Travel insurance is an insurance product for covering unforeseen losses incurred while travelling, either internationally or domestically. Basic policies generally only cover emergency medical expenses while overseas, while comprehensive policies typically include coverage for trip cancellation, lost luggage, flight delays, public liability, and other expenses.
Travel insurance, are risk-based, and take into account a range of factors to determine whether a traveler can purchase a policy and what the premium will be. This generally includes destination countries or regions, the duration of the trip, the age of the travelers, and any optional benefits that they require coverage for such as pre-existing medical conditions, adventure sports, rental vehicle excess, cruising, or high-value electronics. [1] Some policies will also take into account the traveler's estimated value of their trip to determine price. A policy may be a single trip, covering the exact duration of the upcoming trip, or a "multi-trip" policy can cover an unlimited number of trips of limited duration within a year. [2]
Most travel insurance policies must be purchased prior to departure from home, or from the first departure point (e.g. an airport), depending on the product. A smaller number of brands offer travel insurance for travelers who are already overseas and have forgotten to purchase travel insurance or have a policy that has expired. [3] Most policies require ones to start and finish one's journey in one's country of residence. However, some policies offer coverage for one-way travel for people who are permanently relocating to another country.
Some credit card issuers offer automatic travel insurance if travel arrangements are paid for using their credit cards, but these policies are generic and do not take into account personal requirements and circumstances. [4]
In the event of minor injury or illness overseas, medical benefits offer coverage for visits to general practitioners, medicine, ambulance fees, and limited dentistry benefits. In the event of hospitalisation, most travel insurance policies include emergency assistance services, which can offer guarantees of payment to hospitals for treatment, liaise treating doctors, and organise transfers between hospitals or medical evacuations back to the insured person's country of origin. [5] More comprehensive policies include an emergency companion cover, so that a family member can remain with the insured person while in hospital.
In the event of death overseas, medical benefit sections typically include cover for repatriation of remains to the insured person's country of origin, or a funeral overseas.
Comprehensive travel insurance policies include cover for any cancellation fees or lost deposits relating to cancellation of the insured's person's trip for a range of unforeseen and unexpected circumstances. These include illness or injury, natural disasters and bad weather, [6] strikes and riots, [7] hijacking, and family emergencies. [8] Depending on the policy, it may also include cancellation due to jury service, being made redundant from full-time employment, having annual leave revoked for those in the armed forces or emergency services, and prohibition of or advisory against travel by a government to a particular destination.
Many policies include benefits for alternative transport, accommodation, and meal expenses if the transport provider is delayed by a certain period, provided any layover times met the criteria in the policy. [9] Policies may also include a benefit to purchase essential items like clothing and toiletries in the event baggage is delayed by an airline.
Luggage benefits cover for loss, damage or theft of personal effects during one's journey, including passports and other travel documents. It may also include limited benefits for theft of cash. [10]
This covers legal liability as a result of a claim made against the covered party for bodily injuries or damage to property of other persons.
In addition to their base policies, many providers offer coverage for declared pre-existing conditions (e.g. asthma, diabetes, cancer), [11] higher risk sports and activities (e.g. skiing, trekking at high altitudes, scuba diving), [12] rental car damage, [13] and cruising. [14]
Insurance companies issuing will often exclude coverage for ongoing known events to new policies, and may announce long-term exclusions for specific events, such as volcanic activity from a currently active volcano. [15] As travel insurance is a risk-based product, many policies will exclude events which may be of a far-reaching and poorly quantified risk, such as pandemics and endemics, [16] acts of war, and terrorism. [17] Some policies exclude travel to certain countries, or parts of countries, where a greater risk is expected. These determinations are often made based on official government travel advice from organisations such as the US State Department or the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs.
Other common exclusions in travel insurance policies include:
Certain countries require foreign visitors have proof of sufficient travel insurance as a condition for granting a visa or of approving visa-free entry. This includes travellers applying for a Schengen Area or UAE visa, and all visitors to Cuba, Turkey and Belarus. Thailand [20] and Egypt [21] have announced plans to introduce similar requirements. Tour companies and cruise providers may also require passengers possess a minimum level of travel insurance before the traveller can commence their journey.
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.
In insurance, an accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) policy provides financial benefits to the insured or their beneficiaries in the event of accidental death, serious injury, or dismemberment resulting from an accident.
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of an insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness can also trigger payment. The policyholder typically pays a premium, either regularly or as one lump sum. The benefits may include other expenses, such as funeral expenses.
Health insurance or medical insurance is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among many individuals. By estimating the overall risk of health risk and health system expenses over the risk pool, an insurer can develop a routine finance structure, such as a monthly premium or payroll tax, to provide the money to pay for the health care benefits specified in the insurance agreement. The benefit is administered by a central organization, such as a government agency, private business, or not-for-profit entity.
Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner's insurance, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insurance protections, which can include losses occurring to one's home, its contents, loss of use, or loss of other personal possessions of the homeowner, as well as liability insurance for accidents that may happen at the home or at the hands of the homeowner within the policy territory.
In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claims which the insurer is legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial payment, known as the premium, the insurer promises to pay for loss caused by perils covered under the policy language.
Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or boiler insurance. Property is insured in two main ways—open perils and named perils.
The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) is issued free of charge to anyone who is insured by or covered by a statutory social security scheme of the EEA countries or Switzerland and certain citizens and residents of the United Kingdom. It allows holders to receive medical treatment in another member state in the same way as residents of that state—i.e., free or at a reduced cost—if treatment becomes necessary during their visit, or if they have a chronic pre-existing condition which requires care such as kidney dialysis. The term of validity of the card varies according to the issuing country. The EEA countries and Switzerland have reciprocal healthcare arrangements with the United Kingdom, which issues a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) valid in the EEA countries and, in most cases, in Switzerland.
Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the insured if the purchaser is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy.
Personal injury protection (PIP) is an extension of car insurance available in some U.S. states that covers medical expenses and, in some cases, lost wages and other damages. PIP is sometimes referred to as "no-fault" coverage, because the statutes enacting it are generally known as no-fault laws, and PIP is designed to be paid without regard to "fault," or more properly, legal liability. That is, even if the person seeking PIP coverage caused the accident, they are entitled to make a claim under the PIP portion of their policy. "No-Fault" does not mean that insurance premium of the person making the claim will not increase. Typically a PIP claim is made by the insured driver to their own insurance company, however, there are several exceptions that allow persons who have been injured in an accident to make a PIP claim if they do not own a vehicle. The particular state law and policy language of the insurer should be reviewed to see what exceptions exist in that state.
Divers Alert Network (DAN) is a group of not-for-profit organizations dedicated to improving diving safety for all divers. It was founded in Durham, North Carolina, United States, in 1980 at Duke University providing 24/7 telephonic hot-line diving medical assistance. Since then the organization has expanded globally and now has independent regional organizations in North America, Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific and Southern Africa.
Kidnap and ransom insurance or K&R insurance is designed to protect individuals and corporations operating in high-risk areas around the world. Locations most often named in policies include Mexico, Venezuela, Haiti, and Nigeria, certain other countries in Latin America, as well as some parts of the Russian Federation and Eastern Europe. Central Asia is also seeing increasing numbers of incidents, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Expatriate insurance are insurance policies that are designed to cover financial and other risks incurred specifically by expatriates while living and working in a country other than one's own. The insurances that expatriates need are similar to individuals living in the country but may be more complex to arrange because they are not native. There may also be specific risks for high-risk areas of the world where specialty insurance can provide coverage for war and terrorism, kidnap and ransom.
Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance which helps protect professional advising, consulting, and service-providing individuals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client in a civil lawsuit. The coverage focuses on alleged failure to perform on the part of, financial loss caused by, and error or omission in the service or product sold by the policyholder. These are causes for legal action that would not be covered by a more general liability insurance policy which addresses more direct forms of harm. Professional liability insurance may take on different forms and names depending on the profession, especially medical and legal, and is sometimes required under contract by other businesses that are the beneficiaries of the advice or service.
Healthcare in the Netherlands is differentiated along three dimensions (1) level (2) physical versus mental and (3) short term versus long term care.
In the United States, health insurance coverage is provided by several public and private sources. During 2019, the U.S. population overall was approximately 330 million, with 59 million people 65 years of age and over covered by the federal Medicare program. The 273 million non-institutionalized persons under age 65 either obtained their coverage from employer-based or non-employer based sources, or were uninsured. During the year 2019, 89% of the non-institutionalized population had health insurance coverage. Separately, approximately 12 million military personnel received coverage through the Veteran's Administration and Military Health System.
Travel assistance refers to the provision of support, services, and guidance to travelers to ensure a safe, convenient, and enjoyable journey. It encompasses various aspects of travel, including transportation, accommodation, information, and emergency support. Travel assistance is often provided by travel agencies, tour operators, airlines, hotels, and specialized companies that cater to the needs of travelers.
Visitor’s health insurance, also known as visitor’s medical insurance, is a form of short-term travel medical insurance policy that visitors of any country can purchase to obtain coverage protection for accidental injury or disease that occurs during their stay in the host country.
Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection (BHTP) is a North American-based travel insurance company, headquartered in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Royal Sundaram General Insurance Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Sundaram Finance Group, is the first private sector general insurance company in India to be licensed in October 2000 by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.