Travel Insurance

Travel Insurance helps insured tackle medical emergencies, unforeseen expenses and various other risks and uncertainties that you might encounter during a trip. Policy provides compensation for lost passport or baggage, trip cancellation, flight accidents, and other losses that insured may incur while travelling domestically or internationally. In India, travel insurance is quickly becoming a must-have when planning for a family vacation, a business trip or even a trekking adventure. You can choose from a broad range of travel insurance plans, such as those offering heavy medical reimbursements or others providing flight delays, accommodation compensations etc. In countries like the United States of America, where medical costs can be exorbitant, having a travel insurance plan is very important. Similarly, for domestic travel, one can opt for a plan that cover journey interruptions, trip cancellations, and other associated risks.

You need a travel insurance policy to compensate the cost incurred due to number of reasons:

• Overseas medical emergencies
• Delayed flights
• Loss/Delay of Luggage
• Country/Visa Requirements
• Missed Flights/ Trip Cancellation
• Cover for Natural Calamities or Human-made Disasters
• Study interruptions
• Flight hijack

Medical expenses usually cost 3 to 5 times more in foreign countries in comparison to India. Millions of passenger baggage are mislaid by airlines every year, with many going untraced. Further, travel scams are very common in countries with tourism industry. So, it’s important not only to buy travel insurance but also to choose the right one. If you buy a travel insurance plan, you’re safeguarding your trip against all the financial losses. A lost passport or a missed flight are very scary situations for the tourists, both in domestic and internationally travel. Without travel insurance one can feel lost in a variety of situations, so always keep a backup with travel insurance policy.

• Individual Travel Insurance - This plan is taken by individuals when they are travelling alone (solo travelers). Solo travelers need extra protection and access to instant help, especially in case of a hospitalisation or other emergency situations.
• Family Travel Insurance - The insured family members of the policyholder are also covered for medical expenses, loss of baggage, personal liabilities, loss of passport, delay in the baggage and many more..
• Senior Citizen Travel Insurance - This policy is offered to individuals above the age of 70 years. The benefits for senior citizen travel insurance plans include the unpredictable financial crisis like medical bills, loss or delay of check-in baggage, repatriation of mortal loss, emergency medical evacuation and more covers based on the insurance firm.
• Corporate Travel Insurance - The corporate travel insurance plans covers basic medical expenses, baggage delay/loss, flight delay, missing connecting flights, etc.
• Student Travel Insurance - This plan is tailored specifically for students and has a special feature of the extension of the validity up to 2 years. It covers the basic overseas travel insurance covers like medical evacuation, study interruption, sponsor protection etc. and provides some add-ons as well.
• Group Travel Insurance Plan - This insurance covers the group traveling within India’s national borders and internationally. Depending upon the limit per person of the group, It covers personal accidents and baggage coverage
• Domestic Travel Insurance - Domestic travel insurance is a beneficial when travelling within the geographical borders of India. It protects insured from several types of situations and emergencies like medical coverage, personal accidents, and loss of baggage etc.
• International Travel Insurance - Plan offers a much wider range coverage for overseas travel trips for study, holiday, family visitation, business meetings, and much more.
• Schengen Travel Insurance - This is a special insurance policy required by the people travelling to any of the 26 Schengen countries. The policy protects you from any type of financial losses.
• Single Trip Travel Insurance - The single trip travel insurance plan is useful for those who travel abroad occasionally. It provides insurance coverage for the policyholder and the accompanying beneficiaries from the start of the journey until are back inside the country’s borders. If travelling internationally, the international travel insurance is opted for as it covers host of other things like medical emergencies, baggage loss or delay on check-in baggage, non-medical covers, etc
• Multi-Trip Travel Insurance - The Multi-Trip Travel Insurance plan is customised for frequent travelers like the businessmen and corporate sectors. It usually covers round trip journeys for one year. By opting for this policy for your travelling trips, you save a good amount of money.

