Briefly the policy provides the following cover to the Insured whilst traveling anywhere in the World:
- Medical expenses and hospitalization abroad
- Cost of medical evacuation and repatriation in case of illness or accident
- Cost of prolongation of stay due to illness
- Cost of emergency return home following death of a family member
- Cost of returning home mortal remains of the Insured.
The intention are virtually self – explanatory , to meet unforeseen financial and other problems encountered whilst on holiday. Specifically , the cover provided is very diverse and likely to include:
i. Medical expenses: private medical treatment in Tanzania is very expensive. High limits of cover for necessary medical treatment incurred whilst on holiday are therefore given , sometimes amounting to several million of shillings.
ii. PA benefits: on a similar basis to PA covers already discussed.
iii. Luggage loss/ damage: in certain circumstances ( death / illness of the insured or close relative ) all or part of money payable for a holiday may be lost. The policy covers such losses.
iv. Loss of money: a limited amount of cover is available for money lost or stolen whilst on holiday.
v. Delays: a specified sum is payable in the event of ordinate delays of aircraft for the time in excess of the stated period.
vi. Repatriation expenses: the extra expenses involved with the returning an injured insured, or his remains in the event of death on holiday.
vii. Public liability cover: the legal responsibility of the insured towards third parties in respect of death, injury, or property damage.
viii. Miscellaneous coverage: a wide of cover and services may be found in this complete class of business, including a benefit for Hijack, Consultation and advice on an international ‘ helpline’ a daily Hospitalization benefit etc.
ix. Loss of deposit: in certain circumstances all or part of the money payable during for a holiday may be lost. The policy covers such losses.
i. Generally: these will be in line with the various types of insurance offered, rg PA cover will be subject to the customary PA exclusions. Liability cover may not include liability arising from the use of motor vehicles.
ii. Excess: most sections of the policy are likely to be subject to an excess, mainly to eliminate trivial claims.
Sometimes policy cover is offered as a ‘ package’ deal , where units of cover may be purchased . in other cases individual covers and sums insured may be selected. In either case the important elements in deciding the premium:
i. Geographical area:
ii. Time element: premium is usually quoted according to the number of days involved with the trip. Most companies quote on band of days e.g. not exceeding 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, 28 days, etc.
iii. Persons covered: travel insurance is obviously related to family holidays. The insured’s spouse and family travelling with him may be offered advantageous overall rates.
iv. Annual policies: for frequently travelers (business and /or holiday) an annual contract may be arranged at an attractive single premium.
i. Underwriting: a feature of this type of business is that everything is made as simple as possible, because cover is usually obtained at the last minute and a product which is not ‘user friendly’ with this mass market is not likely to succeed. As a consequence, there is little individual underwriting of individual risks.
ii. ‘Master policies’: it is quite common for ‘master policies’ to be issued to travel agents, who arrange many ‘package’ holidays. Individual’s customers merely receive a certificate outlining the basic provisions of the cover.
iii. Accumulation: although individual policy underwriting is very limited with travel insurance the underwriter must be aware of the real danger of an accumulation of policy holders being involved in a single accident. a dramatic example would be the crash of as holiday charter flight with perhaps hundreds of fatalities. The accumulation of personal accident payments could be very significant. This is very technical but nevertheless important matter for the insurer who will have contingency reinsurance plan for this.
