International Student Insurance Update

Students are excited to travel again,” begins Anna Houben at CareMed International Travel Insurance, but with rising living costs and increased flight fares, price-sensitive students may have reservations about the added expense of comprehensive insurance. However, Anna adds, “With the current political and ecological events happening right now, families want to ensure that there will be help in case something happens.”

Keeping relevant

World tourism has evolved quickly following the Covid-19 pandemic and keeping up with changes while providing quality services can be hugely challenging, relates Daniel Levy , CMO at ACS – Travel & Expatriate Insurance Solutions . “We regularly update existing policies to ensure they keep relevant. We also spend a good amount of energy and resources on improving customer communication in order to provide timely and clear information about coverage and claims processes,” he says.

In the past 12 months, ACS has boosted coverage of its Globe Partner product, its most preferred insurance solution for students going abroad, and more recently allowed students already overseas – and who may have neglected to take out travel insurance initially – to purchase its Globe Partner Comprehensive Coverage. “In most cases travel insurance must be purchased before departure,” explains Daniel.

At CareMed, the specifics of insurance plans have adapted to travel changes as well as the needs of its clients, explains Anna. “For example, we were able to increase the age range for certain products as our partners have older participants. Moreover, we improved the claims procedures and added a travel delay benefit to cover the risks of trip interruption.”

A provider of insurance for education travelers for more than 60 years, DR-WALTER GmbH has been focusing on digitalization and launched the Air Doctor app. Head of International Programs at DR-WALTER, Claudia Reichstein explains that should students fall ill or injure themselves while away from home they can quickly find a local doctor and book an in-person appointment or a video call directly via the app. “No matter whether with a general practitioner or a specialist, the costs are billed directly to Air Doctor as part of [the student’s] insurance,” she adds.

Rather than download an app, students insured with Guard.me International Insurance can now access free GP support assistance via a phone call. Students can call the assistance line listed on their Certificate of Insurance and access free GP support 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a variety of languages, explains Guard.me Managing Director, Mark Sheerin. “This product offers a superior service, extra language support and easier accessibility without having to download apps or provide any access codes,” he adds.

Other new services for Guard.me include: Covid-19 hospital/accommodation quarantine cover; an expanded list of acceptable medical conditions for pre-existing conditions; a new missed departure benefit and coverage for international students on internships and cultural programs.

In the last 12 months StudyInsured, catering for outbound Canadian and inbound international students, has increased dental coverage, given additional support for diabetic and asthma sufferers, added follow-up care for outpatient services following a covered emergency and enhanced mental health coverage for students, notes Product Analyst, Aman Ruprell. The latter includes extra outpatient mental health care, he adds.

With an increase in claims and requests from student clients in regards to mental health issues, insurers have a duty of care to advise on coverage limitations – especially in the case of a pre-existing mental health condition which might not be covered by a student’s policy, notes Claudia at DR-WALTER. “Here we provide guidance and support to our client agencies ahead of and during the insured period.”

Uni-Care Travel Insurance, part of Crombie Lockwood, one of New Zealand’s leading insurance brokers, provides mental health benefit cover of up to NZ$20,000 (US$12,523), even if it is pre-existing, relate Yvonne Yin and Ghada Ibrahim, and mental health care continues to be a priority area for the insurer. “Covid-19 had a significant impact on the mental health and well-being of people around the world, and international students may face additional challenges.”

Student concerns

The pandemic affected travel enormously and there are still ongoing concerns that new Covid variants could strike, relates Claudia. But other crises like the war in Ukraine and natural disasters like the earthquake in Turkey and Syria also cause uncertainty for travelers.

In February this year, Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand, causing extensive damage and costing billions of dollars in economic losses. Uni-Care’s claims team worked intensively with those affected by the cyclone and resulting floods.

“We had a group of Japanese students who arrived in Auckland and they were supposed to travel to different cities internally in New Zealand but all transit flights were cancelled due to the flooding,” says Yvonne at Uni-Care. “We worked closely with our agent to help the students claim for the unexpected losses caused by the travel disruption. We understand it’s hard for our students being away from home to face challenging incidents like this and we do all we can to make them feel supported and safe.”

Students travelling abroad for short-term study courses have expressed concern about getting sick or needing to travel home early owing to a sudden change in circumstance, observes Mark. Guard.me’s cancellation and curtailment policies are greatly appreciated here, he notes. Recognizing that clients need greater flexibility to change bookings due to the constant uncertainty and flux of overseas travel, Guard.me is investing in a new customer portal to empower clients to order and make changes to their policies in real-time.