Travel insurance for uni year abroad

[buggybored]

DC is spending this academic year abroad (compulsory as joint language degree). Can anyone recommend a good travel insurance policy? The university provides a basic policy but it doesn’t cover eg travel away from the city in which they’re studying or sport so I’m keen to top-up. Thanks

What cover do you need? Might have to be a local policy rather than one from the UK.

thanks but it needs to be a UK policy - like a normal travel insurance policy - but the wrinkle is that it needs to cover an academic year abroad. And most annual travel policies are designed for backpackers.

The International Office at my uni has resources for this. Perhaps DC could check there?

They might also consider joining the online forum The Student Room and asking what arrangements those who have studied abroad have made. Insurance is usually mandatory so hopefully there will be some replies.

Good luck with this.

Dd's uni covers for her year abroad including holidays up to 1 week.
I have made enquiries with Big Cat, they will insure students studying abroad at university, and you can buy it if/when needed. So when dd is planning a n11 day trip next month I will probably get 4 days covered with them.

I haven't look around much, I used them before when D's went to volunteer in Thailand for 6 months, so I've stuck with them.

Thanks - will try that. Yes, the uni provides a policy but it doesn’t cover anything outside of place of study, not even for short periods hence wanting to top up!

DD is off to Canada for a year abroad. Her UK uni insurance also only covers her place of study, plus she has to buy a compulsory Canadian healthcare plan through the uni (fortunately not too expensive). She has a short trip to the US lined up which will need insurance, and intends to spend a couple of months travelling after she finishes her 2nd semester. The plan is to use Big Cat to cover both trips. They seem to be the most flexible in terms of both length of cover and in not requiring the trip to start in the UK.

We used Cover4Insurance as they cover the year abroad for study.

Hello @buggybored, apologies for the crude cut/paste below, I am on my phone. My DD used April International Insurance for her 2 x country YA studies 2 years ago, very reasonable and no hassle when she had to make a claim. She also travelled extensively from her base locations (language student also), all was covered.

Good luck to your YP, hope they enjoy!

I am pleased to present your quotation based on our Student International Health Plan, which we have provided as we understand you will require an international private medical insurance as a student who is studying outside of your home country as part of a university or college course.

The policy includes comprehensive Inpatient care, Outpatient care, Emergency Dental care, Personal accident cover, as well as Evacuation and Repatriation benefits as standard.

The geographical of cover is Worldwide excluding the USA and Caribbean, meaning there will be full portability within this area and access to any private medical facilities of your choice.

The thing that catches people out usually isn't the provider, it's a couple of clauses that are easy to skim past when you're comparing prices.

Check whether the policy requires the trip to start and end in the UK. Most standard UK annual policies do, which means a trip your DC takes from their host city to somewhere else isn't covered at all, because it isn't a journey that began here. That one clause rules out a lot of otherwise sensible policies, and it's why Big Cat keeps coming up on threads like this one.

Check the maximum trip length too. "Annual multi-trip" sounds like it covers the year, but they nearly all cap any single trip at around 30 to 45 days, and an academic year abroad reads to an insurer as one long trip rather than a series of short ones.

It's also worth knowing you may be comparing two different products. A travel policy is for emergencies and getting someone home. What ealingwestmum was quoted is international private medical insurance, which is closer to ongoing healthcare cover while living somewhere. For a full academic year the medical plan often works better as the base layer, with something separate for the trips away.

On the sport, don't just check that it's listed. Check the level. Plenty of policies cover a sport recreationally but exclude it played competitively or for a club or university team, which is exactly what your DC is likely to end up doing if they join anything out there. Anything on snow is nearly always a paid add-on.

Two smaller things. Most UK policies require the insured person to be UK resident and often registered with a UK GP, so read that wording carefully if they're away for nine months or more. And if it's an EU country, a GHIC is worth having alongside, since it gets state treatment on the same basis as a local, but it isn't insurance and won't repatriate anyone or pay for a missed flight.

Last thing: don't cancel the university policy and replace it. It's often the thing that satisfies the host institution's mandatory insurance requirement, so treat whatever you buy as a layer on top of it rather than a swap.