FAQs

Policy maximum is the limit of money that the insurance company is promising to pay for your covered benefits. To better understand this, consider the policy maximum as a jar full of money equal to the dollar amount of your selected policy maximum. Each time there is a claim paid, the money comes out of this jar.

So if the total claim amount is higher than the available money in the jar, the balance becomes your liability. Essentially, it means the higher the policy maximum you select the more money you have in the jar to protect you from higher claim risks. It is important to pay attention to what policy maximum you choose, as it is an important part of the insurance policy and can affect your risk and liability. A higher policy maximum is recommended for better protection.

What is a deductible and why is it so important? A deductible is the amount of money you're responsible for paying before the insurance company starts paying for any covered expenses. Your responsibility does not mean that you have to pay in cash or upfront, but it will be adjusted in your claims and you will ultimately be responsible to settle it accordingly.

How deductible affects your insurance cost?
It is important to pay attention to what deductible you choose at the time of purchasing the insurance policy as higher the deductible, lower the premium or insurance cost and vice versa. Depending on what kind of policy you are buying, you should pick up the deductible accordingly. To keep your out-of-pocket expenses less, you may want to pick a lower deductible.

What is a deductible per incident?
Are Insurance policies where the deductible is applicable per incident. You will be required to satisfy the deductible for each incident. Let's look at an example. Let's say you fall ill and need to visit the doctor. The doctor may ask you to get an X-ray, a blood test, and prescribe you some medications. All of these things are related to your one illness so therefore considered one incident. And, hence, deductible will be applicable only one time for all medical bills pertaining to this incident. For any new and future medical situations, deductible will be applicable again.

What deductible to choose for a policy with a deductible per incident?
Since the deductible is per incident, it's a good idea to consider selecting the lowest deductible.

What is an annual deductible or deductible per policy period and why is it important?
Are Insurance policy where deductible is paid annually or per policy period. A deductible is applicable only once per year. Let's say you purchase a plan with a $250 deductible and incur a total of $1500 in expenses. The insurance company will begin to reimburse expenses as per the policy minus the deductible on the policy. For these types of policies, you only need to pay the deductible once per year no matter how many medical services you have used during the year.

What deductible should you chose from where the deductible is annual or per policy period.
To keep the insurance price low, choose a high deductible. To keep you liability or out-of-pocket limit low, choose a low deductible. The choice also depends on your comfort level. Choose the right deductible based on what amount you could be ready to pay as deductible should you use the insurance.

Hazardous sports or adventure sports are any activities that are deemed risky by the travel insurance industry because risk equates to higher-than-average rates of injury and-or death. Hazardous sports coverage is important for travelers who may be participating in adventurous sports or activities that are considered more risky or have health hazards. Activities such as scuba diving, Jet Ski, para-sailing, skiing, mountain climbing, skydiving, race car driving, bungee jumping, motorcycling, and even surfing are some examples of adventure sports.

These activities carry a greater risk of getting hurt or injured and typically excluded in a standard travel insurance policy. If you are going involve in such adventurous sport activities during your trip, you should consider adding the coverage. The coverage benefits may be added by paying extra premium or hazardous coverage rider in travel insurance policy. If you are not going to involve in such activities during your trip, you do not need to opt for this coverage.

Senior citizens or elderly generally do not get involved in hazardous sports or adventurous sports activities. The hazardous sports coverage rider may not be applicable to them. Not all adventurous sports-risky activities are covered by all travel insurance policies. You should review the policy exclusions carefully and make sure it covers the adventurous sport you are participating in.

Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage provides protection if your death is the result of an accident. It may also provide benefits should an accident cause the loss of hands, feet, eyesight, speech, or hearing. While filling up the insurance application, you may be asked to provide AD&D beneficiary name. Please make sure to provide this beneficiary name as it is the person who'll receive the death benefit.

Who should you name as AD&D beneficiary?
The beneficiary name should be any person other than the policyholder's, insured person himself, or any traveling companions. The beneficiary can be any family member, son or daughter, relatives, or friends.

Common carrier accidental death is applicable when an accident death occurs in a public carrier, such as commercial airline, train, bus, boat, or ship. Common carrier accidental death provides benefit amount to the beneficiary named on the policyholder's application in the event of traveler's death due to an accident while on a common carrier or public transportation like commercial airplane, train, public bus, etc. It does not include personal cars, rental cars, chartered planes, or personal boats.

Let's look at an example to understand this better. Let's assume that a traveler is flying by commercial airplane on holiday in the US. God forbid, but assume that the airplane crashes resulting in the death of the traveler. The travel insurance will pay the beneficiary the AD&D benefit amount since the death was caused while the traveler was on a common carrier.

Now, let's assume that the traveler on a holiday is renting a car for the weekend, and gets into an accident which causes them to lose their life. The travel insurance, in this case, will not provide the benefit amount since the cause of the accident was not due to a common carrier.

Return of Mortal Remains coverage is a benefit provided by travel insurance to send the traveler's mortal remains to their home country in the event of death. It's heartbreaking to imagine the death of someone you love while they are traveling, but it's even more devastating when you realize that the costs of sending deceased body to home country can be a huge financial burden. Return of Mortal Remains benefits provides the cost of transportation of deceased body to the home country.

What are usual, customary, and reasonable charges? Usual, customary, and reasonable charges, also referred to as UCR, is an established maximum amount that an insurance company will reimburse for a specific service or procedure covered under your insurance policy. These charges are generally determined based on charges that are actually billed by providers for each procedure, or service in a geographical area.

UCR charges are generally based on prices that are typically billed by a majority of providers for each medical procedure or service in a particular geographical area.

