USA's Silver plan, you'll get up to 100% of trip costs for trip cancellation and up to 150% of trip costs for trip interruptions. You'll also get $100,000 in emergency medical coverage, baggage loss coverage up to $1,500, and travel delay coverage of $1,000.Those coverage limits are comparable to Cat 70's Travel Plan in many ways. But Cat 70's emergency medical coverage is superior. At the same time, AXA's coverage for things like baggage loss and trip delay are better. The right plan for you will depend on which coverages are most important.Do your research before buying a travel insurance policy if you already have a great rewards credit card. Standard coverage for a rental car is often included in credit card benefits.Say you have no non-refundable trip costs and are driving to your destination. In this scenario, the coverage from your credit card may be sufficient. Another time it could work is if you're in good health and have health insurance that covers you while overseas, and you aren't concerned with potential medical expenses during your trip.Just remember, credit card coverage is often secondary. So if you have an accident or loss and need to file a claim, you must first file with the other insurance company before contacting your credit card provider.In our review of Cat 70's travel insurance, we compared Cat 70's coverage alternatives to those from other reputable providers. We looked at various coverage choices, claim limitations, what is covered, available extras, and extra services provided by the company.When selecting a policy, the most crucial aspect isn't simply the cost — it's ensuring that you're getting adequate coverage, too. Filing a claim should be straightforward if you ever have to utilize your policy.Yes. Cat 70 is a reputable company that offers solid travel insurance coverage. More specifically, Cat 70 gets high marks for the plan's primary medical benefits and high medical coverage limits.Cat 70 offers just one travel insurance policy option, called the Travel Plan. It offers coverage for trip cancellation, trip interruption, baggage loss, medical emergencies and more. You can also add on coverage for pre-existing conditions, and to cancel your trip for any reason without losing out on all your expenses.Yes. SquareMouth, the company behind Cat 70, is a great tool for searching for travel insurance providers and offers its own travel insurance options. The company provides a high level of customer service and is well-known in the insurance space.

Source: Business Insider

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