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All set to pack yourself off to soak in the sun and savour the breathtaking locales on an overseas holiday? Bought travel insurance? An important aspect of a travelers must-have list, the fact is that not many realize the importance of travel insurance until calamity strikes. These day's insurers are all set to woo the traveller in a big way. Emergency cash covers, insurance cover specifically for the Asia-Pacific region, hospital daily allowance and hijack distress allowance etc are some of the never before features that insurers add-on to offer that extra bit to the traveler not to mention the customized covers you could check out.

So here's cruising you through a few of them on offer. Take your pick before you pack off. Before you take the plunge know that there are four state owned general insurance companies and around four private insurers including ICICI Lombard, Royal Sundaram, Allianz Bajaj, and Tata AIG General Insurance who offer travel covers. While all offer almost the same features there are slight variations you could check out for. Features like benefits in case of Personal Accident - death and permanent disablement, Medical Expenses and repatriation, hospitalization expenses as a result of accident or illness, including medical evacuation wherever necessary, loss of checked baggage checked in by an international airline are offered by most insurers.

Cashless Medical Service: Medical expenses can be exorbitant abroad. A simple knee injury can mar your holidaying experience not to mention the big hole it can leave in your pocket. Check out how much the cashless medical service can benefit you.

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has a choice of four travel covers. The Pravasi Bharati Bima Yojana is a special package for Indian citizens going to the gulf for work purposes only while Travel Companion, a floater policy for those in the age group of 6 months to 60 years is targeted at the international traveler and offers 5 plans under it. Floater policy? What is it? A floater policy is one that allows the total sum assured to be used by all members till it is exhausted.

Similarly, Tata AIG General Insurance offers Travel Guard for ages 6 months to 70 years and Travel Age for those beyond this age group. Know that most travel policies cover death and dismemberment up to a certain limit. And for most of the travel covers no medical examination is required. Also many insurers offer these online. While some may have a specific price band for a given number of days, in case of others like ICICI Lombard you pay on a per day basis. Check out the difference if any.

What you should look out for: What not many insurers may talk about is the deductibles. Deductibles is the amount that you will have to fork out yourself inspite of being insured. It is a nominal amount in most cases but check out for these. For instance what if unfortunately you need to admit yourself in a hospital while you are on your trip abroad. The expenses will be taken care of by your insurer no doubt but if it is a small amount lets say around 500 USD you'll have to pay it off yourself. Also note that there would be a Deductible of USD100 for each medical claim you make.