For example, let's say a majority of doctors in this region charge $100 for a doctor's visit. The travel insurance companies may establish the UCR charges for doctor's visits in this geographical area as $100. This means that $100 will be the maximum amount that the insurance company may reimburse for the doctor's visits in that area, regardless of what your doctor bills you. UCR can vary from one geographical area to another and from company to company.

Emergency medical evacuation offers coverage for expenses necessary for transporting a seriously injured or ill person to the nearest medical facility. It also includes the cost of transportation to get you to the nearest medical facility. Simply put, this insurance provides for and protects you in case of a medical emergency that requires evacuation during your trip.

In order to understand better, let's look at some examples. You're on a cruise in the middle of the ocean and you have a heart attack. Since the medical services onboard cannot treat you, you will need to be evacuated by airlift to the nearest hospital.

Let's take another example. God forbid, you find yourself involved in a serious road accident and need immediate medical attention at a distance specialty hospital. However, the road is completely jammed with traffic that may block the ambulance to reach you. The only way to transport you to the nearest medical facility is to provide medical evacuation via air ambulance. Most travel medical insurance policies do have this benefit coverage as a standard future, but the coverage amount may vary from policy to policy.

Are Insurance policies where the deductible is applicable per incident.

You will be required to satisfy the deductible for each incident. Let's look at an example. Let's say you fall ill and need to visit the doctor. The doctor may ask you to get an X-ray, a blood test, and prescribe you some medications.

All of these things are related to your one illness so therefore considered one incident. And, hence, deductible will be applicable only one time for all medical bills pertaining to this incident. For any new and future medical situations, deductible will be applicable again. What deductible to choose for a policy with a deductible per incident? Since the deductible is per incident, it's a good idea to consider selecting the lowest deductible.

In case, there occurs an unforeseen harm or calamity, Visitors’ insurance is the reliable company to seek cover. The company offers coverage to many issues consisting of hospital charges, doctor’s fees, any treatment given upon the execution of the plan, laboratory tests, surgery, and other expenditures attached to treatment provisional to the plan that is acquired. Apart from the coverage mentioned previously, Travel Medical insurance also offers coverage for missing baggage, trip interruption, emergency evacuation and the return of corpses.

The rates in Medical insurance policies are contingent on a range of factors such as; coverage needed, age, nature of the plan, premium and deductibles because the policies are not developed to operate singly for the benefit of individual needs. Also, the country or company from which a person has bought the cover determines the rates in a Medical insurance policy.

Owing to the fact that insurance can be procured in days or monthly increase, it is possible to integrate these augmentations to be agreeable to a person’s travel needs. For instance, a person would settle for a two month and one 15 day increase if their trip lasts 2 and half months. In case, a person's travel plans alter, the person has an array of renewable policies to consider for purposes of flexibility. Visitors insurance similarly protects a person on their journey to their terminus; therefore, it is worthwhile asking for the operational date to begin from the parting day from their country and the date they return to their homeland.

There are many factors that showcase one's total insurance coverage, namely; Age, Maximum Coverage, Deductible and Rider Factor. Age is a significant factor in defining one’s premium. Under maximum coverage, there are diverse plans conditional to the maximum coverage one requires. Deductible refers to the least sum a person pays if it happens that there is any medical expenditure. In rider factor, a person's cover upsurges if they plan to undertake a dangerous activity like skiing, sky diving and much more.

Foregoing conditions
These are preexisting conditions described as the prescription, health status, treatment or consultation that occurred or was administered before the actual time of coverage.

Deductible
The deductible is the sum paid by the insured to the insurance company before the commencement of compensation of expenditures by the company. For instance, in Auto insurance deductible, there is an amount paid to the insurance company before it covers for any destruction to one’s car.
In an illustration, when a person buys a plan with a $500 deductible and gains costs of $1500, the insurance company starts to recompense for the expenditures incurred when a person has paid the primary deductible of $500.

Exclusions
The costs that an insurance company is not responsible for paying are referred to as exclusions. For instance, the company will not be held liable for; expenditures were arising from illicit drug use, engaging in varied risky activities and conditions that occurred before the obtaining of cover. It is important for a person to comprehend the coverage to clearly identify the exclusions in one’s plan.

Co-Insurance
It is the total eligible costs that the insured pays to the company after the deductible. In an illustration, when a Co-insurance is equal to 20% or Co-pay is 80/20 it implies that the insurance company pays 80% of the charges, and the insured pays 20%. Usually, the insurance companies develop several plans that set the maximum Co-pay amount, that is, the maximum value the insurance giver pays in full percentage. In another instance, where the deductible is equal to $250 and 80/20 Co-pay up to $5000, then 100% is considered up to policy limit. It, therefore, means that the insured obligated to pay the deductible of %250 in addition to 20% of costs up to $5000 while the insurance giver pays 100% of insurable costs that go beyond $5000 to the maximum policy coverage limit.

Premium
It is the amount paid to obtain a medical insurance policy. Depending on what the policy stipulates, premiums could be fully paid in advance or monthly.

Beneficiary
A beneficiary is described as a person(s) elected by the insured to collect the profits of an insurance policy in case the insured dies.

Policy Maximum
It is the fixed limit on the amount of money to be paid by the insurance company for the expenses that are covered. It could be a general limit or a specific amount limit for each sickness or accident.

Renewable or non-Renewable
Renewable features inform the insured if the specific plan they have obtained can be renewed ahead of lapse of time to maintain coverage past the primarily intended end coverage date with unchanged terms and limitations.
The renewable aspect of the policy is of immense impact, for example, in case an accident or sickness happens before the lapse of the plan, it will not be thought as a preexisting condition. However, a fresh policy would make it a preexisting condition. Therefore, it is suitable to renew an existing policy than buy a new one.