?A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.?John Steinbeck
Travel insurance is an insurance policy that covers the policy holder while he/she is travelling. A simple concept no doubt. Yet, before you feel a simple definition is enough to know about this product, do remember, today?s financial world has no concept of simple products anymore. One should take a closer look at this important aspect of travelling, which we all know of, but few really know. After all, we all know how much of a setback, headache and financial stress can losing ones passport, bags or even worse falling sick in a foreign land cause. If you need a reminder, have a look at some of the medical costs one can incur in someplace like the US for that matter (shown in the table). Yes, it really does cost anywhere between three to four times the cost in India.
What it covers?
Travel insurance covers a lot of unforeseen circumstances, which include, risks of accidents, illness (medical expenses), missed flights, trip cancellation and interruption, trip and/or baggage delay, lost baggage, emergency evacuation, hijacking, and expatriating your remains back home if you were to die. It also includes other benefits these days, which include home insurance, protection of your house from burglary while you?re travelling, third person liability, dental treatment, etc. (Benefits and coverage one can get via a travel insurance policy mentioned in the table. Sub-limits, which is one of the points mentioned, means the eligible medical expenses per sickness, disease or accident that may lead to one or more medical expenses and/or hospitalisation expenses that a policy holder has. While trying to compare different policies using the coverage vis-?-vis cost or premium may seem like a tedious task, these days, with the Internet and online insurance comparators like those at apnainsurance.com and insurancepandit.com ones life can be made a lot easier and hassle free.
Susan, an insurance agent, tells us, ?Most companies that give out travel insurance, cover pretty much the same things. This would include, baggage loss or delay, delay in travel, theft. Mediclaim and personal accident cover are also given as a part of a travel insurance policy. However, premium rates between policies are different, and with the new norms one may also be offered discounts by some companies.? Also, while choosing the insurance period, always remember to select it for a few days longer than the trip, so that incase of emergencies or delays, you are still insured nonetheless. In India, the cost pays such a big consideration in people?s decisions that if we allow that to seep into our insurance buying decisions it may prove costly. When you?re spending lakhs on a holiday to risk it all to save a few thousand is foolhardy, and remembering the old English idiom, ?being penny wise and pound foolish? should help put things in a different perspective to those prone to falling into such traps.
Claims and exclusions
While traveling, to make a claim these days is a lot easier. All one needs to do is dial the toll free number of the company that has insured them and inform them of the situation. They will then co-ordinate with either their foreign counterparts or third party administrators in the case of cashless transactions and either ask you to collect the relevant paperwork or obtain it directly. Most companies will then process the claim internally before settling it. The procedure is simple enough and a majority of the time it should work without a glitch.
There are, however some exclusions to the travel insurance policy coverage it gives a policy holder. These include, illness?s caused due to pre-existing conditions, which is a condition you had before you took the policy. However, some policies do allot a certain amount of money to help even for pre-existing conditions if it is a serious and life threatening matter. Other medical expenses arising out of addiction to alcohol and drugs, mental disorder, depression, venereal diseases, sexually transmitted diseases likes HIV or Aids, radiation, sports (unless this is specified before the policy is taken and a higher premium is paid in insurance to cover sports injuries), loss of passport in public places and expenses arising out of loss of valuables, money, tickets, etc, are also excluded from the list.
Common mistakes made
?One of the areas that one must look into while purchasing a policy is who the company?s foreign tie-up is with and how good or reliable is that firm. Most people I feel do not even spare a thought for such things and even more only take travel insurance since it is a visa compulsion for many countries? says Susan. She also goes on to point out that, ?The premium cost also varies depending on the declaration of baggage while travelling, based on which the premium may increase or decrease. This practice is more common abroad than in India right now, and if during travel one has to go through the airline procedures, without which their claim can be refused. This is as we often see people losing their luggage because they forgot to put name tags on the bag and somebody else took it or they were waiting at the wrong conveyor belt and hence the bags were in the lost and found, etc. Therefore, going via airlines procedures are a must before one can make such claims while traveling.?
And, lastly, ?Another common mistake people tend to make is, to mainly avoid paying extra premium. This leads them to not fully disclose the worth of goods being carried in the baggage, and yet so often, if a person losses their baggage, they file for a compensation of a higher, actual amount, which they cannot get, due to nondisclosure,? explains Susan.
