Travel insurance is must for a foreign trip

Although I do not need travel insurance because my organization covers me for treatments and other problems during my stay in Australia as PR Visa holder but it is a mandatory condition while going to other countries we need to buy a travel insurance policy for a foreign trip. These policies cover a traveler for medical treatment, loss of baggage, accidents, cancellation of journey, delayed delivery of luggage, loss of passport, kidnapping and hijacking, etc. These policies are available for foreign trips only and not applicable on inland travel. 

Incidentally, most companies do not take responsibility for war, war conditions, mental or physiological problems, pregnancy related problems and in case of suicides. These companies also not take any responsibility if they find out that a person was under the influence of alcohol or attempts to injure himself for gain of money.   

These policies are issued for a maximum period of six months at a time in different packages starting from $50,000 to bigger amounts, premium computed at day basis according to plan. Different insurance companies offer different plans according to needs of travelers. The policies differ for traveling zones issued for ‘Asia’, ‘World wide’ that covers the United States and Canada and ‘rest of the world’ that excludes US and Canada. 

These policies may also cover pre-existing diseases and hospitalization but under certain conditions and issued by selected few companies only depending upon extra premium to cover passengers under special security. Incidentally, almost all developed countries make it mandatory to have a travel insurance plan before they allow a passenger to allow into their country and the plan should be for entire duration of stay although renewable online during the stay. Some countries do not issue a visa if the condition is not followed strictly. 

You must know about your travel insurance cover

All policies look almost same but their premium rates are different for different reasons. Most companies do not provide cover on pre-existing diseases although no company admits it directly, also the fine print is so confusing at times that an ordinary passenger never understands the terms and conditions properly. You must read these conditions properly and ask for details to clear your doubts. There is another catch in the policies offered by insurance companies that if you opt to purchase policies on combined basis, these cost you more and reduce your benefits up to certain extent therefore it is advisable to go for individual policies for every traveling member to avail most benefit with lesser premium.  

You must declare pre-existing diseases

It is advisable to declare your pre-existing diseases if you wish to utilize your insurance cover to its best use because once you are away from your home country, chances are that you have no support for your hospitalization. Therefore a policy covering your pre-existing diseases like diabetes, heart related problems, hypertension, etc would come in handy in case you have to go for treatments of these or have to admit in a hospital. 

There are other terms, which should be considered before finalizing a deal with a certain company as the age group of an insured person is an important factor for determination of premium amount and most companies consider a person for health insurance 6 to 80 relaxable up to one year in upper age limit. One should be very careful with his age group declaration as if found wrong a traveler can be considered ineligible as the premium of a policy depends on age of the passenger. Take care while traveling abroad with a proper travel policy that covers your needs best, the difference of premium is not much but the benefits certainly are.

Photo of a statue in Spain from wikipedia.