Skip to main content

Why You Should Buy an Overseas Travel Insurance ?

Invest Mutual Funds Online

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms

 

A perfectly-planned holiday can be ruined by an unexpected event. The uninvited and often unpleasant event could be either a minor delay in arrival of baggage or delay in flight. Or it could be a serious health scare or the horror of losing one's passport. Sure, you have no control over these events. But you can limit the damage caused by them by buying travel insurance.


However, insurance penetration is around 20% of all international travellers, points out a study conducted by Tata AIG General Insurance. This is only because Schengen visas mandatorily require the traveller to have a travel insurance policy. But even if you are travelling to a non-Schengen country, it is advisable to opt for travel insurance because of exorbitant cost of healthcare abroad.


The cost of medical treatment is high abroad and insurance policies assure that such services are made available to the travellers at the price they pay for travel insurance, which is extremely low.


For instance, if you cut your finger, the basic check up would cost you anywhere between $500-1,000 (Rs 26,000-50,000). This possibility of incurring such a huge expense can be covered at a daily insurance rate of Rs 68. More so, the outbound travellers are mostly in the age group of 45-60 years. In this age bracket, travel insurance is highly recommended. Most travel insurance plans are standardised vanilla plans covering accident and sickness, baggage delay/loss, passport loss, personal liability etc. But there are differentiating factors you should consider before buying a travel cover.

Claim Settlement Ratio Of Insurer

You buy travel insurance to make sure that the insurance cover would help you when you need medical attention abroad. That is why it is very important to make sure that your insurance company is not infamous for rejecting claims on flimsy reasons. A traveller has to check the claims settlement record of the company which are usually available on the company's website or policy schedule. If this data is not available on the website, check this data with top three to four insurance companies before finalising your policy.

Recognised Insurer

Several insurance companies have tie-ups with foreign insurers. But make sure that the insurance company has sufficient direct or indirect presence in the destination country to service your claims. The insurer, from whom the plan is being purchased, should be a recognised player and should be valid abroad. Also evaluate the network of tie-ups with the facilitators, agencies and service providers abroad for handling any emergency.

Clause On Pre-Existing Diseases

Very few insurers cover health complications that arise out of pre-existing diseases in travel insurance. Pre existing ailments are usually not covered in travel insurance and it is imperative that the policyholders understand this. In case of any health problem, while travelling, they should be prepared to pay out of pocket for pre-existing conditions. However, Bajaj Allianz offers a policy which covers pre-existing medical conditions. They have capped the amount at $300, $500 and $1000, respectively, for classic, premium and privileged. Similarly, ICICI Lombard covers pre-existing conditions till the patient's condition becomes stable. For example, if a customer who is a heart patient, declares his/her heart condition before taking the policy, the travel policy covers him in the event of another heart attack. Once the condition becomes stable, (when he/she is shifted from the ICU to general/normal ward and is out of danger) from that point onwards, the expense of further treatment has to be borne by the customer

There is no dispute over the fact that health insurance is a principal component of travel covers. The most important cover in a travel policy being the medical cover, it is important to check if the sum insured is commensurate with the premium and also check the list of exclusions in the policy.

 
But ideally you should look at a travel policy which also looks beyond a health cover. For instance, loss of baggage or baggage delay is very common as airlines do misplace or lose baggage while flying from one destination to another.

---------------------------------------------

Invest Mutual Funds Online

Transact Mutual Fund Online

 

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Mutual Fund Application Forms

 

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap Funds:
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
    2. Large and Midcap Funds
      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
    3. Mid and SmallCap Funds
      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
    4. Small and MicroCap Funds
      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
    5. Sector Funds
      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
    6. Gold Mutual Funds
      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund

 

