Count Before Buying A Travel Insurance

After standard health, life insurance and personal accident insurance plans, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has now issued guidelines directing all general insurers to offer standard travel insurance plan from April 1, 2021.

"The standard product shall have the basic mandatory covers as specified in draft guidelines which shall be uniform across the market. The product maybe both as an individual product and as a group product," said the draft guidelines issued by the insurance regulator.

IRDAI also said that they are bringing out these guidelines to deepen the penetration of travel insurance, which shall provide a safety net to every individual who is travelling, it is considered essential to have a standard travel product.

The standard plan would have no restriction on the age of entry but the proposer, who buys the insurance cover, should be of a minimum of age 18 years.

Five variants would be available under domestic travel — travel by any mode of public transport (within the city), travel by any mode of public transport (outside the city), train journey, air-travel and domestic tours involving road, water, train and air travel.

Four variants would be available under overseas travel — overseas travel variants, long-term trip (students), short-term trip (tours or leisure)(covers travel through road, water, train and air), multi-trip during a policy period (business) and coverage only for travel (onward and return).

The standard product will be offered on an individual, family floater, and on a group basis. The premium cost would be on a pan-India basis and no geographic location or zone-based pricing is allowed. For overseas variants, pricing based on the country or region of travel.

The policy would provide cover only during the period of travel for domestic insurance. For overseas variants, both stay and travel are covered under most variants.