If you frequently travel abroad for work or leisure, whether you are a student, professional or businessman, you might seriously consider purchasing comprehensive health coverage.
This insurance would be useful if you fell ill in a foreign country. You might panic thinking that you are in a foreign country, and the medical facilities and treatments would be very expensive. Although you must have a health insurance policy at home in India, it will not provide much cover abroad. Also, your travel insurance may not be sufficient in some cases, as it has its own limitations.
This is exactly when a global health insurance policy would come to your aid.
Bhaskar Nerurkar, Head of Health Administration Team, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, says, “Global Health Care has been designed with the needs of people in mind who are looking for seamless coverage, which would take into charges treatment costs not only within India but also across geographical boundaries for emergency and elective treatments.
This product is aimed at the tastes of the following people:
1. A parent residing in India who regularly visits their child living abroad.
2. A senior executive of a Multinational Enterprise (MNC) who resides in India and frequently travels abroad on business.
3. Ultra-Wealthy Individuals (UHN) residing in India who frequently travel abroad for leisure or business or both.
Nerurkar adds, “Another unique attribute of the product is that due to its seamless nature, even if the treatment or surgery takes place outside India, post-operative rehabilitation can continue in India or vice versa if the insured wishes”.
Comprehensive Health Coverage Vs Travel Insurance
A travel insurance plan is usually for people traveling outside India for a short duration. Contingencies typically covered by most travel insurance plans are flight cancellations, loss of personal effects, and emergency medical care.
On the other hand, an international health insurance plan is designed to provide more comprehensive coverage for hospital treatment outside India and ongoing treatment of chronic diseases.
Also, the purpose of travel insurance is to allow the person to recover sufficiently to return home. Travel insurance rarely covers long-term medical care. Also, once the person returns to their home country, travel insurance coverage ceases.
Elsewhere, coverage for a global health plan lasts for 365 days, and coverage continues even after the person returns to their home country.
Things to keep in mind when opting for global health coverage
Check if the Global Health Policy provides worldwide coverage for planned and elective treatments. This coverage should be transparent and facilitate further treatment in the insured’s home country if desired.
It should also be checked that the global health insurance policy covers not only hospitalization costs, but also pre- and post-hospitalization costs.
Some global health plans in the market require diagnosis to be done in India for treatment abroad. It is recommended that one opt for a plan without such a condition and that the insured be allowed to undergo treatment regardless of where the diagnosis is made.
Geographic coverage: Most of the global health plans in the market offer two types of geographic coverage, i.e. including the United States or excluding the United States. One can opt for the appropriate plan with the required geographical coverage. Plans that exclude the United States have lower premiums than those that include the United States.
Most importantly, check the credibility of the insurance company that would respond to international claims and the ease of the process of registering a claim while one is hospitalized outside India.
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