Absolutely all countries that have signed the Schengen agreements and other states require a special medical policy (insurance) to apply for an entry document.
In the absence of insurance, the probability of a possible refusal, for example, to obtain a European visa, increases at times, because this is a guarantee not only for the host country that in case of an emergency a person will not be left without money in a medical institution, but also for the tourist himself, in case unforeseen situation related to his health, he will not have to worry about cash payments for hospital services.
Choosing an Insurance Company
To date, insurance for a visa can be issued at any company providing such services, since the list is so large that you can get lost. Usually in each city you can find offices and representative offices of various medical organizations offering a variety of policies with different amounts of coverage. And in order to choose the right insurance for your visa, one important point should be taken into account: each insurance company in Russia cannot create at least a representative office in all countries of the European Union, therefore they sign agreements with foreign companies that become their partners or assistants (assistance )
In this regard, tourists should pay attention to the partner’s office, since the maintenance of medical insurance for a visa will depend on the good and quality work of an assistant. First you need to carefully read all the information about the international office. Today, the most famous is Coris. Many Russian insurance companies that are in the top among customers lead a common business with her.
Properly designed and executed insurance for a visa will help to avoid further problems with its initial activation and payments. Trust is necessary only for well-established companies that have received accreditation from the embassies of those countries in which there are partner offices. Therefore, for a more reliable choice, you can go to the website of any embassy and look for a list of companies issuing medical insurance for a visa.
Types of insurance for the Schengen zone
When planning a trip to countries that have signed the Schengen Agreement, you should know that visa insurance may vary in their medical coverage. For example, there are those who work exclusively in accidents, in emergency situations and involve only first aid; there are policies covering a wide range of medical services, even dental treatment and so on.
Insurance programs are different, respectively, and the types of insurance for a Schengen visa are also different from each other. Consider the main programs:
- Type A. This insurance provides a guarantee of 100% emergency assistance in case of emergency or in case of unexpected exacerbation of symptoms of an illness present at the time of rest or travel.
- Type B. It is purchased by people who want to protect themselves from the above cases, included in category A. Moreover, this insurance allows you to include third-party services, the provision of medical care and even pays all expenses for returning to the home country the term established by the citizen.
- Insurance for a type C visa includes the entire list of services provided for the two programs described above, and also provides all financial expenses for repairing a vehicle and applying for qualified legal assistance.
Health Insurance Requirements for the Schengen Area
If the insurance policy has several programs, then the usual medical insurance for traveling abroad should contain several mandatory points. After all, for example, to enter Bulgaria, visa insurance is checked right at the border by customs officers. Workers letting tourists in should make sure all laws in their country are complied with.
So, what kind of insurance is needed for a visa to another country:
- Its validity should be equal to the expiration date of the visa for which the citizen applies.
- Its design should take place without a franchise.
- The minimum insurance coverage for a Schengen visa is thirty thousand euros.
- Territory of coverage - all countries participating in the Schengen agreement.
- It is obliged to ensure the provision of all services in case of emergency, including cash security for returning home and two hundred cargo.
If the applicant has purchased cheap insurance for a Schengen visa, which does not have at least one item in the list of services provided (usually there is no repatriation), then the citizen’s application form at the consulate will simply not be considered and the workers have the right to voice a visa refusal.
It is in order to avoid such cases that it is necessary to specify in advance what requirements the embassy sets. For example, at present, the Baltic countries, the French Republic, Switzerland, Finland, and the Czech Republic require visa insurance for their embassies in hard copy. The remaining consular departments of the Schengen countries assume filling in the columns in hand insurance. But the Danish Embassy has certain conditions according to which travel insurance for a visa must be valid for more than fifteen days than the final date of validity of the visa. This is done in case of unforeseen circumstances, when a person ends up in a medical institution for a long period of time, which may exceed the tour framework established by the tourist. The same thing happens in the case of insurance for visas to Poland: the Poles demand to arrange it with a large margin of days.
Registration cost
Each individual insurance has its own specific price. The cost of insurance for a visa is calculated taking into account, firstly, the amount of coverage, and secondly, the duration of the trip. Typically, the countries of the Schengen Union ask that this amount be at least thirty thousand euros or fifty thousand US dollars. With regard to the validity period, it is most often required to coincide with the days of the proposed trip or it must be extended for fifteen days after its end (in case of an emergency and the inability to fly on time).
