Let’s Talk Travel Insurance For Bali: Everything You Need To Know

FINNS Holidays is all about holidays in Bali, and tens of thousands of people visit Bali every year without a single issue. In fact, many people believe that this island paradise is one of the safest holiday destinations they’ve ever been to.

However, we’d be remiss in our duties to you if we didn’t talk about travel insurance for Bali at some point, because the truth is that no matter how much planning and effort goes into your Bali trip, things can go wrong, and if they do, you can end up left seriously out of pocket if you don’t have Bali travel insurance.

One of the biggest issues facing tourists in Bali if they don’t have travel insurance is the cost of medical treatment in an emergency. Sure, if it’s just a simple case of Bali Belly, you can probably pay out of pocket for a doctor’s visit and a few tablets or an IV.

But if it’s anything more serious, medical expenses can soon rack up, and we’ve seen far too many unprepared travellers in Bali throwing themselves on the mercy of GoFundMe as their own personal finances simply can’t keep up with their medical bills.

So, before you compare travel insurance options for your travel plans, let’s take a look at travel insurance through the eyes of our experienced holiday consultants.

TL;DR

• FINNS Holidays strongly recommends that you take out travel insurance for Bali. It’s an unfortunate truth that even the best of plans can go wrong when you have an accident or fall ill, or suffer some other unforeseen misfortune.
• While medical care in Bali can be very good (though it’s not quite at the standards of Australia), without medical cover, the cost of medical treatment can run into tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• It’s always best when looking at travel insurance for Bali to think about everything you want to include before you commit to a contract. Are you going scuba diving? Do you want cancellation cover? Etc. These will impact on your premiums as well as your overall peace of mind on your holiday.

The Lowdown: Why Travel Insurance Is Not An Option But A Necessity

We must stress that FINNS Holidays is not a travel insurance broker or vendor. We don’t have any direct financial interests in whether or not you have travel insurance for Bali holidays.

However, we are in the business of trying to take care of our customers, whether it’s their first trip or a single trip just to Bali or a multi-destination trip including Bali.

And we simply can’t imagine ever not recommending travel insurance; travelling uninsured is nearly as reckless as trying to travel without a valid passport.

Yes, we know that insurance is an expense that everyone resents, because in the majority of cases, you don’t need to use it. So, it feels like money wasted.

But would it surprise you to learn that a major Australian insurer estimates that people with overseas travel insurance claim on around 10% of all policies?

A good policy covers:

• Medical treatment
• Medical evacuation (including an air ambulance etc.)
• Scooter accidents (as long as you are road legal)
• Any adventure activities you intend to undertake in Bali
• Lost passports or other documentation
• Lost or stolen property during travel
• Flight delays
• Trip cancellation
• And more

And as travellers often learn too late, you can’t rely on the Australian government or your insurer back home to help you out in an emergency in Bali.

If you don’t have a travel insurance policy specifically for Bali, then you risk your holiday costing far more than you might have expected before you began.

FINNS Holidays thinks travel insurance is essential for peace of mind and that the benefits of having that coverage are invaluable.

Before We Start: Tips For Choosing The Right Travel Insurance For Bali And For You

As we’ve already said, we don’t sell travel insurance, and we do recommend that you compare travel insurance policies carefully before you buy travel insurance for Bali. You can find many a policy online, so it’s easy to compare.

But we’ve got some basic tips that can help you evaluate your travel insurance based on your travel plans, to ensure you get the right coverage for you.

• Your budget matters – the cheapest Bali travel insurance cover is almost always the worst cover. Look out for the fine print where you discover that there are low sub limits on every type of coverage or that you have to pay an excess so high that you won’t be able to afford to do so. That’s important because your travel insurance won’t pay out at all until you pay the excess. So, work out how much you can reasonably spend without breaking the bank.
• You need to be clear about the length of your trip to Bali and what you’re going to be doing – each travel insurance policy comes with a set of fixed benefits. You need to let them know what you’re doing that isn’t covered by those benefits, so that you can get extra cover. You should evaluate all the benefits carefully and ensure you’ve been completely open about your plans to get the best cover.
• You need to review the eligibility criteria carefully and share your pre-existing medical conditions with the insurer – one thing, in particular, to look out for here is the “country of residency” requirement. If you live in Australia and use an Australian insurer, that’s not going to be a problem, but if you live elsewhere, you may be denied coverage, and one thing we can tell you for certain is that no standard travel insurance policy is going to provide coverage for Bali if you live in Bali. Then you need health insurance instead.
• You need to check the sub limits – these are clauses under each benefit that show what the maximum payout in a specific circumstance might be. If you buy cheap travel insurance, you may find these are far too low for them to be useful to you. One thing you really want to check is the sub limits on valuable items; don’t wait until your laptop gets lost to find they only pay $200 towards a new one.
• You need to check the fine print and clarify – the fine print tells you exactly what the policy covers and what you have to do to make a claim, so if you don’t understand any of it, get the insurer to explain it until you do. Don’t sign up for cover you don’t understand.
• Multi-trip or single trip? If you’re planning more than one trip overseas this year, you may find it useful to take a broader plan that covers multiple destinations.

