Individual Travel Insurance

It helps people deal with medical emergencies, unexpected costs, and other risks they might face while traveling. Policy offers reimbursement for lost passport or baggage, trip cancellations, flight accidents, other expenses during domestic or international travel. In India, travel insurance is increasingly essential for family vacations, business trips, or adventure outings like trekking.

You have various single travel insurance options. These range from plans covering significant medical expenses to those compensating for flight delays or hotel stays. In countries like USA, where medical costs can be exorbitant, having a travel insurance plan is crucial. Similarly, for domestic travel, one can opt for plan that cover journey interruptions, trip cancellations, and other associated risks.

You need an insurance policy to compensate the cost incurred because of number of reasons:

• Overseas medical emergencies
• Delayed flights
• Loss/Delay of Luggage
• Country/Visa Requirements
• Missed Flights/ Trip Cancellation
• Cover for Natural Calamities or Human-made Disasters
• Study interruptions
• Flight hijack

Medical expenses usually cost 3 to 5 times more in foreign countries in comparison to India. Millions of passenger baggage are mislaid by airlines every year, with many going untraced. Further, travel scams are very common in countries with tourism industry.

So, it’s important not only to buy travel insurance but also to choose the right one. If you buy a travel insurance plan, you’re safeguarding your trip against all the financial losses. A lost passport or a missed flight are very scary situations for the tourists, both in domestic and internationally travel. Without travel insurance one can feel lost in a variety of situations, so always keep a backup with travel insurance policy.

• Individual Travel Insurance - This plan is taken by individuals when they are travelling alone (solo travelers). Solo travelers need extra protection and access to instant help, especially in case of hospital care or another emergency.
• Family Insurance - The family members of the policyholder who are insured are also protected for medical costs. They are also covered for lost luggage, personal responsibilities, passport loss, baggage delays, and more.
• Senior Citizen Insurance - This policy is offered to individuals above the age of 70 years. Senior citizen travel insurance plans offer benefits for unexpected financial crises. These include medical treatment expenses, delayed or lost luggage, repatriation of mortal remains, emergency medical evacuation, and additional coverage. This depends on the insurance provider.
• Corporate Insurance - The corporate travel insurance plans covers basic medical expenses, baggage delay/loss, flight delay, missing connecting flights, etc.
• Student Insurance - This plan is specifically for students and includes a special feature that extends validity upto 2 years. It includes essential overseas travel insurance coverage like medical clearance, study interruption, sponsor protection, and additional add-ons.
• Group Insurance Plan - This insurance covers the group traveling within India’s national borders and internationally. Depending upon the limit per person of the group, It covers personal accidents and baggage coverage.
• Domestic Insurance - Domestic travel insurance is a beneficial when travelling within the earthly borders of India. It shields the insured person from various situations and emergencies like medical coverage, personal accidents, and loss of baggage.
• International Insurance - The plan provides extensive coverage for overseas travel trips, including study, holidays, family visits, meetings, and more.
• Schengen Insurance - This is a special insurance policy required by people travelling to any of the 26 Schengen countries. The policy protects you from any type of financial losses.
• Single Trip Insurance - The single trip travel insurance plan is useful for those who travel abroad occasionally. It offers insurance coverage for both the policyholder and the associated claimant. This coverage starts from the beginning of the journey and continues until they return to the country.
  
  When traveling internationally, people opt for international travel insurance. This is because it covers various things like medical emergencies, baggage loss or delay, and non-medical expenses.
• Multi-Trip Insurance - The insurance plan is tailored for frequent travelers such as businessmen and corporate sectors. It usually covers round trip journeys for one year. By opting for this policy for your travelling trips, you save a good amount of money.