Popular posts from this blog

Debt Mutual Fund Dividends are Taxable

DDT is deducted when a non-equity fund declares dividends. Equity and balanced fund dividends are tax-free The AMC is correct to deduct the dividend distribution tax (DDT) as it is mandated by tax laws. DDT in mutual funds is deducted every time a non-equity fund declares dividends. Equity fund and balanced fund dividends are tax-free . It is possible that you have invested in a non-equity fund for the first time or have received the dividend under a non-equity fund for the first time. That is why this is the first occasion when you have come across DDT.   The rate at which non-equity schemes deduct DDT has also gone up after the July 2014 budget. This is due to a change in calculation methodology. Earlier, if the fund has to declare a dividend of R 100, it used to make a provision for R 128.3, paying R 28.3 to the taxman and distributing the balance to the investor. This allowed the investor to bear less tax since the effective tax rate was 22.07 per ce...
Read more

Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund

Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund Online One of the key developments that the Street is keenly waiting for is a cut in interest rates by Reserve Bank of India . With demand rising gradually, a rate cut is expected to boost earnings growth for companies. In such a situation, schemes which invest in high growth companies are best suited, especially when seen from a long-term perspective. One such scheme is Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund. Fund managers Anand Radhakrishnan, Roshi Jain and Srikesh Nair strictly follow valuation parameters when it comes to choosing stocks.Valuation parameters, such as enterprise value, price-to-earnings growth ratio, forward price-to-sales ratio and discounted earnings per share, play a critical role in selecting companies for investments. Taking into account these parameters, the fund managers invest in companies which are poised for high growth in their respective sectors. This approach has been in favour of the scheme and it has perform...
Read more

Atal Pension Yojana contribution Tax Benefit for spouse

Contributions to Atal Pension Yojana (APY) are eligible for the same tax benefits as the NPS. This means that the contributions can be claimed under Section 80CCD (1B). The current limit for Section 80CCD (1B) is   Rs   50,000, over and above the   Rs   1.5 lakh limit under Section 80C. Section 80 CCD (1) is a different one, meant to cover employers' contribution towards NPS . You cannot get tax benefit by investing in the name of your spouse under Section 80 CCD . ------------------------------ ----------------- Invest Rs 1,50,000 and Save Tax under Section 80C. Get Great Returns by Investing in Best Performing ELSS Mutual Funds Top 10 Tax Saver Mutual Funds to invest in India for 2016 Best 10 ELSS Mutual Funds in India for 2016 1. BNP Paribas Long Term Equity Fund 2. Axis Tax Saver Fund 3. Religare Tax Plan 4. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund 5. Franklin India TaxShield 6. ICICI Prudential Long Term Equity Fund 7. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund 8. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief 96 9. ...
Read more

Avoid NFOs

  Don't get taken in by the flurry of new fund offers. You will be better off sticking to the tried and tested schemes.   For the past one year, to cash in on the bull run in equities, mutual fund houses have gone on a new fund offer (NFO) overdrive. But experts are unanimous in their advice: avoid NFOs . While past performance is not an indicator of how a fund will fare in the future, it does tell the investor how skilful the fund manager is. This crucial information is missing in an NFO. Not only is there no track record to judge an NFO by, many NFOs are similar to funds that already exist. If the new fund is similar to existing funds, you are better off investing in the latter. Around 67% of the new launches in 2014 were closed-end products. Investing in the NFO of a closed-end fund is doubly risky. In case the fund's performance is lacklustre, a closed-end fund does not allow you to exit. Even though closed-end funds are listed on the stock...
Read more

Mutual Fund Exit Load Changes

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online Buy Gold Mutual Funds Leave a missed Call on 94 8300 8300 Mutual Fund Exit Load Changes AMCs don't communicate about any change in exit load directly with investors, but do update on their website   The exit load applicable to your investments is the load which existed at the time when you invested in the particular fund. Any subsequent changes in the exit load will not be applicable to your investments.   However, Asset Management Companies ( AMCs ) periodically publish addendums in the newspapers, which state any change in exit loads of specific schemes managed by them. Such changes are also posted on their websites. However, a direct communication to an investor is not made, considering the costs involved in doing so. In their own interests, investors should not only track the performance of the funds they i...
Read more
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now