Are you using your travel insurance right?

Parag Ved

India’s outbound travel has considerably surged over the past few years and so has the need for a travel insurance cover. While the experiential travel is on a rise in India and more people are willing to go on adventurous trips, are they really opting for a right insurance to cover these adventurous risks?

According to World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) report currently, 25 million Indian tourists travel abroad every year for vacationing. Hence it is estimated that India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. In effect to this, the travel insurance market witnessed a gross premium income from overseas travel insurance policies worth Rs.580 crore (US$90 million) in 2017, an increase from Rs.536 crore registered in 2015-2016.
Despite this, while planning a trip, Indians don’t consider travel insurance as one of their priorities for their journey. One often fails to understand what travel insurance actually covers. Hence, let us first take baby steps and understand the basic types of covers under travel insurance in India.

Travel insurance covers in the market and its benefits

Basic travel insurance policy

A basic travel insurance will primarily covers your emergency medical care and loss of belongings. Additional features to this cover also includes:
- Loss of baggage.
- Burglary at home at the time of travel.
- Reimburse if your flight gets delayed for more than 12 hours.
- Coverage of bounced bookings of hotels and airlines
- Personal liability cover: If a claim is made or a suit is brought against you for property damage that occurred during the period of insurance and caused by an occurrence to which this coverage applies, the company will pay up to the amount stated in the policy schedule.
- The medical benefits of a travel insurance policy includes; accidental death or injury during the trip, expenses incurred on account of injury, sickness, etc.

Domestic travel insurance

The domestic travel insurance promises to have your back at every step of your travel. This cover mainly looks into all your critical travel mishaps.
- The cover also reimburses the cost of round-economy airfare and hotel of an immediate family member in case of sudden hospitalization on the trip.
- A domestic travel insurance will cover accidental medical emergencies or assistance required in India, unless its pre-existing condition. It additionally reimburses for transportation, treatment and medical supplies in case of hospitalization or will compensate for death/injury while boarding or already on a flight.

Overseas travel insurance

An overseas travel insurance is a must-have while you’re travelling abroad, not only because it shelters your primary covers as mentioned above, but offers protection for a number of contingencies during an international trip.

- The insurance policy extensively covers, loss of passport, documents, baggage loss and baggage delay. In case of permanent loss of checked-in baggage while in the custody of the common carrier due to theft or non-delivery at its destination is compensated for.
- It also covers accidental death & dismemberment, emergency medical evacuation which includes transportation, medical treatment, medical services and supplies necessary during an emergency evacuation.
- Additionally, an overseas policy will also cover fraudulent charges on your credit/debit card. This cover rescues you not only when you lose money but when you lose money where help is not easily found.

In addition to these travel hacks, a travel insurance policy also covers students who travel abroad for education. A student travel insurance policy is a must for students as it largely protects the individual from study interruption, health cover, sponsor protection and compassion visits. The student travel plan further covers mental and nervous disorders, rehabilitation for drug and alcoholic addiction.

Keeping in mind these basic pointers of an insurance cover, learn, understand and compare the array of travel insurance policies in the market and then zero down on the one that befits your travel needs.

The writer is EVP Head – Consumer Lines of Tata AIG General Insurance