Insurance Agents, Brokers, Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Visa Consultants and other professionals that have customers traveling abroad can choose to offer travel insurance from insurance companies based in their home country and in the U.S. Some professionals may think it's easier or more beneficial to only sell insurance from companies in their own country without considering additional avenues they could look into.
For any of these professionals, it is to their advantage to have U.S. based plans available to offer their customers.
There are numerous benefits to offering travel insurance from U.S. based companies, such as:
- Fixed and comprehensive plans for all ages
- PPO network - Cashless network of doctors and hospitals throughout the U.S.
- Insurance ID Cards
- Cashless/direct billing
- Truly renewable - up to 1, 2 or 3 years
- Cancellable and refundable
- Better customer service in the same time zone
- Available 7 days a week
- Instant online purchase
- Less claims paperwork
- Outpatient benefits
- No requirement to delay treatment until returning to the home country, even if it is medically necessary
If you would like to limit yourself by only offering your customers insurance from your own country's companies, that is your choice. However, you can easily add more products to what you already have and start selling insurance to the people you are currently unable to offer insurance to. Some of those situations might be:
- When you are unable to provide coverage to someone that is traveling to your country. We can provide coverage to people traveling to most of the countries in the world.
- If your customers are unsatisfied with your product selection. Whether their displeasure is due to plans with limited benefits, the length of their trip is longer than the insurance plan allows, or if a person's older age has plans only with high prices.
There are two types of visitors insurance plans:
- Fixed coverage - cheaper, limited
- Comprehensive coverage - more expensive, better benefits
Many foreign based companies provide only fixed coverage plans for people above the age of 55 years (or 50 years). If any of your older customers want comprehensive coverage plans, you should consider plans from the U.S. based companies.
- Some countries require a visitor to be physically present in their country at the time of purchase. Do you have customers that would like to buy the insurance after they have already left your country? E.g., a resident of India who is currently visiting Dubai and would now like to visit Germany will need Schengen visa insurance. We can help with that.
- Do you have customers that suddenly decide to travel to Europe in need of insurance for a Schengen visa because they have a consulate appointment tomorrow morning? They would be able to immediately receive the signed insurance coverage letter from the insurance company for their appointment. Anyone can visit our Schengen visa insurance section, make an instant purchase online, then immediately print the visa letter with the signature of the insurance company's officer and present it to the consulate.
- Some countries have a maximum duration of coverage for travel insurance of only 180 days. If your customers need the insurance beyond 180 days, we can help with that.
- Some countries prohibit citizens from extending their insurance while they are abroad. We can help these customers purchase new insurance.
- Other countries allow their insurance companies to provide coverage to students and new immigrants only up to 90 days. What happens after that? We can help with that.
- Do the plans you currently offer have destination restrictions? We can help cover more destinations.
- Do the plans you currently offer have height restrictions for mountains? e.g., Mt. Kailash/Manasarovar Yatra or Mt. Kilimanjaro expedition. Can you offer coverage to those travelers? We can help with that.
- Some companies have a sickness or accident based sub-limits. Even if the overall policy maximum is $100,000, the plan will only cover $12,000/sickness. That is really $12,000 insurance. If you need the full $100,000 of coverage you need another type type of insurance, we can help with that.
- Do the plans you currently offer provide coverage for acute onset of pre-existing conditions? We have many companies that provide this benefit until a person turns 70 years old and some will also cover this benefit until a person's 90th birthday.
- Do the plans you currently offer require a medical exam and underwriting before providing coverage to customers who are 70 years of age and above? We provide travel insurance for any age without any medical exam or underwriting.
Once you start working with us for the customers that you are currently unable to serve, you will notice how much better and easier it is to deal with the U.S. based companies. At that point, you can decide whether you would like to expand your business by having the choice to offer insurance from U.S. based companies or the ones in your home country.