Travelling is always fun, adventurous and sometimes life changing. Either you are travelling abroad or domestically, having travel insurance will offer you an additional peace of mind. It is also true that misfortune may not knock your door before it comes. Any unexpected circumstance may arise even before beginning of the trip or on the foreign soil. You may fall ill just a day before your travel resulting into trip cancellation or any medical emergency may arise after reaching your destination. Either way, you will lose money, enough to affect your pocket. Here comes the role of a good travel insurance plan, to secure yourself against such risks. You will definitely look for best plans to get most out it when needed and would not want a situation where your claim is rejected. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios where your travel insurer may reject your claim.
Non-disclosure of pre-existing diseases
It is a pretty common reason for the claim rejection. If you have any pre-existing illness or any symptoms which may lead to serious illness, it is suggested to disclose while purchasing travel insurance. Only a few insurers cover the risk of pre-existing diseases. Therefore, it is highly recommended to read the policy document carefully and chose the right policy. It is beneficial to buy such cover, in case, you are already suffering from any disease. Suppose you are a heart patient and travelling to US, God forbidden, if any medical emergency arises there, it can cost you a lot if you have not opted for pre existing disease cover. For example, a heart bypass surgery would cost the patients $130000 in the US but the same treatment would cost you around $10,000 in India.
Your insurer may not cover extreme sports
The trend for adventurous sports is rising nowadays. If you are one such lover then it is mandatory to have extra cover in your travel insurance. Adventurous sports are generally not covered in most of the policies but you can surely purchase an additional cover for this. It purely depends on your insurer, if it has kept certain sports activities out of the list of adventures sports. Your plain vanilla travel insurance may not offer any kind of benefits if something happens to you due to your indulgence in any adventure sport like paragliding, para jumping, mountain biking etc, but by paying a nominal amount of higher premium, you can get yourself covered against the risk of extreme sports.
Travelling against law
Some of the places are considered risky by WHO, while some places are abandoned by the local government. For instance, in countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan, there are only some places travellers can visit and should be cautious while travelling anywhere outside that region. Travelling to such locations may not be covered by your insurer and if something happens to you there, you may not get any claim. Apart from this, if something happens to you while doing illegal activities such as violating the local laws and instructions, for example, if a certain area on the beach is prohibited for swimming and you hurt yourself because you were swimming in that area. Chances are very high that your insurer will not honour your claim.
Time is consequential
Just like you reach the airport on time to board your flight, pay your bills on time etc, it is also important to inform your insurer as soon as possible. While travelling abroad, if some something unfortunate happens to you, either your valuables get misplaced or you fall ill. You need to file a police report or seek medical aid within a set frame of time because only then your claim will be considered valid. Failing to timely file a report can make your insurer to consider claim rejection.
Alcohol/drug abuse
Drinking alcohol to relax the senses and enjoy the vacation is a common practice. However, your insurer will not honour any of your claims if it is found that you were under the influence of alcohol or any drug when the accident happened. The reason behind this is simple when you are under the influence of any drug or alcohol your reflexes gets slow and you become vulnerable to injuries. Apart from injuries to yourself, it also becomes difficult to take care of belongings. Hence, you should always stay cautious of such things while travelling.
By Dhruv Sarin- Head of Health and Travel Insurance, Policybazaar.com
