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Sportsman's Travel Insurance Plan
Jack Atcheson & Sons, Inc. strongly recommends that our clients
purchase some form of travel insurance protection for the trips that we
arrange. For most hunts and vacations, travelers will never need
travel insurance. The reality is that accidents do happen, family
members get sick or injured, etc., and there is no way to predict those
occurrences. In particular, if you are the one that needs it, you
will be very happy that you purchased insurance for your trip. We recommend the following companies:
 As an example, consider Nicole Atcheson's major accident with a cape
buffalo in Zimbabwe in 2004. Nicole was so badly injured by a
wounded buffalo that she had to be medivaced from the remote bush in
Zimbabwe to Johannesburg, South Africa for immediate medical
attention. After five surgeries and a month of recovery, she was
able to fly home with her husband Keith. The bill was over
$50,000. Her Primary insurance carrier covered 90% of the bills.
That left her with $5,000 that she had to pay out of pocket. The travel
insurance that she had purchased before her trip, covered the amount
she was charged. By American standards of medical care, this would be
very cheap. You cannot not be without insurance; as to do so
would be like playing Russian Roulette.
The first thing any traveler should do is to ask your primary medical
insurance carrier what your coverage is, especially when you leave the
United States, and who else in your party is covered. Get all of
the details, exclusions, etc. so you know. Additionally, buy
travel insurance as a supplement.
We have reviewed several insurance policy options for our clients and
we have chosen to partner with Travel Guard International, a
well-known, respected and experienced company that offers high quality,
affordable insurance designed for traveling hunters, anglers,
observers, etc.
Their Sportsman's Travel Insurance Plan covers things such as:
- $200 Sportsman's equipment delay coverage
- Trip Cost/Trip Cancellation
- Trip Cost/Trip Interruption
- License Cost/License Fee refund
- $1,000 trip delay coverage(12-hour delay, $100 per day)
- $25,000 medical expense coverage
- $300,000 emergency evacuation expense
- $2,500 sportsman's equipment and personal effects coverage
There are plans and rates that apply to each trip. These can all
easily be viewed on the Sportsman's Travel Insurance Plan brochure or
website www.sportsmanstravelinsurance.com.
Do you think travel insurance costs too much? Think again!
Sportsman's Travel Insurance Plan coverage on a 7 to 10 day hunting or
fishing adventure for a client between the age of 35 and 59 will cost
approximately $400. If you have just paid $8,000 for a trip,
which is about our average trip sold, this is well worth the
price. It is only 5% of your trip expenditure and this policy
covers almost everything you can imagine. Once you purchase this
particular policy, you will have coverages for such things as trip
cancellation and trip interruption for specified reasons such as
sickness, injury, jury duty; in addition to evacuation, sportsman's
equipment delay, trip delay, medical expense, etc. (per policy
stipulations). Or, if you prefer, just buy the MedEvac policy,
which limits coverage to emergency evacuation and medical
expense. It is less coverage, but it is also less expensive.
When you purchase Sportsman's Travel Insurance Plan within 15 days of making your initial deposit, you receive:
- Protection against cruise line, airline, and tour operator bankruptcy.
- Protection if pre-existing medical conditions force you to cancel or interrupt a trip.
If you have a claim:
- Claims are initiated by simply calling the toll-free number.
- All claims are reviewed by a dedicated claims analyst within 24 hours.
- Claims are approved for payment within 24 hours of final documentation being received.
COMMON RESPONSES TO TRAVEL INSURANCE
QUOTE: "I am going on this trip no matter what happens!"
FACT: Are you willing to lose or bet the cost of the trip if a medical
emergency, a snowstorm, or another unpredicted covered event prevents
you from traveling?
QUOTE: "This coverage is too expensive!"
FACT: Travel insurance is a minimal investment compared to the total
cost of your trip. The total price for your coverage will vary
depending on the total cost of your trip. Our average trip is around
$8,000 so you can figure 5%. This is not much considering the big
picture.
QUOTE: "I already have insurance coverage."
FACT: Are you sure? This program provides such things as
emergency medical assistance, evacuation coverage, and a Sportsman's
Hotline to assist your during your trip with a multitude of other
services available that you would not normally expect from an insurance
company?
Most of our trips normally come off without any problems.
However, the bottom line is that accidents and changes in plans can
happen, and we want you to be prepared and insured in case something
does happen. No one can predict the future but looking back on
events, it is always so clear. Weigh the situation yourself and
decide whether you need to buy supplemental trip insurance for you and
your party. We highly recommend it and strongly encourage you to
review your primary coverage and purchase supplemental trip insurance
and very importantly, your outfitter and/or tour operator's deposit
policy. You can review the Sportsman's Travel website for
different types of coverage and rates by clicking on the link
below. Once you have chosen the plan for you, it can be purchased
by credit card through our website or by calling us at 406-782-2382 and
we can enter your information for you using faster software. Your
other option is to call Travel Guard directly at 1-866-877-3241 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. To help them make
arrangements, please tell them you have booked your hunt through Jack
Atcheson & Sons, Inc., ID # 102978. It is also possible
to just fill out an application and mail it in as well but we prefer
the other methods for faster service. A policy and coverage
will be sent to you directly from Travel Guard.
Insurance is underwritten by Arch Insurance Company, licensed in all
states and the District of Columbia, and headquartered in New York.
This is a brief coverage description. See Policy for
restrictions. Conflicts between this document and the policy will
be governed by the Policy. Not all coverages are available in all
states.
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