Only agree to the terms of your travel insurance for Bali and pay for it, when you are convinced you’ve got the right deal for your holiday.

Overseas Medical Cover (And An Important Note On Pre-Existing Medical Conditions)

We’ve seen people on Facebook playing down the costs of medical care here in Bali.

And sure, a doctor’s visit and an IV for Bali Belly might only run you a couple of hundred bucks. But Blake Gibb learned the hard way that if you don’t have medical cover, you’re on the hook for your own medical expenses.

His family was left to raise a huge amount of money ( $370,000 ) when he had an accident in the Nusa Islands. Now, while most of us probably have a couple of hundred bucks in our emergency funds for our holidays, it’s going to be the rare tourist who can cover nearly four hundred thousand dollars out of pocket when something goes wrong.

A good policy covers a range of health-related problems from food poisoning to Hepatitis A to scooter riding accidents. However, you should be aware of a couple of things with respect to this:

1. You must be road legal (or the driver must be) if you want your travel insurance to pay out for a scooter accident. Scooter accidents are the most common cause of death (other than natural causes) in Bali, and they’re a very common cause of injury. If you do not have a driver’s license WITH a motorcycle endorsement AND an international driver’s permit, your insurance is invalid if you drive here. You should also know that the law requires you to drive sober and with a crash helmet. If you don’t obey this law, your insurance won’t pay out. We strongly recommend that you take taxis rather than bikes wherever possible; it’s better not to use your travel insurance policy than to be covered for a completely avoidable injury.
2. You must declare all your pre-existing medical conditions. If you don’t do so, you will find that your conditions are not covered and your travel insurance may not be valid at all. If you do want your conditions covered, you will probably have to pay extra. But even if you don’t want the extra cover, you must explain them to the insurer.

Death And Disability Coverage

One thing that many travellers don’t know is that travel insurance can provide you with coverage for permanent disability. We pray that this never happens to any of our readers, but it can make a huge difference to the future quality of your life if you have this kind of cover.

We should also note that while it might not seem useful to have travel insurance should you pass away on a trip, it can cost up to $20,000 to transport a body home for burial! That’s because being flown home requires a special flight and specific hygiene precautions and handling at either end and in the air.

It’s probably going to be distressing enough for your relatives to deal with your loss, without having to find that kind of money to repatriate your remains.

Why Search And Rescue Coverage Makes Sense For Bali Travel Insurance

One thing everyone should have as part of their Bali travel insurance is Search and Rescue (SAR) coverage.

If you need an air ambulance service because you’ve been swept out to sea by the tide, or fallen down the side of a volcano, or got into a scooter accident in thick traffic, this service can save your life.

One of the big challenges Indonesia faces as a developing nation is that this archipelago is widely spread out and providing local medical care isn’t always possible.

The Search and Rescue provision (which usually costs a little extra) means you can rely on your Bali travel insurance, wherever you go on the island, even offshore in the Nusa Islands or on Lombok.

Travel Insurance For Before You Leave

We always recommend to our guests that they take out their travel insurance for Bali the day that they book their flights and their hotels.

Why? Well, because things can go wrong even before you fly to Bali. What happens if you get sick the day before you visit Bali or a relative passes away and you have to help out? In many cases, your flights, hotels, etc. can’t be changed without either a fee or a brand new (and expensive) booking.

If you have travel insurance with trip cancellation cover, then this isn’t an issue; the insurer covers those costs, and you don’t need to.

We should also note that nearly every standard travel insurance policy has a clause for delayed flights. If you end up stuck at an airport waiting around, this clause will pay for meals and some cash compensation after a few hours, and if you’re waiting for long enough or overnight, it will pay for hotels and transportation too.

This may also be available from the airline, but in our experience, airlines try to avoid paying out under their obligations if they can. Your insurance company can duke it out with them to get their money back at a later date, without you having to worry about it.

Adventure Sports, Scooter Riding, And Other Things To Consider For A Travel Insurance Policy

Because most people’s holidays to Bali tend to be resort-style holidays where nobody strays far from their sun lounger, adventurous activities don’t tend to be included in a standard travel insurance policy.

