How travel insurance and worldwide health cover are different from each other

In today's globalised world, it is increasingly common to travel away from one's home country for a variety of reasons, such as leisure, business, or even education. However, travelling abroad can come with various risks and uncertainties, which is why having insurance is crucial.

By covering yourself through insurance, you get peace of mind knowing that should something unforeseen happen, you have access to comprehensive medical coverage and quality healthcare providers, no matter where you are in the world. However, people often get confused between a worldwide health insurance plan and a travel insurance plan. While both these plans cover you when you are away from your home country, they cover the different types of risks associated when you are abroad.

However, in any case, without insurance, costs can quickly add up, especially if you are in a foreign country, causing financial strain that can have long-lasting consequences. Investing in insurance is a wise and responsible choice to ensure that unforeseen circumstances do not ruin your experience abroad. So let’s understand how travel insurance and worldwide health insurance are different from each other and why you require both.

Worldwide health insurance

Also called international health insurance or global health insurance, it is a type of insurance that provides comprehensive medical coverage and access to quality healthcare services for planned cashless hospitalisation. These plans are designed for people who want to avail world-class treatment for themselves, available anywhere in the world.

Worldwide health insurance plans typically include benefits such as access to top hospitals such as John Hopkins, MD Anderson in the US or hospitals in UK, Singapore etc. One can opt for sum insured up to Rs 6 crore and avail cashless treatment across the globe. These plans cover hospitalisation expenses, doctor visits, prescription drugs, emergency medical evacuation, pre and post-hospitalisation expenses. Additionally,
few plans also cover costs incurred in obtaining medical visa and round trip economy class air ticket of the immediate family member accompanying the insured member.

Area of coverage: Customers have the option to choose a worldwide cover or worldwide cover excluding US & Canada. As is evident, plans excluding US & Canada hospitals are lower in premium costs.

International travel insurance

Specifically designed for short-duration trips and to cater to travel related adverse events, this is the kind of insurance that covers not only medical emergencies during a foreign visit but also some other financial emergencies that may occur while travelling internationally.

It is designed to protect travellers from unforeseen events such as trip cancellations or interruptions, lost or delayed luggage, emergency medical expenses and other travel-related incidents like loss of passport, belongings, etc. Some travel insurance policies also cover your apartment or house in the home country against burglary or theft while you are away on a foreign trip.

Worldwide health cover versus travel insurance

Type of coverage: Worldwide health covers provide comprehensive medical coverage against planned hospitalisation for serious conditions like cancer, heart surgery or kidney transplant, etc. Many worldwide health insurance plans require the diagnosis of such diseases to happen in India first. On the other hand, travel insurance covers only emergency hospitalisation required while travelling abroad.

Additionally, worldwide health insurance plans by default also cover for planned or unplanned hospitalisation expenses incurred in India, just like a regular health insurance plan. However, a travel insurance plan will cover only losses incurred abroad.

Coverage duration: Worldwide health insurance, just like a regular health insurance plan is a long-term insurance, ranging between 1-3 years, whereas travel insurance can be bought even for a few days or months as they normally cover only the specific duration of the foreign visit. For instance, if you are travelling to any country for 10 days, say the UK, you may buy travel insurance for only those 10 days.

Trip cancellation and interruption: Being purely a health insurance cover, a worldwide healthcare plan does not provide any protection against trip cancellations and interruptions. On the other hand, since travel insurance plans are designed specifically to cover the policyholders’ travel plans, they often provide protection against trip cancellations due to specified reasons (like medical), delay in departure, missed flights, loss of luggage or personal belongings, misplaced or lost travel documents like passports, etc. Some plans even provide protection against burglary in your home while you are travelling.

Also Read | Why travel insurance is vital for those going abroad

Cost: World-wide health insurance plans are usually only 30-50% costlier compared to domestic health insurance plans, but provide a worldwide planned treatment access to the customers. On the other hand, since travel insurance provide coverage against travel related adverse events in specific countries for limited duration, they are generally quite cost-effective.

So the big question is which one you should buy. Normally, a customer should opt for both. A travel insurance plan covers you for theft, loss of baggage or passport, medical emergency or any other adverse events during your trips. On the other hand, worldwide health insurance is a health insurance plan that provides access to planned treatment in the top hospitals anywhere across the world.

(The writer heads Health and Travel Insurance at Policybazaar.com)