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Must-knows while buying travel insurance
According to a study published by ICICI Lombard, a general insurance company, more than 10.3 million Indian travellers flew out of the country in 2010. Out of these 40 per cent travelled abroad for leisure purposes, 35 per cent for business, 20 per cent travellers went abroad to meet their friends and relatives and a miniscule one per cent went abroad were students.
But that still makes up for 1.6 lakh Indian students flying abroad for higher studies to destinations like the US, UK, Australia, Singapore etc. Interestingly, overseas universities have made it compulsory for students to buy medical insurance when they reach their respective universities.
Also, a lot of business and leisure travellers too find it important to buy medical or travel insurance when they fly abroad. To help these travellers find out the most important thing they must consider while buying insurance for their overseas travel Rediff.com spoke with Amit Madhan, national manager, retail products, ICICI Lombard GIC.
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Must-knows while buying travel insurance
What's the most important thing that students must know about buying travel insurance?
The most important thing that a student must know before buying a medical insurance is what is their university's requirement. Because that is what will decide what kind of medical or travel insurance she/he must be buying.
If students are buying a medical insurance when they travel abroad for studies they must first go to the their respective university web site where they have secured the admission and check out the covers the university wants an overseas student to have while studying there.
If your travel or medical insurance doesn't cover all the requirements that your university abroad needs then the student has no choice but to cancel the policy and buy a new policy that fulfils the university's requirements.
Most of the companies, including ICICI Lombard, refund 100 per cent of the premium paid when such a situation arises if the cancellation is done within the stipulated time period, typically 15 days. Once you go there you have 15 days to check the university's requirement, get the waiver form and if the university doesn't accept your insurance then you can send us a mail and you will get 100 per cent refund.
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Must-knows while buying travel insurance
What's the most important thing leisure and business travellers must keep in mind while buying insurance when travelling abroad?
Most of the claims that happen on travel insurance are because of the issues related to medical condition of the insured. And a lot of claims happen because of the pre-existing diseases (PEDs). The most important thing the business and leisure traveller must keep in mind is the coverage one gets while buying a travel insurance.
These travellers must check if, the insurance that business and leisure travellers buy, cover them for PEDs in case of a life-threatening situation. If one asks me about the most important thing that one should look at then this is the most important thing.