Everyone likes to travel. People like to go on a trip to get some relief from their stressful life for some time. Many people are very fond of traveling and roaming and go out to visit some place or the other every day. In such a situation, people have started planning it nowadays and travel insurance is becoming an important part of it. Just like life insurance and health insurance, travel insurance is also equally important. In this, the kind of policy you buy, you get the same kind of facilities. It is very important to get travel insurance for people traveling abroad. Here we are going to give you important information related to travel insurance which will be very useful for you.
What is travel insurance?
Travel insurance provides coverage for many types of emergencies like medical expenses. This coverage also includes expenses like medical expenses luggage-related problems during check-in or loss of luggage during travel, and financial assistance in these travel emergencies. You also get many other benefits from this. It also covers all the risks of travel. Many companies provide travel insurance and their premium charge is different and the facilities are also according to that. Let us tell you that the insurance company gives you compensation for travel emergencies and this insurance is available not only for foreign travel but also for domestic travel.
What is covered
- If an accident occurs or you fall ill during a foreign trip, you can get immediate medical help. If you go to a network hospital, you can get the facility of a cashless claim, whereas if you get treatment in a non-network hospital, you can claim reimbursement with the necessary documents.
- If you have taken travel insurance, then the insurance company will pay all the expenses that you have already incurred. However, it depends on how much sum insured you have taken and how much your expenses have been. This payment will be made only after checking the authenticity of your claim for cancellation of the trip.
- You are going somewhere and your passport, luggage, or documents are lost or damaged due to some reason. But if you have travel insurance, then you do not need to worry about all these things. In case of loss of passport, your insurance covers every single thing including the cost of getting a duplicate or new passport.
- Imagine you are on your vacation and your credit/debit card is lost and you are getting information about its use through messages, then what will you do? Well, we do not want to scare you, we want to tell you that with the help of travel insurance, the lost money can be recovered through a stolen payment card up to 12 hours before the first report of the incident.
How is the premium decided?
The premium of your travel insurance is calculated based on the plan of your choice. The premium is decided according to how many days your trip is, single trip plan, multi-trip plan, student plan, or senior citizen plan. Apart from this, you can add additional coverage to your travel insurance plan according to your holidays. For example, you can add home insurance, and take cover for expensive things and important documents. However, the premium for all these additional covers will also be higher.
Keep these things in mind while buying the policy
If you have decided to buy a travel insurance policy, then before buying the policy, definitely check what covers are available in it. Choose the policy according to your needs. If you travel both in India and abroad, then see whether both domestic and foreign travel are covered in it or not. If you travel only within the country, there is no plan to travel abroad at present, so choose the policy accordingly. Apart from this, you must ask the insurance agent all the questions related to the doubts and apprehensions arising in your mind. It is very important to know what the terms and conditions are. Many times people do not pay attention to these terms and conditions and later get into trouble because of it.
These things are not covered
If you are going on a trip with so much preparation and are also taking travel insurance, then be a little more smart. Also, find out about the exclusions of your policy. Exclusions mean those conditions for which you do not get covered under travel insurance. Read your policy carefully, if you do not understand it, you can also seek clarification from the insurance company or agent, but no doubt should remain. Generally, you will not get coverage for the following conditions such as pre-existing diseases or conditions, risk of war, suicide or insanity, or dangerous sports (adventure sports).
How to claim while traveling abroad
Your preparations are strong and you have also taken travel insurance. Now the question is that if you are going abroad What to do and how to do if there is a need to take a claim? Usually, insurance companies provide hotline numbers for travel insurance, where information regarding the claim should be given. Along with this, you should also inform the concerned authorities and departments (whoever the matter concerns), such as - Police, Indian Embassy, Transport Companies, etc. Usually, a claim form is also given with every travel health insurance policy document. This is because you are at a remote place and cannot get the claim form in an emergency.
Pay attention to these things
- To buy a policy, do not think of taking the cover as per the travel agent. Gather as much information as possible and choose your option yourself.
- If you are in the process of buying cheap travel insurance, then avoid doing so, because it may not be sufficient according to your needs.
- Just as you plan for visa and air tickets well in advance, do the same for travel insurance.
- After getting the necessary medical tests done, obtain the report and fill out the proposal form for the travel insurance policy completely and with complete honesty.
- Estimate the entire duration of your journey in advance and accordingly take a travel insurance plan for the entire travel period.
- If you have to extend your travel period midway, then contact your insurance company before the expiry of the travel insurance policy and extend the insurance period by submitting the necessary documents.
- Read your insurance policy thoroughly and keep the contact details of the claim helping agency with you, so that you can contact them quickly in case of an emergency.
(PC: Lifeberrys)
