Kartik Jain, head, marketing and e-commerce, ICICI Lombard spoke with Abhay Rao of the Financial Express about what travel insurance entails, what students who are pursuing education abroad need to know and why an insurance of this type is more a necessity than an option. Excerpts:

•Broadly speaking what does travel insurance cover? What areas amongst these do you see the maximum claims coming in for?

Overseas travel insurance covers unexpected medical expenses when travellers are overseas. The core offer is the coverage of medical expenses. There are several non-medical covers like: Checked baggage loss or delay, financial emergency money (given to the insured when abroad when there is loss of personal belongings), third party liability, etc. There has been a considerable increase in the number of people opting for travel insurance due to the following reasons.

There is a growing awareness about travel insurance. Consumers’ apprehension about unforeseen medical expenses during overseas travel. Apart from medical insurance, travel insurance covers many other unforeseen eventualities. Travel insurance is a mandatory requirement for granting a visa to Schengen countries.

•What about students who need travel insurance, when pursuing education abroad?

For students who wish to pursue studies abroad, taking an insurance policy abroad for studies becomes more of a necessity than a choice. The reasons, which make insurance a necessity for students going abroad are plenty. Universities make it mandatory for students to have medical coverage. Buying an insurance policy in India helps students seek a waiver from the compulsory university insurance, resulting in substantial saving. Student Medical Insurance in India costs 1/3rd of the amount he/she will have to pay in the US. The waiver form can be downloaded from the university website and sent to the appropriate person indicated.

In addition to the medical cover specified by the University, the ICICI Lombard student medical plan covers a host of non-medical benefits like passport loss, bail bond, two-way compassionate visit. The policy starts in India and ends here. The payment is done in Indian currency, which leads to saving foreign exchange.

In addition to the medical cover, it is important for students to have, as a part of the policy or can be purchased separately as well, certain non-medical covers. Some of these covers are:

•Personal liability: This benefit will compensate the student in the event where the student becomes legally liable to a third party under statutory liability provisions in private law (law pertaining to the place where the event has occurred.)

•Bail Bond: If the student is arrested or detained by the police/judicial authorities while abroad, and if the offence for which he is arrested or detained is bailable, then the amount up to the maximum specified in the policy, will be provided to the appropriate authority/court as the bail amount towards the arrest or detention.

•Study Interruption: As compensation paid to the student in the event of study interruption, in the event of hospitalisation of the student for more than one consecutive month from either an injury or sickness, or in case of death of any one immediate family member or the sponsor during the entire policy period, which leads the insured to discontinue his/her studies for the remaining part of the current school semester for which fees have been paid.

•Sponsor Protection: In the event of injury to the student’s sponsor, resulting in death in any form, the insurance company should reimburse the tuition fee incurred for the remaining period of this education.

•What common mistakes do people make while going in for travel insurance? What should one keep in mind while taking the policy?

An individual should ensure that insurance is bought from a registered insurance company with a good brand name and track record. Before buying the policy, the customer should ask for all the documentation regarding the insurance policy in a clear and transparent manner. Before buying the policy it is advisable for the customer to conduct a comparative analysis about all the companies and their offerings, like their online services, claims process, toll free number, payment options, network of hospitals, etc. The customer should buy the policy, which suits his requirements and needs. Before leaving the country, one should save the policy number and the company’s toll free number as well.

•What are the plans that ICICI Lombard has?

We have multiple plans. The Bronze plan is cost-effective for people travelling to neighbouring countries. It includes a basic medical cover, loss of passport, loss/delay of checked baggage and personal liability. The Silver plan offers basic medical cover and dental treatment. The Gold plan has medical and dental treatment and eight non-medical covers like loss of passport, loss/delay of checked baggage, personal accident, personal liability, financial emergency as well as hijack distress allowance. The Platinum plan includes all the benefits of the Gold plan along with additional benefits like trip cancellation/delay and interruption cover as an add on. The Platinum plan also includes home insurance (for the building and contents of the house) during the person’s absence. We also have the Salt and Pepper plan, which is for the senior citizens up to the age of 85 years.

We have allied with United Health Group (UHG), one of the largest health care companies in the US. This tie-up gives all our insured students access to United Healthcare’s network of hospitals and physicians. All our customers travelling to the US receive a co-branded card from ICICI Lombard and UHG as a part of the policy. This card gives them access to specified acute care hospitals. This is the first such initiative by an Indian insurance company to facilitate easy access of hospital network for Indian travellers.

•What exactly does the “we do not cover pre-existing conditions” clause mean? Does this mean if a diabetic patient or asthmatic patient suffered from these problems while they are on vacation and are under travel insurance cover, they will not be covered for the same?

On the contrary, ICICI Lombard does cover pre existing diseases if declared by the customer and accepted by the underwriter for all age groups. The coverage of pre existing illnesses provides a greater comprehensive cover to the customer. Pre existing disease is covered only under life threatening situations. This is important especially for senior citizens. Our policy covers life threatening emergency medical conditions even if they have occurred due to pre-existing reasons. Most other policies don’t cover this.

•In case of an emergency while traveling, what should people do?

In case of claims and emergency, the insured should call on our 24X7 toll free helpline by dialing ‘1800 209 8888’ as soon as he is admitted or undergoing the treatment. This will help us to guide the insured. Our customer care executive will interact with the medical provider and help the customer get the best of services with convenience.

In case of an emergency or accident while overseas, the insured must immediately contact the help line of ICICI Lombard, stating the necessary details. The phone numbers of the help line are as follows: In the US & Canada – +1 866 625 8529 (toll free). From the rest of the World – +91 11 5189 8868 (call back facility).

For medical expenses, after the customer calls the toll-free number, we contact the hospitals and arrange for a cashless medical treatment. For non-medical covers, the document requirement varies according to the incident but is kept to a basic minimum to help identify that the incident has taken place – these are specified in the claim document that the insured has to fill in.

•What makes your travel insurance product better than the others in the market? What differentiates you, product and services wise?

We have been in the travel insurance business since the last five years. It is one of the first general insurance products offered through a web-based platform where customers can buy the policy online. We also give an option to our customers to buy our policies seamlessly through our partner websites. All the policies are issued online only. New products have been introduced and the existing plans have undergone changes over these years, according to the needs of the customer.

One of the recent changes in the last financial year was the reduction of premium in the age band 61-70. To provide better coverage to our customers, we have included a terrorism cover as well in our travel insurance as a part of the personal accident cover. For the travel period of the customer, when the customer is away from his home, we have introduced home insurance as a bundled product with the travel insurance. We have also introduced the South East Asia Plan (SEA).