Travelling is one of the important things of life, especially for social interaction, business, education, pleasure and others. Hence the need for peace of mind, by securing a Travel Insurance.
WHAT IS TRAVEL INSURANCE?
Travel insurance is a type of insurance that covers the costs and losses associated with traveling. It practically means that it is a useful protection for those traveling locally or internationally to be able to protect or recover losses that may occur during the time of transit, such as death, health issues, baggage loss and damage. This means that you have a contingency plan in place that covers all the expenses if things go wrong.
HOW TO GET A TRAVEL INSURANCE
The first step is to approach a reliable/known insurance company in Nigeria or through insurance brokerage firm (companies that have specialized knowledge of the industry and partnerships with several insurance companies and help to manage business relationship between insurance companies and you, the insurance policy holder).
The second step is getting to know the types of Travel Insurance, which the company will guide you through some written documents or lectures depending on how they relate with customers.
The cost of travel insurance from Nigeria varies and generally depends on two factors. The first is the duration of travel and the second in the country of destination. Starting from 7 to 180 days/ Annual multi trip to Biennial multi trip.
Different types of Travel Insurance:
- Domestic travel insurance plan
- International travel insurance
- Medical travel insurance
- Single and multi-trip travel insurance.
- Group travel insurance
- Senior citizen travel insurance
As their names implies these insurance policies cover up for any loss/risk that might occur during the time of travel. However we will only discuss the Domestic Travel Insurance Plan which will indicate how to go about getting this policy for travelers traveling within and outside the country as their process and polies differs.
DOMESTIC TRAVEL INSURANCE
This is a policy that covers a person traveling within the borders of Nigeria either by road, train or air. Especially in cases of delayed flight.
TRAVEL INSURANCE – NIGERIA TO COUNTRIES COVERED BY YOUR SCHENGEN VISA (EAUROPE)
The Schengen Travel Insurance: is the policy plan for people travelling from Nigeria to any of the countries in Europe within the designated coverage of the Schengen Visa, it is like oldest policy plan with the highest level of popularity in the market and as a result of all the international parties involved (the European Union and her constituents), it is more standardized in terms of benefits accruable to you. It is also readily available.
TRAVEL INSURANCE – NIGERIA TO THE REST OF THE WORLD
The Worldwide travel insurance is for travelers who are not travelling locally or to any Schengen/European Country. It gives coverage for trips from Nigeria to the USA, Australia, and the Middle East, China as well as every other region outside of Europe. However, unlike the Schengen Travel Insurance, this product is not standardized as there is no central body deciding what the benchmarks should be in terms of benefits. This means that, depending on your country of destination, the limit of benefits accruable to you varies.
Travel insurance is typically purchased from your country of residence and from insurance policy providers local to that country. In other words, Travel Insurance in Nigeria is a product for residents and non-residents of Nigeria travelling from Nigeria to another country, for a specified period of time.
Basically travel insurance is required of you by law, because most countries that Nigerians visits either have a social program that covers the health needs of her citizens or a robust health insurance framework that ensures that everyone has access to healthcare. As a foreigner in a country, you are not covered by the system the government of that country has put in place for its people. Therefore you are required to have travel insurance so as to make sure you are able to adequately cater for yourself medically and otherwise, should the need arise. There have been several cases, particularly in Europe, where Nigerian travelers have had their visas denied at the point of entry and this is why you shouldn’t travel without an appropriate travel insurance policy.
Source: ucb.com.ng