So, if you want to take a few risks on your trip, you’ll need to arrange travel insurance cover for all or some of the following before you enter Indonesia:

• Hiking, surfing, bungee jumping, snorkelling, diving, etc. if it’s something that involves more risk than kicking back by the pool, it’s probably not covered as standard. The good news is that lots of people want travel insurance cover for these activities and it’s very easy for your travel insurance provider to give you a quote for premiums for these activities. And if you are going to do these things, remember the premiums make sense; you are much more likely to incur medical expenses doing these things than sitting in a resort.
• ATV and quad bikes – if you thought the other activities were a bit dangerous, these are two of the most dangerous leisure pastimes in Bali. They are a lot of fun, and we understand their appeal, but if you go on these off-roaders, you must have insurance. It’s not just for your medical expenses either; you want coverage in case you hurt somebody else or damage someone else’s property – that’s personal liability cover, and it’s super important
• Scooter and motorbike coverage – some policies do include this in the standard for travel insurance for Bali, and others do not. If you intend to go on a bike as a rider or a passenger, you need this insurance. The roads in Bali are poorly maintained, and driving standards are erratic at best. That means accidents happen all the time. However, if the person driving the bike isn’t legally qualified to do so, then your travel insurance is worthless.
• Rental car coverage – most people never drive in Bali and won’t care at all about this, but if you really do insist on driving your own car rather than hiring a car with a driver (which is about the same cost), then you need your travel insurance to cover rental car excess. Because accidents happen to cars too, and there’s no doubt that the local rental companies provide insurance with an obscene excess that you have to pay if you’re not insured elsewhere for it.

Lost Passports, Belongings, And Personal Liability Coverage

If you lose your passports, then you’re going to have to get to your embassy or consulate and get a replacement. This is expensive, particularly as you will need your travel documents in a rush.

Travel insurance can’t take away the time you’ll have to sink into resolving this issue, but it will ensure your personal finance situation doesn’t suffer while you do. It will usually cover transportation, hotel costs and the costs of replacing the paperwork.

Personal belongings are often included and insured against loss, theft or delay (in the case your airline fails to deliver the bags at the same time as you).

However, you should check sublimits very carefully; otherwise, you may find that your insurance is only on the hook for $200 when you lose your expensive jewellery. If the sublimits are too low, they can usually be increased for an additional fee.

In our experience, you may need to provide receipts for any expensive items you want to insure both before your policy is activated and for any replacements.

Personal liability insurance is helpful not just for ATVs; it can’t help with criminal cases, but if you are sued for any accidental damages to others or their property, it will cover your legal costs and potentially any settlement you have to make.

Consider Natural Disasters And Where To Get Useful Information In Bali

Natural disasters don’t generally ruin people’s holidays in Bali because they require medical treatment.

Instead, what happens is that volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the like may impact the availability of flights.

This can leave you stuck in Bali for a bit longer than you’d expected; travel insurance will normally cover the costs associated with these delays, such as hotel fees, meal costs, etc.

And that means you’re essentially getting an extended holiday, which is awesome, rather than the stress of a huge additional unexpected expense.

The reason Bali is prone to natural disasters is that it’s in the Ring of Fire (along with the rest of Indonesia), which is a scene of major geographic activity.

We strongly recommend that while you’re here that you keep an eye on local alerts and also check out the Australian government’s SmartTraveller too.

Some Reputable Travel Insurance Providers For Bali

FINNS Holidays does not currently sell travel insurance, which means that we don’t offer or guarantee any insurers’ offerings, but we can recommend the following insurers based on their reputation.

• Allianz
• Travel Insurance Direct
• Fast Cover
• Medibank

We strongly recommend that you review all the documents and quotes they provide carefully and that you supply them with the fullest picture of your situation, including pre-existing medical conditions and activities you intend to undertake, in order to get the best coverage.

A Final Checklist After You Book Your Flights

And to help you out with making sure you’ve got everything done for your Bali holiday, here are some things to consider before you enter Indonesia:

• Make sure to research your travel insurance and then sign up for a policy prior to arriving in Bali
• Make certain you have declared all your activities and conditions to your insurance provider
• Install their app on your smartphone and make sure to register and enable the app before you fly
• Also make a hard copy of the policy and keep it in your luggage, and keep the policy number and their helpline number in your phone and in your purse/wallet
• Make sure that you have arranged a visa or meet the criteria for a visa on arrival
• Make sure your passport will be valid for 6 months from the date of your arrival in Indonesia and that it’s in pristine condition
• Get any vaccinations recommended by your health care provider before you come
• Remember to only drink bottled water in Bali as tap water can make you sick
• Put together a first aid kit with your regular medication and pack it (make sure to bring any prescriptions with you – Indonesia takes this very seriously)
• Finally, make sure you know how to make a claim on your policy if you need to make one

Safe travels!

Final Thoughts On Bali Travel Insurance Cover

We know, nobody likes buying insurance. No matter what’s covered, or how many add-ons you get for a reasonable price and the good medical care that’s available, etc., if you don’t claim, it feels like a waste of money.

But if your flight is delayed by volcanic eruptions, you get bitten by a dog and need rabies vaccinations, need to fly back to the UK in an air ambulance, hurt yourself white water rafting or bungee jumping, get lost in remote areas, etc., then you will be so glad that you had it.

Your health in Bali depends on your ability to pay, and because medical expenses can add up so fast, travel insurance for Bali really is essential.

As we’ve said throughout this article, FINNS Holidays isn’t selling travel insurance; we just want you to have a great time and enjoy any adventurous activities you have planned in Bali with peace of mind, knowing that you’re covered if things should go wrong.