It is generally accepted that college serves a gateway to adulthood. It teaches you important skills and gives you the information needed to perform a job. More than that, it is often the first often a young adult is living away from the parents. Because of this, college life also serves as “beginner’s course” itself. The students learn to pay bills, maintain their cars, and work their first jobs (for some). Also, many students travel alone for the first time.
You may be spending spring break in Mexico, taking your senior-year trip to Amsterdam, visiting home for two weeks in Texas, or studying abroad in Germany. According to the Student and Youth Travel Association, 25 million students traveled internationally with a school-organized group or club in 2005. Amidst such excitement, it is hard to remember such things as proper medical coverage, yet it is extremely important.
Many insurance companies have policies which are specific to a student’s problems, situation, and budget. For example, one inclusion provided by many companies is that they will relay messages to one’s parents, in the event of an emergency. Also, they may provide legal assistance, referrals to the nearest U.S. embassy, and may even help with translation or the transfer of money. Because they recognize the policy-holder is young and possibly naïve to the troubles they may encounter in a foreign country, some insurance companies even “retrieve” a parent or other relative from the United States. For students studying abroad, they may extend coverage to include the occasional visit home (referred to as Incidental Home Country Coverage).
Nevertheless, like many other travel insurance policies, student policies may include baggage loss, trip delay or cancellation, and medical expenses. The latter includes (though it varies from policy to policy): evacuation and repatriation, hospital stays, diagnostic tests, prescriptions, and ambulance transports. Strangely, student insurance seems to have a bit more leeway in regards to which sports are covered (if an injury is sustained while engaging in a college, school, or club sport like basketball, football, or swimming) than if it were an adult’s policy. Maybe the companies realize that adults are more fragile than they once were?
Another area of some policies which cater to students more so than adults is maternity care. If a student gets pregnant while covered by travel medical insurance, many companies will cover pre-natal care, delivery, post-natal care, miscarriage expenses, complications of pregnancy, and even nursery care of newborns. However, don’t celebrate yet: the coverage is often very limited.
Similarly, mental health, emergency dental care, injuries incurred due to a terrorist act, and repatriation of remains are sometimes covered, though usually with strict stipulations. For example, to claim a terrorist-induced injury, the country you are visiting must not have been the subject of a U.S.-issued travel advisory for the past six months. As always, analyze any policy thoroughly prior to purchasing and, especially, prior to travelling.
