No insurance policy can protect you from unexpected happenings during your vacation. However, if you have taken a travel insurance plan, then you can at least recover a decent amount of money that you might otherwise have lost.
Despite the wide range of coverage provided by travel insurance policies, most of us do not take one as you may think that nothing unpleasant can happen which will ruin your holidays. However, being practical always helps and this is the reason travel insurance policies are recommended.
Since there are various travel insurance policies available online like travel insurance for senior citizens, you may get confused in selecting the best one for you.
To avoid such a situation, it is suggested you ask six questions before you buy a plan:
Is the policy covering your travel destination?
The first and the foremost thing that you must check before taking a travel insurance plan for a single trip is – whether the policy is covering your travel destination or not. If the place where you are going to travel is an unsafe zone in your country or comes under the excluded areas of your domestic travel insurance plan, then do not take such a policy.
Are adventure activities covered?
Before going for a vacation where you will be enjoying adventure sports, do check whether your policy is going to cover it or not. Some adventure activities are deemed as ‘high risk’ sports, wherein chances of getting injured are higher, so these sports are excluded in most of the travel insurance policies. So go for a plan that gives full coverage and includes high-risk activities.
What is the maximum payable provided by your policy?
Before finalizing any plan such as domestic travel insurance or international policies, it is suggested to check the maximum payables of the policy. Having an idea of it will keep you in ease while making any claim or while bills will be adding up in an emergency during travel.
What are the exclusions of your policy?
Every insurance policy has a few exclusions and travel insurance plans also have exclusions of situations in which the insurance policy will not provide coverage. For example, most of the insurance policies do not cover the losses that incur while you are drunk or under the influence of some drug.
So, the above example is given just to let you know that you must read the fine print or the exclusions of your insurance policy with its inclusions before purchasing one.
Do the insurance policy cover pre-existing medical conditions?
If you don’t declare pre-existing condition, then your policy can be invalidated. If you have some severe health issues or had any in the past, then searching a travel insurance plan that covers it can be troublesome. So, the bottom line is, if you have any pre-existing medical issue, then take a plan that covers it.
What is the process to file a claim?
It is equally necessary to know the process of making its claim. You can get an idea of the organization’s claim settlement by its Incurred Claim Ratio (ICR). ICR is the ratio of a number of claims settled versus the number of claims registered in a year with the insurance provider. The higher the ICR, more reliable is the organization in terms of claim settlement.
Moreover, this process should be pain-free and easy because you must be stressed out while making a claim. Apart from this, the insurance company should also have 24*7 active call centers so that you can be able to contact it anytime while making a claim.
