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Travel
insurance protection
Everyone who travels needs health/medical insurance to
cover unforeseen risks. MOHAN BABU explains why
Indians are vulnerable international travellers and need the
protection of travel insurance
This is the time of the year when students from all corners
of India pack their bags for the long trek to the US. Every
year thousands of Indian students sweat it out by working
towards high scores in GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, etc, hoping to bag
a coveted seat in a good school (as universities are
called), in the US. After September 11, 2001, things have
become especially challenging for young students aspiring to
go to the US. The same holds true for visitors from India
hoping to tour the US, visit relatives and friends too.
Given the excruciating effort involved in acquiring a
coveted visa to America, most people tend to overlook other
important aspects of travel after getting a visa. Perhaps
one really significant aspect of travel abroad, especially
to the US, is also the one which is overlooked the most
often—travel insurance. Surprisingly, even the recent SARS
epidemic that generated global awareness on health risks of
global travel did little to generate greater awareness of
the need for insuring oneself against such unforeseen risks.
Before we get into the details, exactly who needs travel
insurance? Practically everyone who travels needs some sort
of travel/health insurance to cover unforeseen risks.
Indians are especially vulnerable because medical insurance
issued locally in rupees may not cover a bigger bill in
dollars or Euros. Short-term visitors, those on businesses
or visiting friends or family, are especially vulnerable
since they can be lulled into a false sense of security by
presuming that their regular medical policies provided by
employers in India (or other native lands), will cover them.
That is not true since most insurers of regular policies
explicitly exclude foreign travel. Even students coming to
the US to study may find it intriguing that although
universities provide plans that cover them after they
register as full-time students, they may not be covered when
school is not in session. Human tragedies involving injury,
hospitalisation or death can occur at inopportune times,
putting an undue financial strain on self and dependents.
Now that I have successfully argued that travel insurance is
a must-have, and not just a “nice to have” aspect of
international travel, how does one go about getting an
international travel insurance in India.
Where to buy the policies?
There are many ways to get an international travel
insurance. One way would be to contact the local travel
agent who will be able to suggest suitable insurance
companies selling foreign travel agents. However, the
preferred way is to buy insurance directly through travel
agents in your country of travel. NRIOL.com, a portal for
NRIs contains an informative FAQ on foreign travel insurance
(http://www.nriol.net/nriol/insurance/faq.asp). The portal
makes for interesting reading with questions like “Why
should I purchase insurance with an American company and not
buy insurance in my native country?” It goes on to add: “It
is advisable to have insurance from an American company
while in the United States, even if the premium for these
plans are more expensive. The reason is that while almost
all doctors/hospitals in the United States accept American
insurance company cards, they will be reluctant to
acknowledge overseas insurance coverage. The medical office
can easily contact an American insurance company for
clarification, while the same will not be true for an
overseas insurance company. Typically medical offices in the
US will bill directly to known American insurance companies.
For overseas insurance companies you most probably will have
to pay the bill, and then try to get the claim reimbursed
from the insurance company.”
Another aspect of travel insurance is the “variety” of
policies available in the globalised marketplace. Hundreds,
if not thousands of companies provide insurance of different
kinds, ranging from very basic “emergency” policies to those
with extensive and in-depth coverage. The length of
coverage, premium, deductible payable, number of people
covered, area of coverage (local, country-wide or global)
also may vary from one provider to another. There are also a
number of specialised insurance vendors who have
sophisticated interfaces on the Web, which allow visitors to
view brochures, compare policies and even buy the policies
directly using a credit card. My favourite is
GaramChai.com’s travel insurance page: (
http://www.Garamchai.com/TravelInsurance.htm).
The site provides extensive listings of agents, many of whom
also correspond over e-mail and have their websites. The
site also has an “insurance comparison” tool that takes the
user through a set of questions before suggesting suitable
policies that can be bought directly using a credit card.
It goes without saying, as with every online transaction,
the maxim of caveat emptor, buyer beware holds true.
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