Key components for protecting international travellers to the U.S.:

The essential programme elements need insurance, support, and information.

Programmes need an insurance component to pay the actual expenses (the medical bills and the costs of an ambulance or flight home), and they need a support component (answering questions, handling enrolments, paying claims). They also need information, eg. assistance locating hospitals, doctors, and specialists, and occasionally travel alerts about widespread issues in their area that could affect health and safety.

Core coverage essentials for international visitors

The core coverages in an international travellers or visitor policy include an adequate medical benefit, coverage for mental/behavioural health, and coverage for medical evacuation and return of mortal remains.  Digging a little deeper, CISI recommends that medical benefits be more than $100,000 and we offer coverage options up to $500,000 depending upon the needs of the programme (length of travel, availability of other resources and support, and other risk factors specific to the trip).  

These types of policies also vary somewhat in regard to deductibles and copays, where the cost of the plan will be affected by whether coverage is fully insured (with all expenses paid by the insurance package) or if there are deductibles and copays (passing some percentage of payment responsibilities on to the traveller). 

Mental health, pre-existing conditions, and tailored coverage for cultural exchange programmes

Coverage for cultural exchange participants should include mental health support.  Coverage for longer terms may include a benefit for pre-existing conditions (so one can be sick with an ongoing medical issue and still seek treatment). 

The list of excluded activities needs to reflect your travellers, so most CISI policies created for exchange students cover scuba and snow skiing and motor vehicles (even 2- or 3-wheel vehicles), as well as accidents that occur while drinking.  Benefits for medical evacuation should not limit one to the closest point of stabilisation; it is important that a medical evacuation benefit be broad enough to ultimately bring the traveller back to their home country if necessary. 

Insurance companies provide many other types of coverage as well, from accidental death to quarantine and trip cancellation to lost bags and eyeglasses replacement.  Some policies may also cover routine care (or “wellness”), benefits designed to allow for check-ups and other non-emergency visits.  While not core benefits that should be present in every policy, these can also be very important for certain types of programmes.  We recommend that discussions begin with core coverage comparisons. 

Creating a comprehensive health and safety strategy

Once the best option is chosen, then work with your insurance broker to fine-tune the best overall strategy to address your health and safety needs, whether that is helping to secure the best additional coverages within your policy, negotiating complimentary policies and services to be paired with your medical policy, or providing links to other packages that you can provide to individual travellers with non-standard needs.   

Key components for protecting travellers abroad:

There are several key components to properly protecting your travellers on their programmes abroad.  Programmes need an insurance component to pay the actual expenses (the medical bills and the costs of an ambulance or flight home), and they need a support component (answering questions, handling enrolments, paying claims overseas in foreign currencies), and they need information (country-specific details, advice during times of crisis, intelligence reports).

Core coverage essentials for outbound insurance policies

The core coverages in an outbound insurance policy include an adequate medical benefit, coverage for mental/behavioural health, coverage for pre-existing conditions, coverage for medical evacuation and return of mortal remains, and security coverage for military/political issues and natural disasters.  Digging a little deeper, CISI recommends that medical benefits be in excess of $100,000, and a majority of our policies now offer greater than $250,000 of primary coverage per occurrence with no deductible and no copay. 

Coverage for a student constituency should include mental health support.  Travellers should be able to arrive sick (or with an ongoing medical issue) and still seek treatment, so including a pre-existing benefit is important.  The list of excluded activities needs to reflect your travellers, so most CISI policies cover scuba and snow skiing and motor vehicles (even 2- or 3-wheel vehicles), as well as accidents that occur while drinking. 

Comprehensive medical and security evacuation benefits

Benefits for medical evacuation should not limit one to the closest point of stabilisation; it is important that a medical evacuation benefit also ultimately brings the traveller home.  Security benefits vary greatly in this niche, so carefully review whether there is a “boots-on-the-ground” component that could bring support to wherever your travellers are located or if your benefit only begins supporting you after your travellers have navigated the dangers of their environment to reach a designated international airport.   

The triggers for security support are also important.  Some policies are only triggered based upon a US Department of State alert level, while others allow for both objective and subjective determinations.  Some policies only allow for evacuation benefits for a narrow list of widespread issues, and others will provide support based upon more individual threats to a group (or even to one individual). 

Expanded security coverage: ensuring safety in crisis situations

Insurance companies provide many other types of coverage as well, from kidnapping/ransom and accidental death to quarantine and trip cancellation to lost bags and eyeglass replacement. While not core benefits that should be present in every policy, these can also be very important for certain types of travel. 

Building a complete health and safety strategy with your broker

We recommend that discussions begin with core coverage comparisons.  Once the best option is chosen, then work with your insurance broker to fine-tune the best overall strategy to address your health and safety needs, whether that is helping to secure the best additional coverages within your policy, negotiating complimentary policies and services to be paired with your medical policy, or providing links to other packages that you can provide to individual travellers with non-standard needs.