STUDYING ABROAD? BUY INSURANCE IN INDIA

Mumbai: It’s that time of the year when the spring semester commences at various universities abroad. For those who have bagged admission offers, therefore, these must be really hectic times, what with all that packing, ticketing and paperwork to be done.

Just make sure you don’t forget to pack a travel insurance cover along with all the knickknacks. Believe it or not, it makes better sense to buy a cover in India.

Medical insurance is mandatory for students heading for most foreign universities. A few educational institutes insist on you getting an insurance policy on the campus. But the lucky ones, whose university allows them to select their own insurance policies, can put their money to better use by carefully selecting an insurance scheme in India.

Policies issued at home equip you with essential tools to manage your ever-bulging expenditure when you are out. Domestic student insurance policies would help prune the policy cost by over a third of the investment required by foreign insurance companies.

Moreover, foreign insurance policies would offer coverage merely for your medical expenses.

Even if a foreign policy offers other add-on benefits, they would not be in line with the expenses an Indian student would usually incur. For instance, a foreign student policy would offer coverage for expenditure on drug addiction rehabilitation and pregnancy, while a domestic policy would help you manage more relevant costs such as an emergency visit by either the student or the relative back home, loss of passport, an interruption in studies on medical grounds or loss of checked in baggage.

Various Indian insurance companies, such as Reliance General Insurance, Bajaj Allianz, Tata AIG, ICICI Lombard and New India Assurance, offer student travel packages designed after considering several unforeseen expenses that a student may have to incur in the foreign land.

Besides offering medical expenses coverage of up to $500,000, Indian policies offer coverage for personal accident, lost baggage (checked), bail bond, personal liability and two-way tickets in case of medical emergency. Some others offer minimal stay facility charges along with two-way tickets for a relative to be with a student who has been hospitalised for more than seven days. Also, to battle out a financial crunch caused by the death of the person sponsoring your education abroad, the insurance company would reimburse the tuition fees, to a maximum limit of $10,000.

The coverage period for student overseas insurance policies ranges from 30 days to a maximum of 365 days, which can be extended once for an additional period of 30-365 days. The travel care insurance policy for students offered by Reliance General Insurance provides protection for a maximum of two years.

The policy premium, which is a one-time payment, is based on whether the student has opted for a university in the US and Canada or any other country. Medical costs in the US and Canada are higher than those in other countries and so are the premiums of policies tailor-made for the respective regions. You would need to invest less if your university is in, say, London.

The cost of getting a high-end plan for education in the US is at least 100% more than the policy meant for a student pursuing education in a non-US destination. Almost all policies offer four plans, differing in the medical expenses coverage and add-on facilities offered.

The low-cost plan would offer fewer facilities at a lesser premium. Few insurance companies offer plans for non-medical expenses. Such plans are meant for students whose universities insist on an in-house insurance policy.

Students planning to study abroad should make sure that the insurance company they are opting for has collaborations with international organisations. It makes sense to take a policy that offers cashless service, meaning that a third party administrator (TPA) would take care of the hospital bills, and the student can avoid the running around for reimbursement of bills.

TPAs are overseas partners of Indian insurers and they would have your policy details to settle the bills. The policyholder has to inform the TPA using an international helpline number provided by the insurance company in case of an eventuality.

Insurance players can register a policy in your name only when your student visa has been issued and the foreign university has confirmed your application. The overseas student insurance procedure takes 24 hours. However, make sure you start looking out for a suitable plan at least a month ahead of your departure. The coverage clock starts only from the day you take off.

Source: DNA India