Benefits of Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is the one thing you shouldn't consider travelling without. It should be right at the top of your 'to do list' when arranging your holiday. Failing to be sufficiently covered by travel insurance could potentially cost you thousands of pounds in medical expenses and untold stress.

It's a relatively simple thing to arrange and with a bit of searching it needn't be that expensive. There are a number of different types of cover available:

• Annual or Single

This is fairly self-explanatory; single-trip travel insurance will cover you for one specific holiday; annual travel insurance will cover you for several holidays over the course of a year. So, if you're planning on having a number of holidays in one year it's wise to opt for annual travel insurance. You can make quite large savings in comparison to booking single-trip cover each time you travel.

• Family Travel Insurance

This policy will allow you to insure both parents and children together. They avoid the hassle of taking out individual policies for each person and they are a great way of saving money, especially if you have a large family.

Family travel insurance can start from a little as £50. It's important to check the policy terms carefully to make sure it meets the needs of your family.

• Backpackers Travel Insurance

Backpackers or gap year travel insurance specifically caters for those who intend to travel for longer periods of time. They offer special features, with some companies covering most sports activities at no extra cost and also discounts for couples. They normally offer insurance that will cover you for up to 18 months but some companies have age restrictions. If you fall outside the age barrier, then you could opt for long stay insurance, with some companies offering holiday insurance that covers you for up to 2 years.

• Business Travel Insurance

Business travel insurance caters for the needs of those who travel regularly with work and is generally only available as an annual policy. Office related equipment such as PDAs and laptops are covered with some policies also covering sports equipment such as golf clubs.

Student Health Insurance From ISO

International students who visit USA for pursuing their studies had always faced a serious problem in dealing with medical emergencies. Medical treatment in USA is one of the most expensive in the world. Most of the international students who come here for studies are on shoe-string budgets and medical emergencies can be absolutely crippling.

Student health insurance program

And who will understand the difficulties of students if not students themselves? International Student Organization, established in 1958, has taken a proactive step and organized an affordable student health insurance program in collaboration with leading private health insurance providers. There are two plans, COMPASS and ISO. Both plans are open for international students as well as visiting scholars and faculty members.

Both student health insurance plans provide comprehensive coverage and benefits to the members in case of injuries and illnesses including medical evacuation and repatriation, if needed. This is a truly magnificent self-help program organized by the ISO which is commendable.

Medicare, Health Insurance Program For The Elderly

Medicare

The Federal Government administers a health insurance program for US citizens and permanent residents of USA of an age of 65 or over. An individual or his/her spouse should have worked for at least 10 years in Medicare covered employment to be eligible under this scheme.

This scheme has four components:
• Part A covers treatment by hospitalization. The stay in a hospital or nursing home must be at least for 72 hours for receiving skilled treatment or skilled nursing;
• Part B, the medical insurance component of the program, covers cost of treatments such as dialysis, investigative tests, etc as an out-patient.and costs of durable medical equipment such as oxygen equipment, artificial limbs, etc. which are prescribed as medical necessities;
• Part C: Members can exercise option to receive benefits offered under Parts A & B through private insurance plans;
• Part D covers cost of prescription drugs through private health insurance companies who administer this part of the program.

No out-of-pocket expenses such as co-payments, deductibles, etc under Parts A & B are not covered.

Accident Insurance

A question to start with: What is common between a human, an automobile and a house? Those into investments shall readily answer back “insurance”, but that’s not the right answer though pretty near. It is vulnerability; the sole factor that gave rise to the concept of insurance. However, we need to rephrase here a bit – for humans, an accident insurance is life insurance itself despite the existence of travel insurances and an insurance that cover properties against sudden calamities and unforeseen incidents is an accident insurance in its truest sense. Let’s start with travel insurance.

Travel insurances come within the category of accident insurance since they hold up protection against unexpected mishaps that may occur on a trip. Good travel insurance policies cover trip cancellations, extra medical insurance as well as losses incurred on the material objects.

