If you are making any travel plans, travel insurance is the essential element to ponder. Keeping in mind the post-pandemic situation, it is important more than ever to keep your health as a priority even while you are on a trip. For a few countries, travel insurance is a must for the visitors to even get a visa. In addition, there are several ways through which an insurance policy can safeguard you financially.
But today, if you wish to opt for an insurance plan for travel, make sure that you go for travel medical insurance. Such a policy can provide you with comprehensive medical coverage and cover all your emergency medicine, treatment and hospital charges if you get sick during a vacation.
So, how do you buy travel insurance with medical assistance? What are the features that you should look into? We have listed a few points to help you choose travel medical insurance in India to make it easier. So, let’s dive straight into the list now.
- Understand the Kind of Travel Medical Insurance You Would Need – Before embarking on a trip, the first step you need to understand while opting for travel medical insurance is the destination you have chosen. For example, if you are off to the UK or the US, you should be aware that healthcare is super expensive in those countries. Hence, you need to opt for a policy that will provide coverage that can take care of everything related to healthcare during an emergency. For travelling to Schengen countries, you will need medical coverage for at least €30,000.
- Pre-existing Illness Coverage – The second thing you need to consider is that whether or not your travel medical insurance provides cover for pre-existing illnesses or not. Some of the insurers do provide such coverages for some life-threatening medical issues. So, compare the travel insurance policies by different companies online and go through the inclusions and exclusions properly to understand what exactly you are going to get under your medical travel insurance.
- COVID-19 Coverage – While going for an international trip, it’s best to choose a travel medical insurance policy to provide you with coverage for COVID-19. Such comprehensive policies will help you meet your health requirements without worrying about expenses if you get affected by the virus while on a trip. However, before making your purchase, do check your premium amount through a travel insurance premium calculator.
What Should Generally Be Covered by a Travel Medical Insurance in India?
Essentially, your travel insurance policy should include these:
- Hospital Charges: The policy will cover the in-patient and out-patient hospitalisation costs for treatment for an injury or illness that might have been caused during the trip. This policy will also include medicine and treatment charges, doctor’s fees, etc. Here, dental treatment charges are also included.
- Accidents: The medical insurance policies will compensate for any accidental bodily injuries, including partial or permanent disabilities or death caused by accident during the trip. The policy will also include compassionate visit charges of the immediate family members of the policyholder at the latter’s current location.
- Deportation: The policy will cover the expense of deporting the policyholder’s deceased body back to India if they die while travelling abroad.
Importance of Buying a Travel Medical Insurance Plan
Planning an international trip requires careful consideration and preparation. Facing an adverse medical situation or emergency in a foreign country can be challenging as well as scary, not to forget expensive. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure proper research and buy the right travel medical insurance plan to cover any emergency medical expenses.
The Covid-19 global pandemic and the associated symptoms and treatment has made getting travel medical insurance more important. Most of the world is still gradually opening up with strict Covid-19 protocols in place. While it is advisable to follow all rules and mandates, getting diagnosed with the virus in a foreign location can be challenging physically, mentally and financially.
Additionally, the drastic change in the travel landscape in the post-pandemic world and the travel restrictions can lead to flight cancellations, delays and so on.
All this demands you to have a proper security and protection protocol in place, and one part of it is getting a comprehensive travel medical insurance plan. While choosing the plan, do not get swayed by cheap plans. Focus on getting a travel medical insurance plan that offers proper coverage at cost-effective rates.
Make sure to research and compare plans, read the policy document, check out the inclusions and exclusions and buy a plan that matches your needs – both insurance as well as financial.
Conclusion
The benefits listed above are mostly covered by all well-known travel insurance providers in India. However, it’s necessary for you still to carry out thorough research of the options available online, compare the premiums and then choose one which suits your requirements the best.