• Individual Travel Insurance Plan - It covers medical services expenses, dental expenses, accidental emergencies, accidental death and other non-medical factors like passport loss, baggage loss, flight delays etc.
• Family Travel Insurance - The insured family members of the policyholder are covered for medical expenses, loss of baggage, personal liabilities, loss of passport, delay in the baggage and many more.
• Senior Citizen Travel Insurance- The benefits for senior citizen travel insurance plans include the unpredictable financial crisis on travel like loss or delay of check-in baggage, medical bills, Emergency medical evacuation repatriation of mortal loss and many more based on the insurance policy clauses.
• Corporate Travel Insurance - This insurance plan covers basic medical expenses, flight delay, baggage loss, missing connecting flights, etc.
• Student Travel Insurance - It covers the basic overseas travel insurance covers and offers some add-ons as well. The covers like bail bond, study interruption, sponsor protection, medical evacuation and some more.
• Group Travel Insurance - Plan covers the group going aboard from India or traveling within the domestic borders of India. It covers personal accidents and baggage losses, but coverage depends upon the limit per person of the group.
• Domestic Travel Insurance - Benefits include medical coverage, personal accident cover and loss of baggage.
• International Travel Insurance- It covers several factors - medical and dental expenses, delay/loss of baggage and passport, flight delays, trip cancellation etc.
• Schengen Travel Insurance - The most common coverage under the plan is the medical coverage, loss of passport, delay in check-in baggage arrival, loss of check-in baggage, accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident cover and personal liabilities.
• Single Trip Travel Insurance - Single trip travel insurance is among the most bought insurance plans as they offer overall coverage to the insured, abroad or domestic. It covers medical emergencies, baggage loss or delay on check-in baggage, non-medical covers, etc.
• Multi-Trip Travel Insurance - The cover under this travel insurance is like the other international travel insurance covers. Medical emergencies, loss of passport, personal liabilities, emergency medical evacuation, loss or delay of check-in baggage and other covers specified are covered under this plan by the insurance company.

Travel insurance plans generally covers travel risks, medical risks and flight disruptions. You can easily purchase your travel insurance online that covers all possible risks ensuring a hassle-free trip. Below you will find some reasons justifying the significance of a travel insurance:

• It provides cover against medical emergencies
• Covers for loss of baggage
• Reimburses for replacement cost of lost documents or passports
• Flight cancellation coverage

Any health emergency during travel in an unknown place can create panic. Therefore, an ideal travel insurance plan ensures proper coverage through medical assistance and hospitalisation. In case of baggage loss, you will be reimbursed based on the sum insured. Similarly, the expenses that the insured borne for the replacement of passports or documents is reimbursed based on the sum insured. If your flight is cancelled or delayed, you will be reimbursed or refunded a certain amount per your travel policy schedule. Since the coverage and benefits varied from one insurer to another, one must go through the policy terms before buying an insurance plan. It is highly recommended that you go through the policy terms before buying a travel insurance plan as the coverage and benefits differ for international and Indian travel insurance plans.

With the increasing medical emergencies and related financial stresses, many insurance companies have introduced the COVID-19 cover.

• Plan can compensate for the medical and hospitalisation expenses when you get affected due to COVID-19 outside of India
• Compensation of unused portion of your travel plans if your trip gets curtailed or cancelled when you, your immediate family member, or anyone travel with you is tested positive for COVID-19
• The travel insurance plan can get extended automatically, upto 7 days, for your trip in a case of imposition of lockdown in the destination country and there are no means to travel back

Add-ons are the additional features you add to your travel insurance to make it even more extensive in terms of coverage. Some of the add-on and optional covers under the travel insurance policy are noted below:

• Trip delay covers the financial loss caused due to the trip delay or any type of trip cancellation is reimbursed up to the policy limits. Limit is different for one trip, round trips or multiple trips.
• Schengen plan covers the expense that might arise in connection with the repatriation for the medical reasons or urgent health conditions such as emergency hospital treatment or death of an individual.
• Compassionate visit by a family member covered and guests won’t have to return home because their compassionate visit would be covered up to some limit in the travel insurance policy.
• Emergency Hotel Accommodation For Family Member Under an urgent situation where the emergency hotel accommodation of the family member is required, you’ll face no hassle because the online travel insurance policy will cover it too.
• Emergency Hotel Accommodation For Insured and Family Member Not only the family member who urgently requires accommodation but also the insured will be covered up to some limits under the emergency hotel accommodation clause.
• Escort for minor child If you carry a minor or a baby along with you to the flight is also covered up to some limit
• Loss of personal belongings is covered whether it’s your baggage or the passport
• Replacement and rearrangement of staff in an unforeseen situation

Optional Covers

These are the optional covers that are designed to add more fascinating features to your existing travel insurance policy:

• Pre-existing Illness including HIV and AIDS protection
• Maternity and baby cover from day one
• Mental illness and alcohol-related disorder Cover

Any Indian citizen can buy an international travel insurance online, irrespective of the type of policy he/she want to purchase. Additional eligibility requirements for different types of online International travel insurance are:

Please note that the age bracket varies from one insurer to another. One should check the eligibility with the insurance provider before he/she review or buy international travel insurance online.

