Everything You Need to Know About Family Travel Insurance
Family vacations are the ideal moments for creating memories with your loved ones. Whether you are on a trip with your spouse, aged parents, or young kids, these opportunities of exploring new destinations with your loved ones, always bring unbound excitement.
However, the chances of unexpected mishaps cannot be completely ruled out. Thus, it is important to purchase appropriate family travel insurance from a reputable insurance provider to atleast financially secure yourself and your family.
In this blog, you can find out the importance of family travel insurance and also take a look at some of the crucial factors to consider before choosing a policy.
What is Travel Insurance for a Family?
A family holiday insurance plan needs to provide comprehensive protection coverage for all the family members when they travel abroad on their own or as a family. The family travel insurance policy protects the family members from various travel-related risks, which are medical or non medical in nature. These threats or risks can include Missing a Connecting Flight, Losing your Passport or facing a Medical Emergency while abroad, following a Sickness or Accident.
In addition, there are a host of other emergencies that a travelling family can face while on a trip, and a travel insurance policy can provide financial support during such situations.
In India, it is possible to find low cost family travel insurance plans that offer adequate coverage for yourself and your family, depending on the duration of travel, destination and proposed coverage limits. However, you must know the key parameters that are essential to check before shortlisting family travel insurance plans.
How to Choose the Best Family Travel Insurance?
To make sure that you do not face any unpleasant surprises, when faced with a medical or non- medical emergency, you should go through the following key aspects of the policy before finalising a travel insurance provider:
●Exclusions under the Policy
To avoid potentially costly mistakes while on a trip, consider going through your plan’s ‘exclusions’ section, which are available online or as part of the Policy Wordings (Terms & Conditions). It is an effective strategy because it keeps you informed about what is covered and what is not covered, so that you are aware of the reasons for which your reimbursement claim may be turned down. It will also allow you to file a genuine claim under the policy once the coverages are all understood.
●Insurance Ownership Costs (Premium)
While often ignored, you must compare the price-to-value ratios of multiple travel insurance policies before selecting a plan. This will allow you to pick a travel protection package that can give you the best value for the premium spent. It is important to note that cheap travel insurance is not always best travel insurance. Choose the optimum coverage by keeping in mind age and health condition of the insured traveller, destination and duration of travel.
●Claim Settlement Ratio
While finalising a travel insurance provider, it is suggested that you find out their average turnaround time for processing a claim be it Cashless or Reimbursement. In the Cashless scenario, ensure your chosen insurance provider, has a reliable Overseas Assistance and Claims partner, to ensure timely support if you need to be admitted for any treatment. You should also have genuine data on their claim settlement ratio, which are published on the insurance company websites. As per this information, you can decide which insurance company best suits your needs.
●Allowed Coverage
When shortlisting insurance companies, it goes without saying that you must compare the scope and the extent of coverage amount offered. Most insurance partners have 4-5 Sum Insured options/variants for Accident & Sickness Claims. You can choose your optimum plan. Ensure adequate protection keeping in mind the high cost of medical treatment if you do need to be unfortunately hospitalised abroad.
●Travel Destination
Finally, the intended destination for travel can have a big say over the coverage one should consider getting. A person can select these coverages through several curated plans designed by travel insurance companies. For example most insurance companies offer a Schengen Specific Plan keeping in mind the Legal restrictions for obtaining a Visa. Some offer a specific plan for North America including Canada, Africa, Asia etc. Review all plans prior to making your final decision on the insurer and plan.
If you are looking for excellent travel insurance for families in India, look no further than Star Health. We have a strong reputation, having achieved a 97% cashless final approval rate to date. Moreover, we settle over 5,000 claims across the country on a daily basis across the Travel and Health portfolios. Thus, you can rely on our expert claim settlement, both Cashless and Reimbursement, for complete peace of mind.
Why Insurance is Important for Family Trips in India or Abroad?
When planning a family trip, the safety and convenience of each member come across as your top priority. In addition, relying on insurance seems even more important before going on a trip if any family member has a weak immune system or a pre-existing illness or traveling to an unkown destination for the first time.
Thus, to tackle medical emergencies as well as other types of problems during an international/ domestic trip, you should opt for family travel insurance.
Here is how it can prove to be helpful:
Will Help You Tackle an Unannounced Medical Emergency
Going to a new place increases the chances of falling ill or experiencing physical discomfort. For example, suppose you are visiting a hill station or a location where the environment is relatively colder than your hometown. If you travel there with elderly parents or your children, their chances of experiencing a fever can be much higher than yours.
Similarly since your family many be traveling to a remote island or location for a private getaway, but one member may fall ill or meet with an accident and since medical facilities are not available, Medical Evacuation may be required, the expenses of which are covered under the Family Travel insurance policy.
Family travel insurance can prove to be a lifesaver in the above-mentioned scenario, as medical bills incurred while travelling can be quite expensive. These costs can disrupt your overall trip if you do not purchase a travel insurance plan with adequate coverage.
Proves to be Essential In Case There’s a Theft
Theft is a common occurrence when travelling with family or alone to new places. A travel insurance policy comes in handy in such situations, particularly if someone loses their important documents / baggage while on an international trip. These protection plans provide much-needed financial support when applying for or retrieving a lost document / baggage when you are away from home.
Protects Your Finances In Case There’s a Tour Disruption
While flight delays and loss of checked-in baggage are unfortunate occurrences at airports, there is no way to prevent these situations. Nevertheless, it is still possible to cover your belongings and non-refundable trip costs financially.
Consider checking out the details of Star Travel Protect Insurance Policy that offers visitor insurance for parents and kids too. With this, you can have broad coverage for ongoing emergency support while travelling outside India.
Coverage Under Family Travel Insurance
Most travel insurers offer different insurance policies in terms of Coverages, Sum Insured Limits, Geographical scope etc. Variations can be seen in terms of duration of coverage, sum insured, or both. However, a standard family travel insurance plan has a few contingencies, such as:
- Emergency Medical Expenses, Medical Evacuation costs, Repatriation of Remains in case insured or immediate family member passes away abroad and mortal remains need to be repatriated to India
- Personal Accident coverage covers if someone faces an Accident or Physical Injury that eventually results in death.
- Loss or delay of Baggage
- Lost Passport
- Extension of vacation or trip because of unavoidable reasons
- Cancelled or Delayed flight
- Personal Liability due to an unintentional act
Apart from these basic covers, one can avail of add-on covers to stay prepared for bad weather, personal liabilities , hijacking, and so on. For such requirements, you need to contact your insurance provider and tell them about your requirements.
Final Words
A family travel insurance plan serves many purposes besides providing emergency medical coverage to the plan beneficiaries. You can compare them online and seamlessly book one of the insurance plans that closely align with your needs. During the booking process, you can expect continued services like automated reminders for useful add-ons, toll-free assistance, and 24/7 live chat support to help you with insurance processing and claims.