The other types of accident insurance offer a guard against properties, which can be a car, a house and valuables. The term vastly applied for this category is general insurance; for automobiles, it is referred as Auto Accident Insurance. However, certain rules apply for all and they are as follows:
» For travel insurances, the policy needs to be bought at least 10 days prior to the date of traveling.
» An insurance for accidents provide expensive medical treatments; physical therapies; prosthetic devices including crutches, wheelchairs and other medical aids. Accidental death benefits are increased if death occurs while traveling in a public vehicle.
» Extra coverage and benefits can be obtained by paying extra amounts, the terminology for which is optional riders.
» Claiming the policy back may require co-payments and deductibles apply at most of the times. However, coverage may apply at all states and product benefits may also vary.
» The general insurances cover accidents, natural calamities and loss of property while on the move.
» Insurance for accidents provide coverage within the US only.

Auto Insurance

All right; so you finally got rid of all that was holding you back and now you are ready for the go. It’s time to paint the town and wheels are definitely a means to take you to places before you can say, “Zoom!” Now, that depends on how smooth the road is that you’re traveling on. Have they been smoothened yet? If not, then selecting the right auto insurance shall.

If you have already bought the machine or just eagerly waiting for the last couple of days to pass, chances are that you are already pondering upon the auto insurance part; the paper-works are many, agents are galore and it often gets pressurizing for the owner to decide upon the right scheme that shall provide the necessary protection against the evils of both nature and those the human psychology has given rise to. The field of auto insurance, with its ever-stretching boundary, thus throws a person into the realm of utter confusion for making the wrong decision and it’s only realized after the first mishap takes its toll. But prevention is always better than the cure and staying within a few set parameters shall bring forth the necessary immunization.

With so many auto insurance schemes in the market and so many people (both automobile sellers and insurance agents) trying to sell them, knowing the points that make for the right one is comparatively easier than presenting the individual names. But it’s also paramount that one knows about the factors that shoot up the premiums; for unless the cause is known, one cannot deal with the effects. So here we go.

Factors that shoot the premium rates up:

  * Driving record – To check how skillful or how haphazard a driver you are; for a careful driver, an automobile is a lifetime investment while for the other type, it’s just a feat of frenzy.
  * Automobile usage record – This one determines the depreciation of a vehicle. More usage is more wear and tear; the same thing applies if other people frequently handle the automobile as well.
  * Geographical location – Uneven terrains reduce the life of an automobile that translates to the loss of the auto insurance company. This is the reason behind city dwellers paying less premium amounts and those in the countryside paying more for their auto insurance.
  * Credit reports, claims history and occupation – A lot of negative marking puts a person on stake; poor (re) payment history or cancellation of a previous policy due to non-payment make the premium rates go higher to secure the payments. A good FICO credit score solves the problem.
  * Car models – Sturdy vehicles like SUVs and pick-up trucks are less prone to damage compared to fashionable sports cars and luxury sedans. If damage is imminent, the insurance company shall try to secure their business by setting higher premium rates. However, red cars don’t, as believed commonly.

Which life insurance policy is suitable for you?

Generally a family is solely dependent on the breadwinner in the family and quite often the family suffers great hardships on the demise of the breadwinner. Life Insurance is primarily suited to protect the family from the hardships in such an eventuality. Life Insurance is an instrument of planning for the future. The policy holder pays regular installments during his earning life and on his death his family receives a lump sum amount.

There are three main categories of life insurance.
• Term Life Insurance: Simple and least expensive. Its objective is to pay a specified lump sum amount to the insured person if he is surviving at the end of the specified term, or to the designated person on the death of the insured person during the specified term.
• Whole Life Insurance: It pays a specified lump sum amount to the insured person if he is surviving at the end of the specified term, or to the designated person on the death of the insured person during the specified term on the policy holder’s death; it also provides periodic dividends and allows limited withdrawals from the policy during life time. Obviously, the premium you pay in this case is higher than that for term life. This policy permits a certain amount of flexibility in setting the terms of premium payments as well as recasting the sum assured during the life so as to suit the needs of the family;
• Universal Life Insurance: This policy is for the life of the insured and is looked upon more as an inheritance. This feature ensures that in the event of the death of the insured person, the family cannot become destitute.

Each of the main types mentioned above has its merits and demerits and which life insurance policy a person should buy will depend entirely on his/her requirements and conditions under which the policy is being purchased. The salient feature of making a provision for the family in case of loss of the breadwinner is achieved by all these life insurance policies..