If you are on a personal or business trip, it is advisable to buy a travel insurance policy to cover various risk factors. For business executives, multi-trip travel insurance is advisable as it will save money. However, even if you need travel insurance to study in a foreign country. Travel insurance can cover various kinds of risk factors including trip cancellation, overseas medical expenses, personal liability and loss or damage of personal items. You should subscribe to an insurance policy that is most appropriate for your needs.
Mandatory insurance plan
You can buy a mandatory Student Travel Insurance as per the regulations of the foreign university or institution. Some institutes stipulate to buy a health insurance plan from them to cover various kinds of health-related issues. In addition to the health issues, the insurance plan will also cover personal indemnity and medical repatriation.
If you buy a health insurance policy offered by the destination school, there will be gaps in the insurance policy. It will not cover the afterward travel. If you lost the luggage or the damage of the luggage takes place, no compensation will be paid by the insurance company. The insurance policy will not cover the trip cancellation and theft of personal items.
Travel insurance policy
If you buy a travel insurance plan in India, the insurance premium will be low. The compensation paid by the insurance company will be high. Hence, the insurance plan offered by Indian insurance companies in India will deliver better features than a travel insurance policy offered by a foreign university.
With a travel insurance policy purchased from an insurance company, you can expect complete coverage of various kinds of risk factors.
Waiver of insurance policy – instead of buying a health insurance policy from the school of study, you can buy a travel insurance plan from any insurance company in India. Some schools will let you purchase a travel insurance policy of your choice. In such case, you will be immensely benefited with a customized policy purchased from the home country (India).
Benefits of a travel insurance policy
- Fulfills the needs of school – The travel insurance policy will fulfill the needs of the school/college/university subject to the waiver
- Cover for the duration of the course – The insurance policy will cover the entire course duration
- Medical emergencies – The medical emergencies in a hospital will be fulfilled with the help of the insurance policy
- Personal liability – If there are unintentional damages to the third party by the insured, the insurance company will pay the compensation.
- Loss or damage of luggage – If there is complete loss or damage of the luggage, the insurance carrier will pay the compensation.
- Trip cancellation – In some cases, you are compelled to cancel the trip.
- Theft of personal items – If your personal items were stolen, they are covered by the insurance plan. You should mention the valuables and their cost in the insurance proposal form so that they will be covered by the insurance policy without any issues.
Additional cover
In addition to the mandatory insurance requirements as stipulated by the university or educational institution, you can buy an additional cover to fulfill your complete insurance requirements.
Multi-trip travel insurance plan
Students, as well as business executives, are making a number of trips to the home country during their course of study or foreign assignments. Hence, it is worthwhile to explore a multi-trip travel insurance plan. When you buy a Travel Insurance for Student, it will cover the travel requirements as well as other risk factors associated with your studies. The insurance policy will cover the tuition fee, study interruption and return of tuition fee due to the death or severe disability of the sponsor.
What is a multi-trip plan?
If you are traveling very frequently to the home country to visit your family members, you can purchase a multi-trip student travel insurance policy. The advantage of the multi-trip plan is that the premium will be low and the insurance benefits will be extended for every trip.
Features of the multi-trip plan
- Covers unlimited trips – There will not be a limit on the number of trips during the policy period. The policy period will be between 12 months and 18 months.
- Cost-effective – The multi-trip plan is cost-effective as you will not want to pay the premium for every trip.
- Medical expenses – While you are on the trip, you may incur emergency hospitalization. The insurance company will cover the expenses.
- Loss of checked-in luggage – The loss of checked-in luggage will be compensated by the insurance company.
- Loss of passport – The loss of travel documents such as passport will be covered by the policy.
- Death or permanent disability – If there is death or permanent disability, the insurance company is liable to pay the damage.
- Trip delay or cancellation
- Flight delay – If there is a flight delay of more than 3 hours, you might miss the connecting flight. The expenses incurred in this process will be compensated by the insurance carrier.
- Home burglary clause – If the items at your home were stolen during your absence, the insurance company will pay the compensation.
- Trip delay – If there is a delay in undertaking the trip for more than 12 hours, the insurance company will pay the damages.
- Medical evacuation – The expensed incurred due to medical evacuation will be borne by the insurance company.
- Transportation of mortal remains – If there is an unfortunate death of the insured the expenses involved in transporting the mortal remains will be borne by the insurance company.
Travel insurance companies offering multi-trip policies
The following are some of the travel insurance companies which are offering multi-trip policies:
- Tata AIG
- Bajaj Allianz General Insurance
- IFFCO-TOKIO
- Apollo Munich Travel Insurance
- Reliance General Insurance
- HDFC ERGO
- Bharti AXA Travel Insurance
- Royal Sundaram Travel Insurance
- SBI General Travel Insurance
Eligibility to subscribe the multi-trip travel policy
Age – The age of the insured should be between 3 months and 70 years to be eligible for a multi-trip travel insurance policy. Students can subscribe to the policy without any issues.
Schengen countries – To travel to Schengen countries, the age of the insured should be less than 50 years. If the age is above 50 years, you should purchase a single-trip insurance policy.
Exclusions of a multi-trip travel insurance policy
You should be aware of the exclusions applied by the multi-trip travel insurance policy:
- Existing health issues – If there are any existing health issues, they are not covered by the insurance plan
- Self-afflicted injuries or suicide – If the insured commits suicide or injures him/her intentionally, the policy is not applicable.
- Alcohol or drug abuse – If you are involved in an accident due to consumption of alcohol or drugs, you cannot claim the policy.
- Participation in adventure sports – If you participate in adventure sports, the medical treatment and expenses due to injury or death will not be covered by the policy.
- Traveling against the medical advice
- Lost property not reported to the local police
Advantages of an annual multi-trip travel insurance policy
- Coverage for trips up to 365 days or above
- Pre-existing ailments are covered during the life-threatening situation
- Cashless hospitalization – The facility is available anywhere in the world
- Easy settlement of claims – The claims will be settled in a seamless manner
- Coverage of dental care expenses
- Loss of checked-in baggage
- Delay of checked-in baggage
- Personal liability
- Daily allowance in case of hospitalization
- Hijack distress allowance
- Trip delay coverage
- Compassionate visit
- Missed connection
- Home burglary insurance
How to buy a student travel insurance plan?
You can buy a student travel insurance policy from your institution or from a travel insurance company. If you buy a travel insurance policy from a travel insurance company, you can opt for a comprehensive coverage.
- Online policy – By buying a policy online, you can save time, effort and money. You can visit the official website to understand the features of the policy. A travel insurance policy can be customized as per your needs.
- Buying an insurance plan after the itinerary – As soon as the itinerary is planned, you are advised to buy the insurance policy. It will help you cover the trip cancellation as well. You can avoid huge financial distress by covering the entire trip.
- Deductible – You can choose the appropriate deductible so that there will not be insurance premium burden.
- Compare the available policies – The available insurance policies should be compared to settle for the best plan.
- Multi-trip plan – With a multi-trip plan, you can save on insurance premium and you will not want to purchase a policy for each trip.
Conclusion
Students traveling abroad should purchase the most appropriate travel insurance policy to cover various kinds of risks during their stay. It is important to cover the risk factors for frequent traveling as well. The multi-trip travel insurance plan is ideal for frequent travelers.