Buying Travel Insurance

By Amy E. Feldman

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - This is the height of summer vacation season, but the plane crash in San Francisco is making people more nervous than ever about airline travel, and many are scurrying to buy travel insurance.

You need to know that there are several different types of travel, health and life insurance and, like all contracts, the devil is in the details.

Travel medical insurance covers you in case you get sick or injured while on vacation which you want to consider if you are travelling out of network or overseas. This type of policy can cover the cost of your treatment. But read the policy carefully. Because it might not cover what they consider dangerous activities - or harm related to the use of alcohol or drug use. So, if your vacation involves pounding down some drinks, this won't cover you.

Ask questions about what is and what isn't covered.

As for flight life insurance, when you consider that there are usually about 800 people killed in airline crashes a year, very few of those in commercial aircrafts in the US, but about 1.2 million car crash fatalities every year, you might be better off bumping up your car insurance because the trip to the airport is much more dangerous than getting on the flight.