Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1077, Buying Travel Insurance.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1077.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
© BF-WATCH TV 2021 by going to the ESL podcast store.
On this episode we're going to hear a dialogue between Josette and Tajin about buying insurance before you take a trip.
Let's get started.
You could get travel insurance.
Doing that would make you feel more secure, wouldn't it?
Maybe.
What types of coverage are available?
You could get insurance to cover mishaps on the trip, such as cancelled flights or missed connections and having your luggage lost, stolen or damaged.
It'll even cover your losses if your trip is cancelled.
I guess that would help, but I'm more nervous about something happening to me while I'm in another country.
In that case you can get medical insurance to cover the costs of medical emergencies, even if you have to be medically evacuated in the event of serious injuries or illness.
And if things go terribly wrong...
There's even insurance for if you become disabled or if there's an accidental death.
They'll pay for repatriation of your remains or overseas funeral services.
Disabilities and death?
Is that supposed to put my mind at ease?
The whole point is to make you less worried about bad things happening while you travel.
Right, and right now the only insurance that seems to be foolproof is staying put.
Our dialogue in this episode is about travel insurance.
Insurance I-N-S-U-R-A-N-C-E is an agreement that you sign with some company called an insurance company, of course in which you give the company some money And if something bad happens to you in the future, the company will pay for whatever bad happens to you.
So for example, if you buy car insurance, you give the insurance company money every year.
And if you have an accident, the insurance company will pay for most or all of the repairs that need to be done to your car.
Why would the insurance company do this?
Well, because most people don't have accidents.
And so you're paying the insurance company money, and usually you won't get any of that money back.
But if you do have an accident, well, then the insurance company will pay for it.
Insurance companies need lots of different people to buy insurance from them so that they can make money, since only a small percentage of people will actually need the insurance.
Only a small percentage of people will actually get money back from their insurance policy, their insurance agreement.
Our dialogue then begins with Josette saying I admit it, I'm a nervous traveler myself and I don't like traveling internationally.
Tajin says you could get travel insurance.
Travel insurance is a special kind of insurance that will pay for any problems you might have while you are traveling.
Tajin says that doing that that is, buying travel insurance would make you feel more secure, wouldn't it?
To feel secure.
S-E-C-U-R-E means to feel safe, to feel like you're not in danger, that nothing bad will happen to you.
Josette says maybe, meaning, well, maybe it will make me feel secure.
She then asks, what types of coverage are available?
Coverage C-O-V-E-R-A-G-E refers to the kinds of things that the insurance will pay for, the kinds of protection we might say that are provided by the insurance policy or agreement.
Tajin replies you could get insurance to cover mishaps on the trip, such as canceled flights or missed connections and having your luggage lost, stolen or damaged.
Mishaps, M-I-S-H-A-P-S, are accidents... something negative or unfortunate that happens that usually you can't avoid.
A mishap is usually something not too serious that has happened.
If someone dies, we probably wouldn't call that a mishap.
But if, for example, you fall on the ground and are not hurt too seriously, that might be considered a mishap.
It's an unlucky accident.
Then we get a list of examples of mishaps.
One would be cancelled flights, meaning the airline, the company that owns all of the airplanes decides that it's not going to fly your plane to the place where you want to go.
Missed connections refers to when you are flying from one place to another and but have to go to a third place before you arrive at your final destination.
So, for example, if you are flying from Los Angeles California, to New York City, you might have to first fly to Chicago and then get on another plane that flies you to New York.
That second flight, that second plane, would be your connection.
We would say you have to make a connection in Chicago.
A missed connection would be a situation where your first plane arrives too late and you no longer are able to get onto the second plane.
Losing your luggage is also a possible mishap that travel insurance might pay for.
Luggage refers to your baggage, the suitcases that you bring with you, that have your clothes and other items in them.
Tajin says that travel insurance even covers your losses if your trip is canceled.
Your losses refers to the amount of money that you lose when something bad or unfortunate happens.
If your flight is canceled, if the airline is not going to fly the plane as it said it would, to your destination, to the place where you want to go, you might lose money on a hotel room that you already paid for and can't get your money back on.
Josette says, I guess that would help, but I'm more nervous about something happening to me while I'm in another country.
Tajin says in that case, you can get medical insurance to cover the costs of medical emergencies.
