Insurance of travelers abroad: reviews, rating of companies

Those who often travel outside the country know for sure that the design of an insurance policy is not a whim, but a harsh necessity. After all, the traveler breaks out of his familiar surroundings, and the policy will help him feel safe in a foreign country. What does travel insurance cover? Reviews already issued such insurance, of course, will help to make the right choice. But it is not out of place to learn in detail what features of this type of insurance should be provided and how much this "pleasure" will cost.

Features of "foreign" insurance

Going on a trip, remember: no country in the world will not let you in if you do not have an insurance policy. It is this document that guarantees that if something happens to you in a foreign country, transport services and timely medical assistance will be provided to you immediately and in full. So humble yourself with the fact that travel insurance abroad is a harsh necessity, and even if you are sure that nothing will happen to you, you will still need to arrange a policy.

Insurances are different, and their cost depends on many factors. Therefore, before you pay your "blood" to a particular company, you need to carefully study the proposed conditions.

Insurance risks

All policies offered by insurance companies can be divided into two large groups - the standard option and the elite class. The difference lies in the completeness of the set of covered risks.

In the standard package you will be offered:

• Reimbursement of costs for urgent treatment in the event of an insured event;
• Free transportation to a nearby hospital, and, if necessary, the delivery of a patient to the country of permanent residence accompanied by medical personnel;
• Provision of medical services on site (in the host country), outpatient treatment, hospitalization if necessary;
• Reimbursement of the cost of medicines prescribed by the attending physician;
• Emergency dental services;
• Repatriation of the insured in the event of his death.

In addition to all the above points, the "elite" set of insurance risks can include:

• Return home and refund of tickets in cases recognized as an insurance event;
• Early termination of the trip in the event of the death of a close relative, reimbursement of the cost of tickets at the expense of the insurance company;
• Visit to the insured by one of the relatives (tickets at the expense of insurance) in case of hospitalization in the host country for more than 10 days;
• Delivery to the place of permanent residence of children (up to 16 years) of the insured person accompanied by a company employee in those cases when the insured is hospitalized for more than 10 days;
• Additional accident insurance;
• Reimbursement of other risks associated with the trip - loss of luggage, services of a lawyer, eviction from the hotel for some reason and others.

Please note that insurance for pregnant women traveling abroad is also often not included in the standard set of services and is paid additionally. Also, additional risks are paid for with extreme types of recreation.

Amount of insurance coverage

To ensure travel insurance abroad was the highest quality and competent, it is necessary to remember one more important detail, namely, the maximum possible amount of compensation for damages.

This indicator depends on where you are going. For the Schengen countries, this amount should be at the level of 30 thousand euros. For Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus, where, as you know, medical services are much cheaper, an amount of $ 15,000 may be sufficient. But if you are going to countries where medicine is very expensive, for example, in Japan, the United States, Australia or Canada, then it is worth making insurance for at least 50-70 thousand dollars.

Based on the cost of medicine in the host country, insurers usually group their proposals as follows:

• The Schengen countries;
• Other European countries;
• The CIS states;
• Egypt;
• Turkey;
• The whole world (excluding the CIS, Australia, Japan, Canada and the States);
• the whole world.

Age

Another criterion by which travel insurance is divided is the age of the insured. Depending on this indicator, companies share their customers as follows:

• Up to a year;
• 1-3 years;
• 4-15 years;
• 16-64 years;
• 65-75 years;
• More than 75 years.

It is noteworthy that from the first to the fourth point the cost of insurance is reduced, and starting from the fifth, it increases significantly. The minimum amount for the services of the insurance company will be paid by travelers aged 16 to 64 years, but people over 75 will have to shell out.

What is an assistant

A very important point in such a matter as insurance for travelers abroad is the availability of an assistance company in the host country. What does it mean?

Assistance is a partner of the local insurance company, which will take care of you in the host country. If something happened on vacation with you, then providing medical care, going to the hospital, paying for medicines and so on are all their concerns. So when choosing insurance, pay attention not only to whether they have a foreign partner, but also on the possibility of providing this same partner with Russian-language support.

If your insurance does not have assistance, then you will have to solve all the problems in a foreign country independently. Well, if you have enough for this language knowledge and a solid amount of free money. And if not? Reimbursement of the cost of your expenses you can get only upon arrival to your home country, and even then - if you can provide documents from foreign medical institutions with all the proper seals and signatures.

The price of insurance - on what does it depend on?

As we have already explained, the price of a policy can depend on many indicators - the spread of the figures is quite wide. It all depends on what kind of risks you want to save yourself, how old you are and where you are going. Also the price of insurance is influenced by the presence and "coolness" of the assistance company and the terms of the trip.

In addition, the price of the policy is quite influenced by the purpose of the trip: if you expect to lie on the beach quietly - this is one thing, and if you plan to jump with a parachute or snowboard ride - quite another. Another point on which the cost of the policy depends is the availability of a franchise, that is, the amount (minimal) that the insurance company will not cover. For example, if you have a franchise in the amount of $ 500, and the treatment cost 499, then no one will return anything to you.

With all these indicators, the cost of an insurance policy for tourists can vary from a couple of hundred to several tens of thousands of rubles.

Insurance of travelers abroad - the rating of companies, what it affects

Going abroad and looking for a company in which you can buy a policy, it is worthwhile to focus your attention only on the most proven and large. In small firms, of course, insurance can cost literally a penny, but also real help from them, in which case, you are unlikely to wait.

So, you have decided to issue travel insurance abroad. Rating of leading insurance companies in this area will help you. Analyzing the activities of most of them, you can make about such a list:

• "INTOUCH insurance".
• "Jasco."
• Ingosstrakh.
• "RESO-Garantiya".
• SC "PPF Life Insurance";
• Sberbank;
• "VSK".
• Sogaz.
• "VTB."
• Rosgosstrakh.
• Uralsib.

Of course, this list is somewhat subjective, each of the clients can make their own, and will be right. Each of them has its own shortcomings and advantages. For example, insurance travel abroad Sberbank (like many other companies) offers to apply without leaving your home, using the service on the company's website.

How to determine a good insurer

First of all, it is worth to personally visit the office of the chosen organization and make sure that the company has all the permits and licenses for the right to carry out this type of insurance.

Carefully study the list of services offered - the wider it is, the better. Choose the list of risks that is optimal for you, but do not overreact with failures. It will be insulting if something happens to you that the insurance does not cover. In this case, it is not worth waiting for reimbursement of expenses.

Well study the contract, especially those places in it, which are spelled out in small print. Do not hesitate to ask the manager a lot of questions - you should clearly understand what you can expect if something happens to you.

Choose only the large checked insurance, especially if you plan a long trip. If a little-known one-day company during your trip is ruined and disappears, you can expect major trouble.

Once again, think about the advisability of issuing a policy if the company does not have a partner in the proposed host country. Remember: a quality insurance policy will allow you to feel safe away from home.