Domestic Travel Insurance – Need of the Hour

Domestic Travel Insurance – Need of the Hour

Uncertainty, illness, accident or emergency can strike anytime, even during a leisure or work trip within the country. Travel insurance can allay some of the worries of unexpected emergencies and make travel really hassle and worry free.

How? Let us see. Key benefits that domestic travel Insurance offers are:

Medical Emergency and Hospitalization: Emergencies can come knocking unannounced and even during travel. Domestic travel insurance provides a cover for any sudden medical emergencies that requires treatment, hospitalization and/or evacuation from the destination.

Accident Insurance: This feature provides coverage for injury due to accident, disablement, even loss of life.

Flight delays and cancellation: A change in flight schedule can throw your travel and accommodation plans astray. The insurance provides cover for loss due to flight delays, missed connecting flights, and change in hotel arrangements due to the cancelled or delayed flights.

Trip Cancellation: You may have to cancel your carefully planned trip due to unforeseeable circumstances. The cover provides protection for financial loss incurred due to travel cancellation.

Loss of Baggage: Loss of baggage though not common in domestic travel but can be a harrowing experience. Imagine arriving at your destination and not have your personal belongings, formal attire for an event, meetings, loss of valuables or electronics and data. Though airlines compensate for a missed baggage, it is minimal. The insurance covers you to a large extent against material loss.

Personal Liability: A new feature in domestic insurance, the feature provides cover against damage caused to third party property or belongings.

Exclusions:

The domestic travel insurance does not provide coverage for illness due to pre-existing conditions, terminal illnesses and related complications, medical treatment related travel, travel against medical advice, injuries/accidents under influence of alcohol, self-harm, hazardous and adventurous activities, illegal activities.

Things to keep in mind while buying domestic travelinsurance:

Travel insurance comes at a nominal cost. It can be purchased for a single trip or for multiple trips during a year.

It is offered for anyone up to 65 years of age. The age cap varies from plan to plan and goes up to 70 years of age.

Travel insurance can be availed for a trip by air, road or train.

You can buy travel insurance from an online travel aggregator, general insurance company directly or from a travel agent.

Read the terms and conditions, fine print, and exclusions carefully before purchase so that you do not get any surprises in case of an unfortunate incident during travel.

Understand the claims process, keep helpline numbers, key contacts, policy document and necessary information handy.

Understand clauses related to pre-existing medical conditions and coverage.

Purchase adequate cover so that you do not end up paying for insurance cover and expenses out of pocket due to low coverage.

Buy travel insurance in advance and not at the last minute so that you clearly understand the cover you are buying.  Many travel aggregators offer a travel insurance at the time of booking tickets. One needs to pay attention to the plan, terms and coverage before ticking the box in a hurry.

There are many plans offered by reputed insurers in the market, offered at a reasonable cost. Compare and choose as per your requirement and not by the cheapest plan available.

IRDA recently announced a standard travel insurance that provides basic mandatory cover that will offered by all Insurance companies.

Travel and airlines industry has gone through a tumultuous time in last one year. Flight delays, cancellation, last minute changes are the norm now as the industry is still recovering. The flux is likely to continue in the coming years as pandemic is not going to disappear fully in near future. The risk of travel will have more and more travellers looking at adequate travel insurance. Travel Insurance will pick up as a segment from just being an add-on product.

Time is ripe for Insurers to design products, specific covers for protection against Covid infection contracted during the travel and the unexpected expenses in an unknown city. Right now there are products that offer Covid cover for international travel. There is a risk of being stranded at your destination due to Covid outbreaks/lockdown/travel restrictions even in domestic travel. There is a need for a product for domestic travel that covers this risk too.

World Health Statistics Report 2021, data has been published about average life expectancy across various regions of the world

In a recent World Health Statistics Report 2021, data has been published about average life expectancy across various regions of the world. The study tracked life expectancy, healthy life expectancy for men and women. It also tracked the difference in both parameters between genders.

Image and Data credit: Times Of India

The result from the study indicate the below:

1.       Life expectancy has risen over the years across the world. With advanced leaps in medicine and technology, the average life expectancy has risen. In India the figure has moved up from an average of 50 years in 1980s to 70 years in 2021.

2.       Though the increase in life expectancy is a positive news yet the difference in life expectancy and ‘healthy life expectancy’ is on an average 9 years globally. That means that even though people are living longer, the later span may not be healthy.

3.      The data on healthy life expectancy suggests that there is hardly any improvement or growth in ‘healthy life expectancy’ between 2012 – 2019, even though life expectancy has improved.

4.       Amongst men and women, the life expectancy is higher for women, but the difference is not the same in healthy life expectancy. In fact, the gender difference in healthy life expectancy is minimal in India (0.1 years) as against life expectancy difference of 2.7 years.

The report throws significant insights for us:

·        With increasing life expectancy and focus of medical science on prolonging lifespan, there is less focus on increasing the healthy lifespan i.e. a disease free long life.

·        The long life may be fraught with severe diseases in later years, significantly impacting the quality of life, mobility and very high medical expense.

·        Women are at a disadvantage and risk of not receiving proper medical care due to lesser autonomy and decision making. They receive less care medically and in terms of healthy lifestyle and nutrition. Gynae related ailments and not getting treatment of the desired level in their middle age affects them . Thyroid is also affecting them quite a bit.

·        The data above is a wakeup call for every individual to think long term and put a financial plan in place early on for a prolonged lifespan as well as medical expenses.

·       With a high inflation rate and very high medical inflation (18-20%) in the country, one needs to prepare a retirement kitty right from a young age and take appropriate Health Insurance cover to be able to afford treatment in later years.

·        It is important for men and women of all ages to start taking care of their health, food habits and lifestyle. We need to cut down on junk food, excess sugar, fats etc. and make regular exercise a part of our daily life to avert and delay health crisis as much as possible.

·        It should be understood by you that Health insurance cover is not just a tax saving tool, as the pandemic has taught us. Adequate insurance gives peace of mind in unexpected emergencies. A policy bought early comes at a lower price when there are less health issues. A long standing policy also covers illnesses contracted later and pre-existing illnesses after a waiting period.

·        Those who have a Health  cover from employer must augment it with a personal cover to have adequate coverage once employer insurance ceases at retirement or upon quitting.

·        Health Insurance cover becomes expensive in later years; hence one must have a personal cover early on.

·        It is important that the cover is adequate and not too small to cover even basic treatment. One must review the policy every few years so that it is in line with current medical costs and requirements. Top up plans, porting options are available with most insurers.

·         For getting knowledge about Super Top Up Plans you should contact Good Insurance Brokerage Firm.