• Individual Insurance Plan - It covers medical services expenses, dental expenses, accidental emergencies, accidental death. Additionally, it covers non-medical factors like passport loss, baggage loss, and flight delays.
• Family Insurance - The family members of the policyholder are insured for medical expenses, lost baggage, personal liabilities, passport loss, delayed baggage, and other situations.
• Senior Citizen Insurance- enior citizen travel insurance plans offer coverage for unexpected financial emergencies during travel. Such as delayed or lost check-in baggage, medical expenses, emergency medical assistance, and repatriation of mortal remains. These benefits vary depending on the policy terms.
• Corporate Travel Insurance- This insurance plan covers basic medical expenses, flight delay, baggage loss, missing connecting flights, etc.
• Student Travel Insurance- It covers the basic overseas individual travel insurance covers and offers some add-ons as well. The covers like bail bond, study interruption, sponsor protection, medical clearance and some more.
• Group Travel Insurance- Plan covers the group going aboard from India or traveling within the domestic borders of India. It covers personal accidents and baggage losses, but coverage depends upon the limit per person of the group.
• Domestic Travel Insurance- Benefits include medical coverage, personal accident cover and loss of baggage.
• International Travel Insurance- It covers medical and dental expenses, loss of baggage and passport, flight delays, trip cancellation.
• Schengen Travel Insurance - The plan covers for medical expenses, passport loss, delayed arrival of baggage, loss of baggage. It also covers accidental death and dismemberment, personal accident cover, and personal liabilities.
• Single Trip Travel Insurance- It is popularly chosen as it provides comprehensive coverage for both domestic and international travel. It covers medical emergencies, baggage loss or delay on check-in baggage, non-medical covers, etc.
• Multi-Trip Travel Insurance- The cover under this travel insurance is like the other international travel insurance covers. This plan covers medical emergencies, loss of passport, personal liabilities, medical clearance, loss or delay of check-in baggage. Also, other specified protections offered by the insurance company.

Travel insurance plans generally covers travel risks, medical risks and flight disruptions. You can easily purchase your tour insurance online that covers all possible risks ensuring a hassle-free trip. Below you will find some reasons justifying the significance of a travel insurance:

• It provides cover against medical emergencies
• Covers for loss of baggage
• Reimburses for replacement cost of lost documents or passports
• Flight cancellation coverage

Any health emergency during travel in an unknown place can create panic. Therefore, an ideal journey insurance plan ensures proper coverage through medical assistance and hospitalisation. If there's a loss of baggage, you'll receive reimbursement according to the sum insured. Likewise, the insured's expenses incurred for passport or document replacement are reimbursed based on the sum insured.

If your flight is canceled or delayed, you'll get reimbursed or refunded as per your travel policy schedule. As coverage and benefits vary among insurers, it's essential to review the policy terms before purchasing an insurance plan. It's highly recommended to review the policy terms before purchasing a travel insurance plan. As coverage and benefits vary between international and domestic plans.

With the increasing medical emergencies and related financial stresses, many insurance companies have introduced the COVID-19 cover.

• The plan can cover medical and hospital expenses if you contract COVID-19 while abroad.
• If you, family member, or companion test positive for COVID-19, leading to the cancellation or interruption of your trip. You'll be reimbursed for the unused part of your travel arrangements.
• If a lockdown occurs in your destination country and there are no available means of return travel. Then, the travel insurance plan can automatically extend for up to 7 days.

Add-ons are additional features you add to your journey insurance to make it even more extensive regarding coverage. Below are some of the add-on and optional covers available under the insurance policy:

• Trip delay coverage reimburses financial losses due to trip delays or cancellations up to the policy limits. Limit is different for one trip, round trips or multiple trips.
• The Schengen plan covers expenses related to medical emergencies. It includes return for medical reasons, urgent hospital treatment, or in the unfortunate event of death.
• Family members' compassionate visits are covered, ensuring guests don't have to return home because of the travel insurance policy.
• During urgent situations necessitating emergency hotel lodging for a family member, the online travel insurance policy covers it seamlessly.
• Both the insured and their family members receive emergency hotel lodging. Limits apply for coverage under this clause.
• Escort for a minor child is covered if you're traveling with a minor or baby on the flight, up to a certain limit.
• The coverage includes loss of personal belongings, whether it's your baggage or your passport.
• Replacement and rearrangement of staff in an unforeseen situation

Optional Covers

These optional covers enhance your existing travel insurance policy with more fascinating features.