Usually the traveler's intentions determine the type of medical policy. So, for example, if a person goes on an ordinary trip with tourist purposes, then he will be suited to the usual standard insurance. Most often, such insurance clearly states that if an injury occurs due to extreme sports, the company will not pay for treatment.
Plus, such a policy is its price, because the cost of insurance for a visa and a two-week trip will be some twenty euros. But in the case of trips to the mountains, especially in the winter season to popular ski resorts, the amount, of course, will increase.
Where to get visa insurance
Modern realities allow people to engage in insurance coverage without leaving home. But besides everything, to obtain the necessary document, a citizen, together with a foreign passport, can come directly to the office of the insurance company itself. In addition, employees will need to indicate the dates of travel.
The procedure for obtaining insurance for traveling abroad is almost everywhere standard, regardless of which country a person wishes to visit. However, for general information, the employee also makes information about the country, city and purpose of travel. All the "red tape" will take no more than fifteen minutes. You must pay on the spot using cash or a plastic credit card. But before the payment, it is worth re-reading all the conditions on which the company insures the individual. Suddenly he chose the wrong kind?
To apply for a policy online, you need to register on the official website of the company and enter the necessary personal data yourself, as well as all the requested travel information. This is an absolutely straightforward procedure. Payment is also made online using any bank card or other modern means, for example, from an electronic wallet.
Travel Insurance
Usually, for example, as in the case of insurance for a visa to Germany, issued under a work agreement, the employer himself is engaged in a medical policy, as he is primarily concerned about the foreign worker being in good health. In general, all countries that have signed the Schengen agreement, as well as Israel, the Czech Republic and Estonia, have approved the execution of such insurance at the legislative level. There are also countries where entry is permitted not only with a visa and insurance, but also with a certificate of vaccinations made in advance. Typically, these countries are African states.
A visa without insurance is money, you can say, since no one knows what can happen to us the next day. When leaving for another country to earn money, a person cannot imagine how the local food, climate, and especially the customs of the indigenous people can affect his health. For example, in the Indian territory there are microorganisms that are not found in the Russian Federation and if they enter the human gastrointestinal tract can cause severe poisoning with incessant loose stools.
Plus, to carry out work duties they usually leave for a long time, unlike rest, and in such an environment a person will have to somehow exist.
What is covered by health insurance?
Insurance for both a work visa and a tourist applies to the following:
- A simple examination by a doctor and first aid in case of illness or accident.
- Any medication prescribed by your doctor.
- Fixing devices, antiseptic preparations, bandages, gypsum and so on.
- Transportation of the patient to a hospital facility.
- Inpatient treatment.
- If urgent dental care is needed, the insurance undertakes to cover this case as well.
When the hospital treatment exceeds ten days, the foreigner has the right to call one relative at the expense of the insurance company. It will provide not only a plane ticket, but also its accommodation. Therefore, the standard question from traveling abroad, if there is a visa, is insurance required after such a description automatically disappears.
If a person will need an urgent return to their homeland during the performance of their duties, the company will pay for this flight even for an accompanying person. Such situations arise when specialists of the receiving side cannot provide a full range of medical services for the patient, for example, to perform an operation.
When a person dies while in the country for work reasons, insurance will cover his return. Plus, such “working” medical policies also apply to children: in any of the above cases (illness or death), the company undertakes to send the children home with an accompanying person.
If a citizen gets lost, for example, does not find his way back from the forest during a walk or a campaign for mushrooms, then search work will be carried out at the expense of the medical company that issued him insurance.
Given that a regular visit to a therapist abroad can cost eight hundred dollars, you should understand the seriousness of having a “work” insurance.
Travel insurance cost
Sometimes insurance for leaving for work duties is issued in the home country with a visa. However, most countries adhere to the concept of insurance by the employer already in place, for example, Turkey.
The cost will depend on how long a person goes to work. The longer, respectively, the greater the risk of catching a cold or getting injured. But in terms of price, the principle will work: the longer, the cheaper, because the policy is calculated daily.
The price will also be affected by the general pricing policy for medicines in a given country, doctor's advice and transportation. For example, in Switzerland this is all strictly, an ambulance call must be paid. Moreover, the price will depend on the work performed by a person. After all, it is one thing if a foreigner came to fulfill office assignments, and completely different if he got a job in a team of rescuers, divers or mountain instructors. Recent professions have higher degrees of risk, therefore, the coefficient on them will be increased by two or three times. For example, for an office worker, a policy per day will cost one dollar, and for a person with a dangerous profession - two or more.