To get a policy that offers maximum coverage for the least possible premium, you need to get travel insurance quotes first. To find out the premium payable for a travel insurance plan you can use a premium calculator (a premium calculator is an online tool that gives you an estimate of cost for a particular insurance plan). Below we have listed a few parameters that affect travel insurance premiums:

• Age - Higher the age of the traveller, more will the premium payable
• Destination - If you are travelling to a high-risk country, your chances of facing adversities are more and therefore the premium would be higher
• Trip Duration -Longer your trip duration, higher will be your travel insurance premium.
• Number of Travellers - The premium of a policy covering one person will be lower than the premium of a policy covering the entire family or a group.
• Add-On Covers - If you opt for add-on covers under your travel insurance policy, your premium amount will increase.

Before you go on to buy travel insurance online, insurer gives you the option to calculate the insurance premium with a few steps.

• Step 1: Head to your preferred insurer’s travel insurance premium calculator
• Step 2 : Share your name, mobile number and email address
• Step 3 : You will now be asked to enter the country of residence
• Step 4 : Based input you provide, you will receive a confirmation and a premium quote

When buying travel insurance, your aim should be to spend the minimum amount and get the maximum coverage benefits. An online insurance premium calculator helps you with this aspect. Not only can you find out your monthly payments but also customize the policy features to suit your needs and budget. One can try out different combinations of policies and get an apt travel insurance policy for self and family.

The importance of buying travel insurance in India is well known. People have started to realized that purchasing travel insurance is not an extra burden in your vacation budget, but it can give you a peace of mind which is essential to enjoy your trip.

Travel insurance is important and you can adopt below methods to lower the premium;

• Opt-in for a Multi-trip Cover - One of the best travel insurance options for frequent travellers is a multi-trip cover that will protect you for a specified time (mostly, a year). Hence, you can travel in and out of the country for several trips and have a single policy to protect you and your interests.
• Buy Insurance Early On - Getting the travel insurance plans early on is beneficial for multiple reasons. This is especially true in case you want to cancel your trip or there is an unprecedented situation. An early insurance helps you make the required changes.
• Tailor-Made Insurance Policy - If you start looking out for travel insurance early, you can find out different combinations of features offered by different insurance providers. This helps you choose the policy coverage and end up paying less while getting maximum benefits.
• Go for Group Travel Insurance - This plan bundles multiple services, offers provision to add multiple members, offers several benefits and has relatively lower premiums.

One of the biggest benefits of buying a travel insurance policy online is that you can get feedback about an insurance company before buying. You can check the claim settlement ratio (CSR) of any insurer to know how likely your claims will get settled in case you have to file one in future. You can also know the incurred claim ratio of a company to know their financial health. Once you have zeroed in on travel Insurance, you can buy the policy online sitting at the comfort of your home. To simplify the process of travel insurance purchase, switch to SecureNow - a leading insurance broker helping customers buy domestic travel insurance online.

Things to consider while buying travel insurance online:

• Length of Trip - Length of your vacation will determine the cost of your overseas travel insurance, meaning that if you are going on a trip which would last only 7 days the costs would be nominal. However, if you are considering to traveling abroad for a vacation that would last for at least a month, the cost of your overseas travel insurance will be higher.
• Distance of Travel - The cost and coverage of the overseas travel insurance change with distance. Therefore, the duration of your flights and the distance that you would be traveling should be considered while tailoring the travel insurance.
• Activities Planned - During vacation if you engage in intense and high-risk adventure sports, then the overseas travel insurance policy might have restrictions regarding their coverage as well.
• Side Trips and Extra Destinations - Location-specific overseas travel insurance do not extend the cover to side to near but countries.
• Medical Conditions - If you are going to a destination that might leave you open to some diseases or you might have a pre-existing condition that you would be traveling with, then it is extremely important to check the list of inclusions.