Travel Insurance India
Necessity of Travel Insurance:
Packing and making arrangements to soak yourself in the sun and savour the breathtaking locales on an overseas holiday travel insurance india or going on a business / official trip abroad. While your trip to overseas have you ever thought about the contingencies / risks you may face Contingencies can be a medical emergency or an accident or personal liability.
A simple toe injury or an infection or cough and cold can ruin your holidaying experience and not to mention the big hole those can leave in your pocket. Some times brutality of these risks and their financial allusions can be devastating and to face the crisis in a foreign country worsens the scenario. The fact is that many of us dont realize the importance of travel insurance until calamity strikes.
Importance of Insurance
Why is insurance required Life is laden with tensions and apprehensions regarding future and what it holds for the individual. Despite of good planning and preparation one might make, no one can foresee what is laying ahead, how or when death might result and the circumstances that might arise afterwards. It is not that life and existence are constantly burdened with danger and uncertainty. But it is essential for everyone to plan for the future. The chances for a fatality or an injury to occur to the average individual may not be particularly high but then no one can really afford to completely disregard his or her future and what it holds.
The need for travel insurance india changes with the stages and commitments of life, starting with no need at the younger age, progresses to greater level as per responsibility, commitment at middle age and stays constant at old age/retirement.
Brief on travel insurance in India:
Prior to liberalisation of insurance sector in India, there are four public sector general insurance companies offered these policies (called Overseas Mediclaim Policy or OMP). But now that the insurance sector is opened up, most of the private general insurance companies are also offering these products. While all companies offer almost the same features with different names, Travel Guard, Travel Companion, Travel Shield, etc.
Nowadays insurers are all set to flatter the travelers in a big way. Emergency Cash covers, Hospital Daily Allowance, Hijack Distress Allowance, Personal Safety Allowance, etc are some of the never before features that insurers add-on to offer to the travelers.
Common benefits offered by Indian insurance companies under these plans include death and permanent disablement, Medical expenses and repatriation, hospitalization expenses as a result of accident, sickness, disease including medical evacuation where necessary, compensation for loss of or delay delivery of checked baggage in an International airline, loss of passport, etc.
The travel insurance policies are accessible in two variations. One being single trip insurance and other being specially aimed at Corporate Managers who travel frequently. While the later police for corporates is issued for a period of 1 year covering any number of visits within a year with each visit extending to a maximum of 30 days and the formal policy for single trip is valid for the period of travel abroad. However maximum period upto which one can be covered under single trip policy varies from company to company. While most of the private travel insurance india companies are limiting the maximum coverage period to 90 days, the public sector companies offer maximum coverage period to 180 days. But none of these policies can be extended after the trip has started. However, OMP is an exemption to this and can be extended up to a maximum of 180 days during trip.
Tips for choosing a travel insurance policy
1. Mode of Claim Settlement: Medical expenses can be very expensive at abroad. Rather than reimbursing the expenses it is better to choose the insurance company, which settles through direct payment to the hospitals. Most of the hospitals in USA and Canada wont start the treatment without advance. But none of the Indian insurance companies offer this facility. This can be problem if one does not have the sufficient money to take the treatment. It also needs to check with the company, whether claims will be settled overseas in US dollars or after coming back reimbursed in Indian rupees as some companies settle claims in Indian rupees.
2. Check for the international help line: Check if there is any help line / help desk, which can be contacted in case of an emergency. Most of the private insurance companies dont have international help line / desk numbers, whereas only public sector companies are having an international toll free help line.
3. Check whether covered while traveling / driving a vehicle:
Most of the companies do not cover you while you are driving / travelling a/on a two wheeler. Only OMP offers you this cover, but the policy clause stipulates that you should be possessing a valid driving license to drive in that foreign country and you should be wearing a helmet.
4. Deductibles: Deductibles is the amount that you will have to bear in each and every claim. It is a nominal amount in most cases, for example, a policy with Rs. 100 deductible would mean that insured person has to bear Rs. 100 of each and every claim he claims under the policy. You may choose a higher deductible to lower your premium. To reduce the premium outgo it is not advisable to opt for a higher deductible.
Important information on USA based insurance companies:
It may be worth their while to surf the net and buy a suitable policy online for those persons who are traveling to U.S.A. or Canada. The main advantage is that one can show the policy to the Hospital administration and take the treatment without paying any advance. Normally, the hospital calls the travel insurance india company using a toll free number of the company and gets prior approval.
Benefits offered by USA based insurance companies are more or less similar to those offered by Indian insurance companies. However these companies have certain advantages such as:
1. These polices can be extended up to a maximum of 3 years.
2. One can opt for a hazardous sports cover by paying additional premium.
3. Traveling in domestic airlines of respective countries is covered, whereas polices offered by Indian insurance companies traveling in domestic airlines is not covered.
4. Few policies offer benefits even in case of trip cancellation or trip interruption. (Trip cancellation/interruption benefit: One will be eligible for benefits equal to the amount purchased for Published Penalties and unused non refundable prepaid expenses for Travel Arrangements whenever one is prevented from taking a Trip for any of the causes covered under the policy such as illness, Bankruptcy or Default of an airline, Strike that causes complete cessation of services of the Common Carrier etc.)
Most of the private insurance companies do not cover accidents arising while traveling on any motorised transport in foreign countries. Know that most travel policies cover death and dismemberment up to a certain limit. And for most of the travel policies no medical examination is required. Also many companies offer these policies online. While some may have a specific price band for a given number of days, check out the difference if any.
One should make an informed decision by giving due consideration to policy coverage, service/claim support presented by insurer policy exclusions etc rather than establishing the choice exclusively on the premium outgo. No doubt premium is one of the important things to be considered but it would not be right to base your decision only on premium outgo. And one should know that no decision is an informed decision unless that decision is based on the correct and complete understanding of the policy wordings.
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