If there are obligations associated with risks, a service consisting in rescue operations is usually added, this, of course, increases the total price of insurance. For example, a person works at great depths as a diver, so, besides the fact that searches will be carried out under water, it may be necessary to save a pressure chamber, the use of which can cost up to two hundred dollars per hour. And in the event of an emergency in the mountains, an airplane equipped with medical equipment will cost fifteen thousand dollars.
Such risks are taken into account by increasing the ratio to four or higher. It follows that the average amount for daily insurance also increases. But for ordinary people involved in simple duties without the presence of danger and threat to their lives, insurance will be more expensive than for tourists. In the latter case, the smallest coefficient is used, according to which one day is approximately sixty-five cents. In any case, each situation is individual and much depends on the person himself, on his choice in favor of various additional services, because the maximum coverage sometimes starts from fifteen thousand dollars and can reach one hundred thousand.
Exceptions for travel insurance
Despite this range among coatings, insurance will not be able to take into account some factors. While abroad and performing work duties, it is worth remembering that living is worth violating generally accepted standards of behavior, because the company will not pay for treatment in a hospital if it is necessary, for example, as a result of a car accident, the person who was responsible for it while in an alcoholic intoxication. Other examples relate to hooligan behavior, robberies and other intentional violations of the law of the host country. In these cases, upon receipt of an injury, a citizen will have to be treated at his own expense.
Insurance companies also ensure that cases are not a deliberate "pumping" of money. This can happen by conspiracy with a friend or another person. The usual scenario is this: a few injuries are made and a compelling story is drawn up. The same topic applies to suicide attempts.
The following exceptions to the rules of free treatment are - non-compliance with warning signs, signs in places where you can harm your health. These territories are usually Cuban beaches in August. During this period, rescuers specially display red flags throughout the coastal territory, indicating danger and a ban on swimming. And all because in August a huge number of animals called Portuguese boats come to the shores of Cuba, which with the help of their tentacles strongly sting anyone who touches them. Their length can reach up to fifty meters. Such an acquaintance often ends in death or painful paralysis. By the way, stepping on dry physalis is also dangerous, despite the fact that it is small in size, the burn can leave a very deep one. The leg swells to an incredible size.
And a very important point is the refusal to pay damages if hostilities, strikes, riots, revolutions, serious infectious epidemics that require mandatory quarantine upon arrival in your home country, natural disasters and global natural disasters occur in the country.
What to do if trouble happened during a trip?
What if the trouble crept unexpectedly? Where to call, where to run? This question usually does not arise before the start of the trip, but during the trip, giving in to panic, you can understand that the main point has been missed - information about the provision of medical services for the insurance policy. Therefore, when applying for insurance, a foreigner traveling abroad must inquire all the details about his first actions in the event of an emergency.
So, what is the procedure:
- First of all, a citizen needs to contact the representative of the assistant company, which was mentioned at the very beginning of the article. All telephones and other contacts must be indicated among other insurance information or in a separate information booklet.
- These intermediary companies usually have a 24-hour support line. First of all, they speak English in international language, but usually the staff is multilingual, and when making a call, during the announcement of the interactive menu, you can choose the one that the victim understands best. But acquiring a commonplace phrasebook of the country to which a person is heading will be useful. It is possible to find out about the presence, for example, of a Russian-speaking employee in the call-center of the receiving party of the insurance company when making insurance.
- Further, the employee of the assisting company will tell you all the next steps in connection with the current situation - which hospital to go to (this is very important, since companies often work with different medical institutions), explain how to get there, and so on. If the business is patient, the manager himself will be able to arrange a meeting with the doctor, and the patient will only need to arrive on the necessary day and time.
- If the resulting injury or the onset of pain does not tolerate, then you should immediately contact any hospital nearby. In this case, you will have to pay for all the services provided yourself, however, it is necessary to keep the issued checks and receipts. When the worst is left behind and the pain subsides, you should contact the employees of the assisting company and tell in detail about what happened, including what receipts the patient has on hand. In this case, upon presentation, the insurance company will reimburse all expenses.
During the whole trip abroad, the policy must be with a citizen, so that there is always the opportunity to use it. It is very important that both a tourist and a potential employee traveling to perform labor duties outside their home country understand that they must first draw up a medical policy themselves, and not the consular department or border guard. Insurance will always give confidence in security.