Travel insurance might have seemed the best option to avoid getting into serious trouble while travelling or globe-trotting. However, how would you feel if the travel insurance itself was a ripoff in the first place? Don’t raise your eyebrows, because this is exactly the case with most over-65 individuals, who find the insurance premiums doubling up or shooting through the roof, just because they happen to be on the wrong side of 65.

Many insurance companies have defended the price jump, justifying that with over-65 travellers the chance of an insurance claim is thrice than young tourists, with the claim value again being thrice the normal claim rates.

Most of the elderly lot will take this into their stride and travel anyway, while the rest simply drop their plan to travel. Many often risk the dangers of travelling without buying travel insurance. But do you really have to be duped like this? Not really. Check out the listed tips to avoid being the latest victim of travel insurance ripoffs that have become so commonplace today:

• You Need to Choose Your Insurance Very Carefully – Shop around for a travel insurance deal. Take into account at least 10 insurance agencies before you settle for one, because most would not pay for existing ailments and have other adverse conditions. Try to find the one that costs the least with the maximum benefits.
• Specialists or Not? – Try to use a specialist insurance agency that has had a client base of over-65 travellers, but do not stick to them as a commandment. In fact, at times, using your neighbourhood bank or travel insurance agency might land you a better deal than specialists who care only for policies and deadlines.
• The Double-Agent – Don’t trust your agent blindly. Most agents try to sell off insurance policies that are of no use to you, except being about 90% more expensive than what other insurance policies would have cost.
• The Fine Print – Read the fine-print, (with a magnifying glass if so needed) in thorough detail. A lot of conditions, claim considerations, etc. are mentioned in fine print deliberately for you to miss them. Don’t give them the satisfaction and pleasure by doing so!

If you have these points in place, even the best travel insurance agent cannot get you to buy a useless policy, even if you are in desperate need of one!

The general notion is that older people tend to be weak and immobile, who need help to walk down the pavement to the next block. This notion might change with the World Masters Games that opened in Sydney on 12th October 2009. Involving about 28,000 athletes, mostly older people (some of whom have even crossed the 90-mark!), the grand event is all set to break the conventional notions of old age!

One of the prime examples of this is Ruth Frith, a 100-year old great-grandmother, who is also the oldest competitor in the event. Even at this age, Ruth managed a 4.07m in shot-put for the 100-104 aged category, and emerged with a gold medal. And to top it all, she also had some riveting advice for the younger generation – “Don’t eat vegetables, because I never eat vegetables. I know people that like diets that will scream at me, (but) don’t eat vegetables. I never have”!

Oleg Kotelko, another star at the event, won the shot-put and 100-meter finals in her category, leaving a world record in shot putting with a 5.6 meter throw in her wake. At just 90, she quipped most exuberantly, “There was no one else my age, but it felt really good and I’m quite pleased. I also beat an 80-year-old,”

But what has also helped mark this event as a stand-out is the fact that most athletes here participate for the sake of the thrill in finding new friends and exploring the host city, rather than fighting it out for prizes. And with thousands more travelling to the Australian city, the game also makes the cut as a great reason for elderly travel.

Besides all these, older people, especially, 80 and 90 year-olds competing in steeple-chases and shot-putting is no mean deal, even if the medals and competition are all secondary to the camaraderie they share with each other!