Another very commonly tried thing by people, which causes them to lose their claim, as told to us from people within the insurance world, is seen amidst IT professionals who live abroad. Many of them get their parents/relatives to come and visit them. They get the required travel insurance done for the travellers as well. Now what happens is that the relative or parent who is visiting will then undergo some surgical procedure, which they required but was not urgent. Once this is done, they will then try and claim the expenses incurred from the travel insurance company, but of course, more often than not this is in vain. This is as this directly comes under the pre-existing conditions clause, and is hence not eligible for a claim.
Most people know little or nothing about their travel insurance policies and what it covers. While going through tedious documents is painful, when dealing with such high stakes, one should be better informed of what they are signing up for.
The situation in India is particularly bad due to the unawareness levels around. Most people, who take travel insurance, do so because their travel agents have sold them the insurance along with the trip. This is done without a second glance being paid to the document that costs but a few thousand at the most in a trip worth so much more. However, ironically, this document is one of the most important.
Some things to keep in mind
Susan warns, ?Since we do not have the claim ratio of policies within the travel insurance sector, I advice clients to be more careful.?
While collecting data on claims made within the travel insurance sector is rather difficult, sources within the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority?s (Irda) Ombudsman group, which handles complaints and grievances did tell us, ?As far as domestic travelling goes, we do not see complaints as such. However, in overseas travel we do see some complaints but not that many. There are mainly complaints related to the medical aspect. While there are no trends we have spotted here, we have seen that the Reliance Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojana Insurance Policy has some complaints and grievances that have come to us.?
Apart from this, one must remember that this is a highly customised product and there are different policies available for the US and Canada, Asia excluding Japan, South East Asia and the rest of the world. Also, frequent travellers have the option of buying a year round policy, which will cover you for how many ever trips you wish to take abroad.
Lastly, one should remember to keep their insurance company?s toll free emergency world wide or nation-specific numbers separately with them as well as on their email or someplace accessible from anywhere, as in case of a real emergency that is ones best bet.
Travelling was always an adventure, but taking care of a part of the unforeseen misfortunes that can befall a traveller, is only wise, for today we can.
Benefits and comparison factors to look at while choosing your insurance
•Accident and Sickness Medical Expense plus Medical Evacuation
•AD&D – Common Carrier
•Automatic Extension of Policy upto 7 Days
•Compassionate Visit
•Delay of Checked Baggage
•Dental Treatment
•Emergency Cash Advance
•Hijack Distress Allowance
•Home Insurance (Burglary)
•Hospitalisation Daily Allowance
•Loss of Checked Baggage
•Missed Connection
•Passport Loss
•Personal Accident
•Personal Liability
•Personal accident domestic
•Pre existing disease coverage in emergency situations
•Repatriation of Remains
•Sub-limits
•Trip Cancellation & interruption
•Trip Delay
Travel insurance policies available
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
•Travel Assist
•Travel Asia
•Travel Elite
•Travel Companion
•Swades Yatra
United India Insurance
•Suhana Safar Policy
•Marga Bandhu Policy
•Overseas Mediclaim Business and Holiday
•Baggage Policy
HDFC ERGO General Insurance
•International Business Travel Policy
•Annual multi-trip Business Travel Policy
•Domestic Travel Insurance
Reliance General Insurance
•Pravasi Bhartiya Bima
•Reliance Travel Care Insurance -Student & Individual
•Reliance Travel Care Insurance -Asia
ICICI Lombard General Insurance
•Student mediclaim insurance
•Overseas Travel Insurance
•Domestic Travel Insurance
IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance
•Travel Insurance
•Star Health & Allied Insurance Company Limited
•Travel Insurance -Individual
•Travel Insurance -IFamily
•Travel Insurance -IStudent
•Travel Insurance -ICorporate
Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance
•Travel Insurance
The New India Assurance
•Baggage Insurance
•Overseas Mediclaim Policy
National Insurance
•Baggage Policy
•Overseas Mediclaim
Apollo DKV Insurance
•Easy Travel – Individual
•Easy Travel – Senior Citizen
•Easy Travel – Family
•Easy Travel -Annual Multi Trip
TATA AIG General Insurance
•Travel Guard
•Domestic Travel Guard
•Student Guard
•Asia Travel Guard
The Oriental Insurance
•Overseas Mediclaim Employment and Study
•Overseas Mediclaim Business and Holiday
•Suhana Safar Domestic Policy
Cholamandalam MS General Insurance
•Chola Travel Insurance- Individual
•Chola Travel insurance- Multi Trip
