8 Ways How Travel Insurance Can Help You While Studying Abroad

Studying abroad is not just associated with your career aspirations but also involves your parents’ hard-earned money. The last thing you would want is to face an unforeseen emergency abroad that may interrupt your studies and waste all the money. No, your loved ones can’t come rushing overseas to solve your problem. Only travel insurance can come to your rescue when you are in the middle of an unfavourable situation abroad.

How Does Travel Insurance Work for Students?

If purchased by a student, travel insurance acts as a legal contract between the student and his/her insurance company that ensures that he/she is protected against any unforeseen eventualities faced while travelling. If you have a travel insurance policy, your insurer will provide you with financial assistance if you come across any adversity during your trip. It will also compensate you for any financial loss that you may incur while commuting.

If you are going to study abroad, an international travel insurance policy for students is what will help you out in case of an emergency. Also known as student travel insurance, it protects you in case of a medical emergency, loss of sponsorship, personal liability, loss of personal documents, interruption of studies, financial emergency, etc. Moreover, it also covers any risks faced while travelling abroad, such as loss or delay of check-in baggage, flight delays, flight cancellation, etc.

In short, student travel insurance protects you against any unforeseen risks that threaten to obstruct your studies abroad. Besides, international travel insurance is also mandatory in a few countries, such as the Schengen countries, for Indians who seek to enter their international borders.

8 Ways How Student Travel Insurance Can Be Useful While Studying Abroad

International travel insurance for students has been designed to help people studying abroad in case of an emergency. It extends its helping hand to students who are far from home and without any immediate emotional or financial support. However, the scope of coverage may depend on the type of policy you choose. Here are some of the ways through which international travel insurance can help you out while you are studying abroad:

1. Emergency Medical Expenses

Anyone can get sick any time, irrespective of whether he/she is in India or abroad. What if you get seriously sick or meet with an accident while crossing the road? This may result in regular visits to the doctor or even getting hospitalized. Healthcare services outside India, especially in the US, is extremely expensive and may be difficult to afford for students with a limited income source. That’s where student travel insurance will come into play.

Your travel insurance provider will cover any emergency medical expenses incurred abroad. By doing so, they will enable you to get complete treatment without any financial constraints. Whether you have been hospitalized due to an illness or an accident, international travel insurance will pay for your medical expenses. That’s not all, if your medical condition requires you to extend your stay abroad or return back to your home country immediately, your insurer will arrange your travel and cover all the expenses incurred.

2. Interruption of Studies

Studying abroad is a big decision. You leave your country and loved ones behind to get the best education at the college of your choice. Besides, it takes a lot of money to study and stay in a foreign country. Therefore, the last thing you would want is any adverse situation that may interrupt your studies and lead to a major financial loss.

Imagine if you get severely ill and get hospitalized for more than a month. Or if your sponsor suddenly meets with an accident that results in his death or dismemberment. In the first situation, you will be forced to miss a lot of your classes leading to a break in studies while the second situation may force you to leave your studies and return back home. Both the situation may result in major financial losses. But if you have a student travel insurance policy, your insurer will reimburse you for the period when you were unable to attend classes.

3. Travel-Related Emergencies

When you are travelling abroad from India or vice versa, you may come across several travel-related emergencies. For instance, your flight may get delayed for more than a few hours or may get cancelled altogether. You may also face delay in check-in baggage arrival or it may get lost. Such situations may lead to incurring unnecessary expenses or major financial losses. Fortunately, your international travel insurance policy will cover you against all of these travel-related expenses and compensate you for the inconvenience faced.

4. Compassionate Visit

A student travel insurance policy not only helps you out but also your parents. It comes with a compassionate visit cover that pays for the travel expenses of one immediate family member from India to the country where you are studying. Under this cover, the insurer may also arrange accommodation for your visiting family member. However, this cover is available only if you are hospitalized abroad for more than a certain number of days.

Some travel insurance companies also provide two-way compassionate visit cover. In this case, the insurer also covers the travel cost of the insured in case of a family emergency back in India.

5. Pre-Existing Diseases

An international travel insurance policy also covers you against the treatment of any pre-existing diseases. Unlike health insurance, you don’t have a waiting period of 2-4 years to get your pre-existing diseases covered. However, international travel insurance covers pre-existing diseases only under life-threatening conditions, unless specified otherwise.

6. Legal Problems

While studying abroad, you may come across certain circumstances that may land yourself into legal trouble. What if you accidentally damage someone’s property or get arrested for something? You will require a lot of money to get bail or to pay for the damages caused, which may be difficult to arrange while you are in a foreign country as a student. Luckily, student travel insurance covers personal liability that takes care of any legal liabilities that you incur during your stay abroad. Moreover, the bail bond cover arranges for your bail money in case you get arrested.

7. Emergency Financial Assistance

There can be instances when you may lose all your money while studying abroad. Suppose, someone steals your bag containing your wallet. You may be left with no cash and your family would not be able to send you money immediately. Fortunately, international travel insurance comes with emergency financial assistance cover that provides you with emergency cash in case you lose them all in an adverse situation.

8. Accidental Death & Disability

An international travel insurance policy also comes with accidental death and disability cover. As part of this cover, your insurer provides you with compensation in case an accident abroad results in your disability. In the event of your unfortunate death due to an accident abroad, the insurance company will provide compensation to your family in India.

Summing It Up

International travel insurance for students will be your friend away from home while studying abroad. Whether you face a travel-related emergency or a medical emergency, it will be covered by your travel insurer as long as you are studying abroad. Just make sure to compare the coverage and premium of various travel insurance plans before buying to find your ideal policy.