Those who often travel outside the country know for sure that insurance policy is not a whim, but a severe necessity. After all, the traveler breaks out of his usual environment, and the policy will help him to feel safe in a foreign country. What does travel insurance include? Reviews already issued such insurance, of course, will help to make the right choice. But it will be useful to learn in more detail what features of this type of insurance you need to provide and how much this “pleasure” will cost.
Features of "foreign" insurance
Going on a trip, remember: you will not be allowed into any country in the world if you do not have an insurance policy. This document is the guarantee that if something happens to you in a foreign land, then transport services and timely medical assistance will be provided to you immediately and in full. So put up with the fact that travel insurance abroad is an urgent need, and even if you are sure that nothing can happen to you, you still have to apply for a policy.
There are different types of insurance, and their cost depends on many factors. Therefore, before you pay your "money" to a company, you need to carefully study the proposed conditions.
Insurance risks
All policies offered by insurance companies can be divided into two large groups - the standard option and the elite class. The whole difference lies in the completeness of the set of covered risks.
In a standard package you will be offered:
- reimbursement of emergency treatment costs in the event of an insured event;
- free transportation to a nearby hospital, and, if necessary, delivery of the patient to the country of permanent residence, accompanied by doctors;
- the provision of medical services on the spot (in the host country), outpatient treatment, hospitalization if necessary;
- reimbursement of the cost of drugs prescribed by the attending physician;
- emergency dental services;
- repatriation of the insured in the event of his death.
In addition to all of the above items, the following may be included in the “elite” set of insurance risks:
- returning home and reimbursing the cost of tickets in cases recognized as an insurance event;
- early termination of the trip in the event of the death of a close relative, reimbursement of the cost of tickets at the expense of the insurance company;
- a visit of the insured by one of the relatives (tickets at the expense of the insurance) in case of hospitalization in the host country for more than 10 days;
- delivery to the place of permanent residence of children (up to 16 years old) of the insured person accompanied by an employee of the company in those cases when the insured is hospitalized for more than 10 days;
- additional accident insurance;
- reimbursement of other risks associated with the trip - loss of luggage, services of a lawyer, eviction from the hotel for any reason and others.
Please note that insurance for pregnant women traveling abroad is also often not included in the standard set of services and is paid extra. Also additionally paid are the risks associated with extreme types of recreation.
Amount of insurance coverage
In order for travel insurance abroad to be as high-quality and competent as possible, it is necessary to remember one more important detail, namely, the maximum possible amount of damages.
This metric depends on where you are heading. For Schengen countries, this amount should be at the level of 30 thousand euros. For Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus, where, as you know, medical services are much cheaper, the amount of 15 thousand dollars may turn out to be sufficient. But if you are going to countries where the medicine is very expensive, for example, to Japan, the USA, Australia or Canada, then you should get insurance for at least 50-70 thousand dollars.
Based on the cost of medicine in the host country, insurers usually group their proposals as follows:
- Schengen countries;
- other European countries;
- CIS states;
- Egypt;
- Turkey;
- the whole world (excluding the CIS, Australia, Japan, Canada and the States);
- the whole world.
Age
Another criterion by which travel insurance is shared is the age of the insured. Depending on this indicator, companies divide their customers like this:
- up to a year;
- 1-3 years;
- 4-15 years old;
- 16-64 years;
- 65-75 years old;
- more than 75 years.
It is noteworthy that from the first to the fourth point the cost of insurance decreases, and starting from the fifth, it increases significantly. The minimum amount for the services of the insurance company will be paid by travelers aged 16 to 64 years, but people over 75 will have to fork out.
What is Assistance?
A very important point in this matter, such as insurance of travelers traveling abroad, is the presence of an assistance company in the host country. What does it mean?
Assistance is such a partner of the local insurance that will take care of all the cares for you in the host country. If something happened to you on vacation, then ensuring medical care, delivery to the hospital, paying for medicines and so on are all their concerns. So when choosing an insurance, pay attention not only to whether they have a foreign partner, but also to the possibility of providing Russian-speaking support by this same partner.
If your insurance does not have assistance, then you will have to solve all problems in a foreign country yourself. Well, if you have sufficient language skills and a substantial amount of free cash. And if not? You can receive reimbursement of the cost of your expenses only upon arrival at home, and even then - if you are able to provide documents from foreign medical institutions with all the proper seals and signatures.
The price of insurance - what does it depend on?
As we have already found out, the price of a policy can depend on many indicators - the range of numbers is quite wide. It all depends on what risks you want to protect yourself from, how old you are and where you are going. Also, the availability and “coolness” of the assistance company and the duration of the trip affect the price of insurance.
In addition, the price of the policy is quite strongly influenced by the purpose of the trip: if you intend to lie quietly on the beach - this is one thing, and if you plan to jump with a parachute or snowboard - it's completely different. Another item on which the cost of the policy depends is the existence of a franchise, that is, such an amount (minimum) that the insurance company will not cover. For example, if you have a franchise of $ 500 in your contract, and the treatment cost 499, no one will return anything to you.
Taking into account all these indicators, the cost of an insurance policy for tourists can vary from a couple of hundred to several tens of thousands of rubles.
Travel Insurance - a ranking of companies, what it affects
If you are going abroad and looking for a company where you can purchase a policy, you should pay attention only to the most trusted and largest. In small companies, of course, insurance can cost literally a penny, but real help from them, in which case, you can hardly wait.
So, you have decided to take out insurance for travelers abroad. A rating of leading insurance companies in this area will help you. After analyzing the activities of most of them, you can make approximately the following list:
- "INTOUCH insurance."
- "Zhasco."
- Ingosstrakh.
- "RESO-Guarantee".
- IC “PPF Life Insurance”;
- Sberbank
- "VSK".
- Sogaz.
- VTB.
- Rosgosstrakh.
- Uralsib.
Of course, this list is somewhat subjective, each of the clients can make their own, and will be right. Each of them has both its drawbacks and advantages. For example, Sberbank (like many other companies) proposes to arrange insurance for travelers abroad without leaving home, using the service on the company's website.
How to identify a good insurer
First of all, you should personally visit the office of the selected organization and make sure that the company has all the permits and licenses to the right to carry out this type of insurance.
Carefully study the list of services offered - the wider it is, the better. Choose the list of risks that is optimal for you, but do not overdo it with refusals. It will be a shame if something happens to you that the insurance does not cover. Expect reimbursement in this case is not worth it.
Study the contract well, especially the places in it that are written in small print. Do not hesitate to ask the manager many questions - you must clearly understand what you can count on if something happens to you.
Choose only large, proven insurance, especially if you plan a long trip. If a little-known one-day company goes broke and disappears during your trip, you may be in big trouble.
Think again about the advisability of issuing a policy if the company does not have a partner in the intended country of residence. Remember: a quality insurance policy will make you feel safe away from home.