Insurancewith the specialist travel insurance provider for people with pre-existing medical conditions comments about the increase in IPT on travel insurance to 20%.
The increase in IPT on travel insurance in the 2010 Budget from 17.5% to 20% is pushing up the cost of holidays even more from 4/01/11. After the problems earlier this year with volcanic ash, the value of a good travel insurance policy which covers your needs exactly has become more apparent.
The increase to 20% on the IPT for travel insurance 4/1/11 does put a rather sizable amount onto your travel insurance premium, but by making sure you are only buying cover for your needs should help you reduce the premium, for example £10 million cover for medical expenses is probably more than enough, paying extra for £10 million cover is probably unnecessary. You should also check your household policy and see if your baggage is covered under that, if so you can exclude baggage cover which would also reduce your premium. One place where you shouldn’t cut corners is cover for your pre-existing medical condition, and using a travel insurance provider who specialises in your pre-existing medical condition, like Insurancewith will save you money in the long run.
However, if you have free travel insurance with your Bank or Credit Card Company, make sure you do advise them of any pre-existing medical condition you may have, failure to do this will invalidate your cover. You must make sure that on your policy your travel insurance provider notes your exact condition and medication, do not let them put something similar because “they can’t find your condition on their system”, as should you need to make a claim on the policy in connection to your condition you may well find that you have no cover. This would also apply to any ongoing annual travel insurance policy you renew year on year.
Another tax payable when you travel is Air Passenger Duty (APD). At present the APD for a family of four holidaying in the USA would be £200, if they travelled in economy class, it was announced in the 2010 Budget that there would be a reform of the APD, however it was not made clear whether or not this would result in an increase or decrease in tax the individual passenger would have to pay. What is clear though is that your holiday will be helping the Government to claw back some of their deficit, even more so from January 2011.
