Travel insurance for international trips: the pre-flight checklist

International travel insurance is bought for the trip and used for the emergency. The benefits people compare when buying - baggage, delay, gadget cover - are rarely the ones that matter most. The benefit that justifies the entire premium is overseas medical, because that is the only exposure large enough to alter your finances.

Start with the medical sum insured

A hospital admission in the United States, Western Europe, Japan or Singapore can run to figures that have no equivalent in Indian private healthcare. Your Indian health policy generally does not travel with you, and where it does, it is usually limited and requires you to pay first and claim later.

Match the sum insured to the destination rather than to the price of the plan. North America needs materially more cover than Southeast Asia. Schengen countries impose a minimum by regulation. And check whether the policy pays the hospital directly through a cashless network or reimburses you afterwards - the difference is enormous when you are unwell and abroad.

The question is not what the policy costs. It is what a week in an intensive care unit costs where you are going.

Medical evacuation and repatriation

These two benefits are easy to skim past and expensive to need. Emergency medical evacuation pays to move you to an adequate facility, which in remote areas can mean an air ambulance. Repatriation of mortal remains pays to bring a traveller home. Neither is a benefit anyone enjoys reading about, and both should be on the schedule with a meaningful limit.

The disruption benefits, properly understood

Trip delay pays a defined amount once your departure is delayed beyond a stated number of hours - typically after six or twelve - and is usually structured as a fixed sum per block of time, intended to cover meals and a hotel.

Missed connection is a different benefit. It responds when a delay to one carrier causes you to miss an onward flight, cruise or tour departure, and it covers the cost of rebooking and the accommodation and meals in between.

Trip interruption responds when a journey already underway has to be cut short for a covered reason, reimbursing the unused non-refundable portion of the trip and, where applicable, the cost of an early return. Read which of these three your plan includes; they are frequently marketed as one thing and underwritten as three.

Baggage, passport and the everyday claims

Baggage delay pays for essential purchases when your checked bag arrives late, usually after a waiting period and against receipts. Total baggage loss pays a capped amount, generally on a depreciated basis, and per-item limits apply. Neither will make you whole on a bag full of expensive things, so keep valuables in your cabin baggage.

Loss of passport cover pays the cost of obtaining an emergency travel document and the associated expenses. Carry a scan and a photocopy separately from the original - it shortens the replacement process considerably.

Before you leave

Buy before departure, not after. Cover purchased once you are already abroad either does not exist or excludes anything arising after you left. Save the assistance helpline number in your phone and write it somewhere that does not depend on the phone working. Keep a copy of the policy offline.

Finally, declare accurately. Adventure activities, professional sports, and pre-existing conditions all change the underwriting, and a policy issued on inaccurate information is a policy that can be contested at the worst possible moment.