A travel insurance policy helps you overcome the financial loss you face when you are travelling and face unexpected contingencies. The plan essentially covers medical emergencies faced on a trip and other inconveniences like baggage loss and delay, loss of passport, accidental death and disablement, third party legal liability, trip cancellation, etc. with such a comprehensive scope of coverage it is no doubt that travel insurance become an important part of domestic and international trips.
Though many of you feel fascinated by the coverage features offered by a travel insurance plan, most of you are clueless about the claim procedure for travel insurance. The claim process is quite simple if you know what steps are to be taken. So, let’s understand the process –
- Inform your travel insurance company immediately whenever you face a claim
- Your insurance company has international tie-ups with services providers situated abroad. These service providers help you with your claim settlement process.
- The insurance company would provide you the details of its networked service provider in the country that you are visiting once you raise a claim
- You can, alternatively, find out the insurance company’s service provider yourself and contact them directly when a claim arises
- The service provider would guide you with the subsequent process of the claim
- If it is a medical claim, the service provider would guide you to the nearest hospital where you can avail cashless settlement of your medical bills.
- In case of a reimbursement claim, you should fill in the claim form and submit the supporting documents to avail the claim settlement.
Though making a claim is easy with the above-mentioned steps of claim process, there are some cautions which you should take to ensure your claim settlement is smooth. Keep in mind the following points –
- Always carry the contact details of your insurance company and the company’s service providers when you travel. The insurance company might have different service providers in different countries. Make sure to record the contact details of the service provider of your destination country.
- Always follow the steps provided by the insurance company or its service provider in case of a claim. If you don’t, the claim settlement process would not be that easy
- Retain the original bills and supporting documents related to your claim. With the intimation of claim you make, the supporting documents are a must.
- Besides the contact number, also keep the email id of the insurance company and its service provider handy
- Make a copy of your passport and travel bookings (tickets and hotel accommodations) before you undertake the journey. It is helpful at the time of claim
- In case of thefts, accidents and personal liability cases, always make sure to file a police report where the claim occurs
Documents required for making a travel insurance claim
There are some common documents which would be required for the travel insurance claim process. Though the actual set of documents vary with company to company, here are some of the basic ones which would be required –
- Claim form
- Medical reports and bills for medical claims
- Copy of your tickets and hotel accommodations for trip cancellation claims
- Copy of your passport or Visa with an entry and exit stamp
- FIR filed at the local authorities
- Confirmation from the airlines in case of baggage loss, missed flight connections or delays
- Original death certificate in case of accidental death or third party liability where the third party dies accidentally due to your actions
When you submit the required documents, fill in the claim form correctly and furnish the original copies of the bills and expenses, your travel insurance claim would be processed and settled.