Imagine a scenario where you are all set to take off on an international sojourn. Your flight bookings, visa, hotel reservations are all done and you are thrilled to experience this excitement. You reach your destination but havoc breaks loose when you discover your luggage has gone missing or even worse someone stole your wallet leaving you bereft of cards, passport and cash. Or taking a step further you land into a foreign land with some infectious ailment which you contacted during the course of travel. These episodes can be harrowing and extricating from such situations can cost you an arm and a leg. International travel insurance acts as a saviour in situations like these and many countries have made it mandatory to get travel insurance before entering their borders.
International insurance plan is indispensable
International travel insurance plan is surely and certainly indispensable when planning to travel abroad. It is a unique product that ensures one is insured from all possible risks one may confront while travelling to a foreign destination. It is specially designed to address unforeseen risks such as hospitalisation, medical expenses, loss of luggage or documents, cancellation or disruption of flights, and various other costs that one is exposed to while travelling internationally. It provides compensation for essentials in case of loss of check-in baggage containing essential documents like passports, visas, identity proof, etc. In addition it also extends assistance in case of theft, burglary, accident and medical evacuation in times of crisis.
Types of policies international insurance plan features
International travel insurance plans feature two kinds of policies: the basic policies, which cover only emergency medical expenses borne in a foreign land and an all- inclusive comprehensive policy that includes coverage for trip cancellation, flight delays, lost luggage and other expenses.
Since the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic, majority of travel insurance policies have undergone a revision to extend coverage for the health emergencies generated due to contraction of coronavirus.
Why travel insurance has become significant after COVID outbreak
Medical contingencies can hit anyone, anytime and anywhere and can jeopardize the entire plan. The unprecedented outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic has made people aware of the significance of travel insurance. In-case a person contracts Covid 19 while travelling abroad, international travel policies universally cover costs incurred in treatment of COVID-19 including OPD and hospitalisation up to medical sum insured opted. To make a cashless claim (if any) the insured detected with COVID-19 must promptly visit the nearest healthcare centre and inform the insurance provider.
Cost of medical treatment: Because of highly contagious nature of virus, travellers are at a perpetual risk of contracting the infection and this adds up to the woes if one is travelling internationally. The health care facilities in a distant land can be super expensive and this only adds up to the anxiety levels of the travellers. But with a good travel insurance one does not really have to worry about the finances involved in procuring the treatment. Other than this if the insured party experiences a medical contingency, either in the form of a disease or an injury during their trip, the travel insurance policy reimburses all their inpatient and outpatient medical expenses, cost of lab tests and also the cost of transportation.
Conclusion
To sum up we can say that depending on the frequency of your travel, the purpose of visit and the destination you are heading towards you can opt for a travel insurance policy that best suits your needs and also provides you COVID cover. Single trip travel insurance is best suited if frequency of travel whether domestically or internationally is low. While a multi trip travel insurance plan can be considered if travel is a regular feature, opting for this saves the insurer the hassle of applying for a new travel insurance policy before each trip specially after COVID when the things have gone very uncertain.