• Pre-existing Illness including HIV and AIDS protection
• Maternity and baby cover from day one
• Mental illness and alcohol-related disorder Cover

Any Indian citizen can buy an international travel insurance online, irrespective of the type of policy he/she want to purchase. Additional eligibility requirements for different types of online International travel insurance are:

Please note that the age bracket varies from one insurer to another. One should check the eligibility with the insurance provider before he/she review or buy international travel insurance online.

To get a policy that offers maximum coverage for the least possible premium, you need to get travel insurance quotes first. To find out the premium payable for a travel insurance plan you can use a premium calculator (a premium calculator is an online tool that gives you an estimate of cost for a particular insurance plan). Below we have listed a few parameters that affect travel insurance premiums:

• Age - Higher the age of the traveller, more will the premium payable
• Destination - If you are travelling to a high-risk country, your chances of facing adversities are more and therefore the premium would be higher
• Trip Duration -Longer your trip duration, higher will be your travel insurance premium.
• Number of Travellers - The premium of a policy covering one person will be lower than the premium of a policy covering the entire family or a group.
• Add-On Covers - If you opt for add-on covers under your travel insurance policy, your premium amount will increase.

Before you go on to buy travel insurance online, insurer gives you the option to calculate the insurance premium with a few steps.

• Step 1: Head to your preferred insurer’s travel insurance premium calculator
• Step 2 : Share your name, mobile number and email address
• Step 3 : You will now be asked to enter the country of residence
• Step 4 : Based input you provide, you will receive a confirmation and a premium quote

When buying travel insurance, your aim should be to spend the minimum amount and get the maximum coverage benefits. An online insurance premium calculator helps you with this aspect. Not only can you find out your monthly payments but also customize the policy features to suit your needs and budget. One can try out different combinations of policies and get an apt travel insurance policy for self and family.

The importance of buying travel insurance in India is well known. People have started to realized that purchasing travel insurance is not an extra burden in your vacation budget, but it can give you a peace of mind which is essential to enjoy your trip.

Travel insurance is important and you can adopt below methods to lower the premium;

• Opt-in for a Multi-trip Cover - One of the best travel insurance options for frequent travellers is a multi-trip cover that will protect you for a specified time (mostly, a year). Hence, you can travel in and out of the country for several trips and have a single policy to protect you and your interests.
• Buy Insurance Early On - Getting the travel insurance plans early on is beneficial for multiple reasons. This is especially true in case you want to cancel your trip or there is an unprecedented situation. An early insurance helps you make the required changes.
• Tailor-Made Insurance Policy - If you start looking out for travel insurance early, you can find out different combinations of features offered by different insurance providers. This helps you choose the policy coverage and end up paying less while getting maximum benefits.
• Go for Group Travel Insurance - This plan bundles multiple services, offers provision to add multiple members, offers several benefits and has relatively lower premiums.

One major advantage of purchasing travel insurance online is the ability to gather feedback about an insurance company beforehand. You can check an insurer's claim settlement ratio (CSR) to see how likely your claims will be settled in the future.

You can also know the incurred claim ratio of a company to know their financial health. Once you have zeroed in on tour Insurance, you can buy the policy online sitting at the comfort of your home. To make buying travel insurance easier, choose SecureNow. A top insurance broker that assists customers in purchasing domestic travel insurance online.

Things to consider while buying travel insurance online:

• Length of Trip - Length of your vacation will determine the cost of your overseas travel insurance, meaning that if you are going on a trip which would last only 7 days the costs would be nominal. However, if you are considering to traveling abroad for a vacation that would last for at least a month, the cost of your overseas travel insurance will be higher.
• Distance of Travel - The cost and coverage of the overseas travel insurance change with distance. Therefore, the duration of your flights and the distance that you would be traveling should be considered while tailoring the travel insurance.
• Activities Planned - During vacation if you engage in intense and high-risk adventure sports, then the overseas travel insurance policy might have restrictions regarding their coverage as well.
• Side Trips and Extra Destinations - Location-specific overseas travel insurance do not extend the cover to side to near but countries.
• Medical Conditions - If you are going to a destination that might leave you open to some diseases or you might have a pre-existing condition that you would be traveling with, then it is extremely important to check the list of inclusions.