According to the survey done by a reputed firm, travelers don’t opt for Travel insurance while travelling. Insurance providers companies are pitching the importance of visitor travel actively among the frequent travelers but response is not encouraging despite of rigorous and constant efforts. They are reluctant about any such insurance as they think that it’s not required for such a short span of time per say 4-5 days. For them medical insurance, health insurance or accidental insurance are enough to deal with any exigencies. They clearly neglect the others situations like theft of baggage, cancellations of trips, loss of luggage in transit.
Travel insurance provides protection on many fronts that could be divided under five main categories: Medical, major medical, trip cancellation, emergency medical evacuation and death due to accident. Medical coverage is the simple coverage provided to deal with normal medical reasons for short travel span whereas major medical provides assistance in case of serious medical issues for e.g. epidemic in host country. Same is for longer duration of travel plans such as one year of more. Both of the insurance provides cover for doctor consultation, locating hospitals and healthcare facilities. Trip cancellation offers assistance in case of cancellation of trips due to one’s personal reason. Reasons for same could be cancellation of trip due to bad health conditions of any family member, travel company declares bankruptcy, conflict in business, change in plans by company(in case of company sponsored travel), winding up early in case of return, illness of bad medical condition or delay in visa/passport processing unexpectedly. Trip cancellation insurance can help to recover 70% of travel cost in few cases. Emergency medical evacuation insurance helps in evacuation for medical reasons. Think of situation when you need to be evacuated via ambulance of via air travel with the emergency equipment attached with you, without insurance you may not even dream of taking any such facility as it’s out of pocket reach. Death or accident insurance compensates the nominee or family members in case of death of insured due to accidents like flight accident or road accident while travelling.
Travel insurance coverage can be taken in three ways: per-trip coverage, multi-trip coverage and annual policy. Per-trip coverage is clear as per the name as same is applicable for a single trip, multi-trip coverage is application for 2 or more trips in a row or within a short span of time. Premium for multi-trip coverage is lower in comparison with the per-trip coverage. Annual policy is made for frequent travelers who need to travel more often. For is valid for one year.
So if you are planning for tour/trip get accustomed with all of the above arrangements, terms and conditions, coverage, plans and options. One more thing to look for is to check the cancellation and other conditions for hotels, service providers and other related services. Bottom line is to get acquire the insurance related details while travelling. Information is the best guide while travelling across the borders which will help you deal with any situation in smart way.
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