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Hi 👋🏻
A few years ago, I was on a bus in Nepal. It met with a small accident. Nobody got hurt, but the bus took some damage, and there was a lot of confusion about what would happen next.
That was the first time I seriously thought about travel insurance. I did not have it on that trip. It was a small incident, but it made me realise how unprepared I was for anything bigger.
I used to think it was an unnecessary expense. Now I think differently.
For short local trips, you can skip it. For international travel, you really should not.
Here is what you need to know.
What does travel insurance cover?
A standard policy covers four things. Medical emergencies, trip cancellations, lost or delayed baggage, and missed flights.
Medical cover is the most important one. Take Japan, which many Indians visit. An emergency room visit there without insurance costs between ₹17,000 and ₹57,000 for basic treatment. A hospital stay runs ₹28,000 to ₹1,14,000 per day. If something serious happens, the bill can easily go into several lakhs. Your Indian health insurance does not work abroad, so whatever the bill is, it lands entirely on you.
Nepal is worth mentioning too, since many Indians visit, thinking it is close enough not to worry about. The same logic applies there. Any medical emergency means paying out of pocket.
Baggage and flight cover are useful too. If the airline loses your bag or your flight gets cancelled, and you had already paid for hotels, a good policy covers those losses.
Is it mandatory?
For Europe, yes. Travel insurance is mandatory for all Indian passport holders applying for a Schengen visa. The Schengen Area covers 27 European countries, including France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. The policy must cover at least €30,000 for medical emergencies, hospitalisation, and repatriation. Without it, the visa application will not go through.
For destinations like Japan, Thailand, or Nepal, it is not mandatory. But as the medical costs section above shows, not having it can be far more expensive than buying it.
What does it cost?
For a five-day trip to an Asian country, a basic policy starts from around ₹334 to ₹500 for the whole trip. That is less than a coffee at the airport.
For longer trips to Europe, it goes up depending on your age, trip duration, and cover amount. But it still stays within a few hundred to a couple of thousand rupees for most trips.
If you travel internationally more than twice or three times a year, an annual multi-trip policy works out cheaper. Tata AIG offers annual plans starting from around ₹4,000, which covers all trips taken within that year under one policy.
What should I check before buying a policy?
Three things.
Declare any health condition. If you have diabetes, blood pressure, or a heart condition and do not mention it while buying the policy, the insurer can reject your claim later. Even if your emergency abroad has nothing to do with that condition. Many Indian travellers skip this to save a few hundred rupees on the premium. But if your claim gets rejected abroad, that saving means nothing.
Read the sub-limits. A policy might say ₹50 lakh cover. But in the fine print, it might only pay ₹5 lakh for surgery and ₹10,000 per night for a hospital room. In Japan, one night in a hospital costs more than that. So the big number on the front page does not always mean much.
Check if your activities are covered. Are you planning to trek in Himachal, go scuba diving in the Andamans, or ski in Europe? Standard policies do not cover injuries from these activities. You need a specific add-on for them. Many Indians find this out only after they file a claim and it gets rejected.
Thank you!
So is it worth buying?
For a 10 to 15-day international trip, a decent policy costs between ₹600 and ₹3,000, depending on where you are going and what is covered. A single emergency room visit in Japan costs ₹17,000 to ₹57,000 for basic treatment. A hospital stay for a few days can go into several lakhs.
The numbers speak for themselves.
The one thing worth being careful about is buying the cheapest policy without reading what it covers. Some policies have so many exclusions that claims get rejected on technicalities. A policy that does not pay when you need it is not really insurance.
See you in the next edition!
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