Will travel insurance cover me for cancellation or curtailment due to coronavirus?

Posted on: Apr 22, 2021 | 3 mins | Written by: HDFC ERGO Team

Will travel insurance cover me for cancellation or curtailment due to coronavirus?

The travel industry was one of the hardest-hit because of the Covid-19 pandemic. As the first quarter of 2021 is now over, people have started to travel once again. The global situation, however, still continues to be rather uncertain. With many countries experiencing third or even fourth wave of coronavirus, it is very important that every single precaution be taken while you travel. The biggest precaution that you must take is to get adequate travel insurance. While some countries have always enforced mandatory travel insurance requirements, many have recently started to require travel insurance as a condition to issuing travel Visa to foreigners.

How does Travel Insurance work?

Many people do not take travel insurance unless it is mandatory simply because they do not understand how travel insurance works.

A travel policy is meant to cover the various risks to your health and belongings when you are in a foreign country. You will pay a small amount of money as the policy premium. The insurance company will cover you if you fall ill or have any health problem during travels. Similarly, the insurance company will also offer compensation if you lose your baggage or if your flight gets delayed or cancelled. Under such conditions, the insurance company will pay you the amount you will need to arrange for a hotel stay while you wait for the flight to depart.

What your travel insurance takes care of?

If you purchase a travel insurance policy, you are offered protection against a set of risks as standard cover. These include:

The cost of emergency medical treatment: Let us say that you develop any health emergency, for example, something very simple such as runny bowel to some really big problem like a heart attack! The travel insurance company will cover the cost of all the emergency medical treatments you will need until you can become stable enough to travel back home where your standard medical insurance may take over.
The cost of emergency medical evacuation: Let us say that you are travelling in a remote location of your host country. A medical emergency arises and you will need to be evacuated to the nearest health facility, which can handle your problem. While ambulances can generally do this, in some cases, you will need to be airlifted and that can get really expensive in a hurry.
The cost of flight delay: There may be many cases where your flight is delayed or cancelled. Since the airline’s side usually decides upon flight delays, you as a traveller have no control over it. Here your travel insurance comes into the picture. It will compensate you for the losses and extra expenses you have to bear because of flight delays.
The cost of hotel accommodation: When you are stuck in your host country because of medical recovery, flight delays or any other reason, you are allowed to make a claim for reimbursement for the cost of your extended hotel stay.
Daily Cash Allowance for hospital stay: This is a special cash allowance given by a travel insurance company to its policyholders. It is meant to cover the small expenses that you may have to make during your stay in hospital. The exact amount you will get depends upon the policy you choose and other terms and conditions though.

Situations like Cancellation and Curtailment due to Coronavirus

While a travel policy covers many things as standard, those discussed above are the relevant points here. Cancellation or curtailments on account of coronavirus can impact you in two situations.

You are safe, but the host government has enforced a lockdown, which has led to your flights being cancelled. Now you become a victim of circumstances and your insurance company can help you under the cover offered in cases of a cancelled or delayed flight.
You are unlucky and despite best precautions, you catch the virus. In such a condition, the travel insurance policy will keep you covered under the standard medical emergency cover clause of the policy. In such a condition, all applicable medical covers in your travel policy become applicable.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, while it is best to take every single protection like wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing and regular hand cleaning, but unless you have adequate individual travel insurance it is unwise to plan or start a trip of any kind during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Disclaimer- The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.

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