As stated, WAS Travel Insurance works a little differently to most travel insurers. Its comprehensive policy is known as the ‘Discovery Plan’, which is available to those aged up to 99 years old and includes unlimited medical in its base cover.

For families travelling together, it’s important to note that children can be added to the policy at a lower rate, but they are not included within a parent/guardians policy as is the industry norm.

Once you start to add to the base cover, WAS Travel Insurance becomes even more complex, with only a handful of medical outcomes covered as standard and far more classified as optional.

For example, credit card fraud is not covered as a standard inclusion; instead, unauthorised use of credit cards can be covered as part of luggage and personal effects, should the policyholder choose to take out this optional extra. Personal liability is not covered automatically, but needs to be selected for coverage up to $2.5 million.

Any trip cancellations are only covered up to the amount chosen by the customer (ranging from $1,000 to $40,000 per customer) and travel delays are covered as optional extras, up to $2,000 per customer. Delays are reimbursed at a rate of $50 per six hours, which is below the industry standard of $200 for every six hours, however no excess applies to these claims. (For missed flight connections, these are only covered should the policyholder choose to add travel interruption cover to their plan.

Rental vehicle excess is also an optional add-on, with the maximum cover of $6,000 for those looking to hire a car during their holiday. In many policies this is covered as standard and does not require the traveller to add it as an optional extra.

Lost Luggage

When it comes to lost luggage, those with WAS Discovery Travel Insurance will need to choose it as an add-on as they are not automatically covered. The lowest option is $1000, while the highest is $10,000 (per traveller).

WAS will only cover an individual item to a limit of $1,000.

Medical

WAS Travel Insurance include unlimited medical cover within its comprehensive policy, which extends to additional expenses such as transportation to a medical facility or, in the necessary event, back to Australia.

There is also cover for a medical companion to stay with you during treatment and/or necessary medical-related travel, even if they themselves are not listed on your policy.

Certain pre-existing conditions are also covered if they meet the necessary criteria. The 44 automatically covered conditions include anxiety and depression, diabetes, sleep apnoea and many more.

Other conditions outside of the pre-existing conditions list will not be covered by WAS Travel Insurance.

Covid-19 is included in the unlimited medical cover, which is explained in further depth below.

Is Dental Cover Included?

Dental cover is included in the WAS Travel Insurance Discovery Plan, but not under the unlimited medical expenses. Instead, there is up to $2,000 covered for emergency dental treatment, which is more generous than most insurance policies, which generally top put at $1,000.