How our travel insurance went from costing $1,000 to us making nearly $100 (well $82).

How we made money buying travel insurance.

Sounds too good to be true right, but it’s not and I’m going to tell you how we managed it.

When we booked our tickets to Spain our agent gave us a quote for insurance (with Covermore) which was $1,011. She told us that is was quite expensive because we are going away for just over 8 weeks (60 days).

We decided we would try and find some cheaper travel insurance on our own. The first company we tried was Bupa – as we have our private health insurance with them, and we have used them before when we have travelled to New Zealand. Their prices have always been competitive and they are easy to deal with. Their quote was $638 – so a far bit better than our original one from the travel agent.

The next quote we sourced was a recommendation from some people who are regular travellers (1Cover travel insurance). Now this quote came in at $554 – so we thought that was a pretty good deal.

That evening, I was thinking to myself, it seems crazy to pay for travel insurance (which includes medical insurance) while we are away and still be paying for medical and private health insurance in Australia. So that’s when I googled – “can you pause private health insurance” and to my surprise – yes you can.

I immediately rang Bupa and organised to pause our payments for 60 days – which amounts to $636, and then I rang and organised the $554 insurance – so overall we come out $82 in front!!

Now there are a couple of questions to ask here:

1. Q. Why didn’t Bupa (who we have our private health insurance with) inform me of the possibility of pausing my health insurance while I was away when I rang for a travel insurance quote?

A. The answer to this is only a guess, but I assume it’s all about the money. I have to say I’m very disappointed in Bupa and I’m really glad we found cheaper travel insurance elsewhere.

2. Q. Why didn’t my travel agent tell me this either?

A. She didn’t know about the possibility of pausing our private health insurance either. I have since informed her and she will gladly be passing on this information to future clients.

A few things to note:

1. I have only spoken to Bupa insurance about pausing private health insurance. Other companies would have their own policies – but it is worth checking.

2. We have to pause the insurance for a minimum of 60 days – but once again – this is Bupa’s policy.

3. Obviously, the health funds don’t want us knowing about this, as our agent wasn’t aware of this possibility either.

I really hope you found this helpful and if you or anyone you know is travelling anytime soon and you have private health insurance, then please ring your provider and you too may save some money.