Just heard on radio today that
all Australian Travel Insurances had now added a new clause to their policies
They will not pay anything that is associated to H1N1 or Swine flu virus, including but not limited to diagnosis, treatment, observation, hospital stays, associated quarantine costs, evacuation, prescription, travel plans disrupted as a result of H1N1 whether direct or indirect.
So there you have it, one more reason to cancel travel plans, you could be stuck with a huge debt as no insurance in Australia will cover it.
As this was only announced today, the radio commentator believes that in the coming months, many travel plans will be canceled as no one would want to bear that kind of costs
As this starts trickling down, you will see the travel industry suffer even more.
basically, insurance companies even thinks it is bad business to cover this kind of risk. They would rather cover floods in Queensland than this tells me that this is a very big risk factor for insurance companies to stop their coverage on this.
Japan has been very sensitive to this and their government has urged their citizens not to travel at all. And the recent outbreak in cruise ship had got them scared so much they have canceled many of their group tours.
This is only the beginning.