Medical insurance refers to insurance that pays for when you have an accident or when you're sick.
Medical emergencies would be things like that require immediate attention, serious situations related to your health.
If you break your leg while skiing, for example, which happened to my brother-in-law not too long ago, that would be a medical emergency.
He was in another country and he had to go to the hospital.
Someone has to pay for that, and if he had medical insurance, the insurance company would probably pay for most of that, as indeed it did.
Sometimes you need to leave the country and be brought back to your own country.
This would be a case of a medical evacuation.
The verb is to evacuate.
E-V-A-C-U-A-T-E To evacuate someone means to move them from a dangerous place to a safer place.
In this case, it may not be that the place where you are is dangerous.
It may be instead, that the place where you are doesn't have the kind of medical services you need, so that you have to be taken to another hospital in another country.
Josette says, oh, you're right.
I could get really sick or injured.
Tajin says and if things go terribly wrong, there's even insurance for if you become disabled or if there's an accidental death.
If something goes terribly wrong, it goes very wrong.
Something very bad happens.
What could happen?
Well, you could become disabled.
Or To be disabled D-I-S-A-B-L-E-D means that you have something bad happen to your body so that you can no longer work or perhaps even walk.
That would be a case of being disabled or becoming disabled.
An accidental death would be when you die not because someone murdered you or killed you like your wife, but because there was some sort of accident.
Something unexpected happens.
Tajin says that the insurance companies will pay for repatriation of your remains or the Overseas funeral services.
Repatriation, R-E-P-A-T-R-I-A-T-I-O-N, is when something is brought back to the country from which it originated, usually a person, or in this case, your dead body.
Your remains, R-E-M-A-I-N-S, refer to what's left of your body.
Sometimes, nowadays, people have their body cremated, that is, burned.
So your remains would be what remains after they burn your body, which would be your ashes, or your remains could be your actual physical body, with your head and your arms and your legs and so forth.
The insurance companies.
If you have travel insurance, could pay for repatriation of your remains or overseas funeral services.
Overseas refers to in another country.
Funeral, F-U-N-E-R-A-L, is some sort of ceremony or service that takes place when a person dies.
Usually it involves your friends and family coming together to talk about you or to perform some sort of religious ceremony or participate in a religious ceremony.
Josette says disabilities and death are Tajin.
Remember, was trying to make Josette feel calmer, more secure about traveling, and now he's talking about her dying and being buried, having a funeral.
Josette asks Tajin if what he is telling her is supposed to put her mind at ease.
To put your mind at ease.
E-A-S-E means to make you feel calmer and less worried, to make you feel as though nothing bad is going to happen.
Tajin says the whole point is to make you less worried about bad things happening while you travel.
Josette says right, meaning yes, that's right.
And right now, the only insurance that seems to be foolproof is staying put.
Foolproof, F-O-O-L-P-R-O-O-F, is something that cannot fail, that cannot go wrong.
Something that will work always, that will never cause any problems.
What Josette is saying here is that, instead of buying insurance and traveling, the best way to be safe and secure is simply to stay put.
To stay put is a phrasal verb meaning not to move, not to go anywhere.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I admit it.
I'm a nervous traveler, and I don't like traveling internationally.
You could get travel insurance.
Doing that would make you feel more secure, wouldn't it?
Maybe.
What types of coverage are available?
You could get insurance to cover mishaps on the trip, such as canceled flights or misconnections, and having your luggage lost, stolen or damaged.
It'll even cover your losses if your trip is canceled.
I guess that would help, but I'm more nervous about something happening to me while I'm in another country.
In that case you can get medical insurance to cover the costs of medical emergencies, even if you have to be medically evacuated in the event of serious injuries or illness.
Oh, you're right.
I could get really sick or injured.
And if things go terribly wrong, there's even insurance for if you become disabled or if there's an accidental death.
They'll pay for repatriation of your remains or overseas funeral services.
Disabilities and death?
Is that supposed to put my mind at ease?
The whole point is to make you less worried about bad things happening while you travel.
Right.
And right now, the only insurance that seems to be foolproof is staying put.
Our scriptwriter makes sure nothing goes terribly wrong with our scripts.
That's the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say, of whom I speak.
Thank you, Lucy.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
