Best Ways to Beat the Travel Blues When You’re Abroad

Travelling overseas on a holiday with your loved ones or on business trip, requires a lot of planning and involves cost, selecting a destination, international hotels, flights etc. However, a small glitch or an unforeseen event beyond our reach, even after assiduous planning, can make travel a disaster.

Importance of Travel Insurance

When an individual is in a foreign land, any uncertainty can be unnerving. To add to it, having a medical emergency overseas can be frightening. The medical expenses and hospitalization in a foreign country can be immensely expensive. Travel health insurance provides a comprehensive protection to the policyholder, during the entire stay in a foreign land.  Protection is provided in terms of financial security, by covering the non-refundable expenses in case of an unforeseen events or providing for costly medical expenses. Besides this, if an insured has an insurance policy and does not know how to make a claim, it can add to the inconvenience. Therefore, along with being fully aware of the coverage under the travel policy purchased from a particular insurer, the policyholder must be equally aware of the touch-points through which he/she can intimate the insurance company in case of an emergency. In the event of a tragedy, the insured must immediately inform the travel insurance company and provide as much details of the incident as possible. After intimating the insurer, the claimant must duly fill in the claims form and attach all the documents, with medical proofs, in case of hospitalization. Once the documents are submitted, the insurer assesses the loss and reviews the claims. Based on the findings, the claim is settled. Bajaj Allianz is the only insurer with an in-house travel claims processing unit in the industry. The company is also tied-up with Allianz Global Assistance, the worldwide leader of assistance and travel insurance, along with more than 4000 service providers across the globe. Within 12 hours of claim is intimation, the company informs the insured about the claim procedure and co-ordinates with the overseas partner immediately to activate the case. The company also carries out a weekly follow-up with the overseas partner to ensure faster claim settlement, thereby reducing turnaround time. Along with the above mentioned, an online panel hospital link has been provided to the branch office, customers, and IMD’s, especially for USA and Canada. The company also has doctors on duty to speak to the insured and provide medical advice, along with medical referral for any specialist doctor or hospital. The year 2013 saw 14 million Indians travelling overseas (source: TripAdvisor). With the increase in international travel, and the recent airline tragedies, more and more individuals are becoming aware of the importance of purchasing travel insurance. Hence, it is of utmost importance that the claim procedures offered by insurers are straightforward, to handle the growing volumes, along with a strong network of service providers, who can promptly assist the policyholder, in case of an emergency.

Travel Insurance

A travel insurance policy is generally a package policy that includes different types of covers such as hospitalization, personal accident, loss or damage to baggage, loss of passport and so on.

1. To ensure ease of procedure and convenience to the policyholder, all travel insurers provide the claim form with the policy document, containing the list of documents required in case of a claim.
2. The documents also contain contact details of the claims administrator, either in the destination country to which the insured is traveling, or in another country that is designated to receive and process the claim intimation.
3. In case of a claim while travelling, the insured must immediately inform the insurance company.
4. The next step is to submit the claims form along with the necessary documents, to further process the claim.

In case of a Travel Insurance related claim, it is important to notify Bajaj Allianz Medical Assistance department before seeking medical consultation. Helpline number +91- 20- 30305858 (24/7 service). Image Courtesy: www.freedigitalphotos.net