Why Overseas Student Health Cover Matters for International Students

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Take whatever experience life throws at you while you are studying abroad. It is your time to be carefree, exploring and discovering new locations to visit while dedicating your time and energy to your studies. However, there may be some circumstances that damper your plans. Consider being ill and needing medical treatment. Everyone is aware that medical charges in another nation might be excessive. While you may have budgeted for some expenses, medical emergencies can come at any time. An overseas medical insurance policy may always be handy in situations like these.

In the case of an international student on a short-term visa, it is the requirement for visa approval that you have appropriate health insurance for the duration of your stay overseas. This means you must get an Overseas Student Health Cover and maintain your coverage (current) while abroad on a student visa.

OSHC is a kind of international student health insurance that helps overseas students pay for medical and hospital treatment while studying abroad. OSHC also offers ambulance service and a limited supply of medications.

Why is it important?

As having this overseas healthcare plan is a visa requirement, be sure you have it with you at all times for proper and effective utilization. If you fall behind on payments or updating your coverage, you will be able to keep your coverage, but you may be unable to claim for services obtained while you were behind.

If the visa status or Medicare qualification changes at any time, notify your insurer as quickly as possible to see whether your current level of coverage is still appropriate. When your student visa ends, you will no longer be eligible for OSHC and hence, will not have any overseas student health care plan. In such cases, your only two logical options are a residents’ plan and a healthcare plan for Overseas Visitors.

Thomas Cook is the country’s foremost integrated travel and travel-related financial services organization, providing a wide range of services such as foreign exchange corporate travel insurance, and visa and passport services. Thomas Cook offers a Forex card as one of its standard offerings. Thomas Cook offers a plan which helps students to take care of overseas student health. Let’s check out this plan below:

Thomas Cook’s Student Elite

The Student Elite Plan is tailored insurance coverage for international students. It covers your journey overseas and any medical issues you may have while there. Choose from a variety of Student Travel Insurance plans that provide security for your travel and protection for other requirements such as medical and hospitalization assistance.

Features of Plan

• Medical Expense Insurance
• Fee for Tuition
• Sponsor by chance
• Visit from Family
• Personal Injury
• 24 hours International Emergency Response Service
• Medical Evacuation in an Emergency
• Remains repatriation
• Luggage misplaced
• Personal Liability in Foreign Countries
• Bail Bonding
• Dental Pain Relief in an Emergency

Policy Specifications

Medical Expense Coverage: Student Elite covers your medical bills due to an accident or illness while studying abroad, allowing you to focus on more important things, such as enjoying your new life.

Tuition Cost: Compensation of the tuition fee paid upfront for the current semester (up to the maximum limit specified) if the insured drops out due to medical circumstances necessitating hospitalization; or due to severe injury or death of either parent.

Accident to Sponsor: If the sponsor indicated in the schedule is involved in an accident resulting in death or permanent disability within the policy period, we will refund the remaining school fees up to the maximum.

Family Visit: If the insured is hospitalized due to an accidental injury/sickness covered by the policy and the attending physician recommends that a family member attend, Thomas Cook will reimburse the original cost of economy class transportation in the straightest way through a common carrier up to the maximum amount promised.

Personal Accident: Student Guard provides international coverage against unexpected death or injury while you are away from home.

Advantages (Silver, Gold, and Platinum Plans)

• The coverage for medical expenses for the silver plan is 50,000$ while for the gold plan is 100,000$ and for the platinum plan the benefit is 200,000$
• The coverage of emergency dental pain relief has the benefit of 500$ in the silver plan, 500$ in the gold plan, and 500$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of personal accidents has the benefit of 25,000$ in the silver plan, 25,000$ in the gold plan, and 25,000$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of AD and D common carrier has a benefit of 2500$ in the silver plan, 2,500$ in the gold plan, and 2,500$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of loss of baggage has the benefits of 1000$ in the silver plan, 1000$ in the gold plan, and 1000$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of bail bond insurance has the benefits of 500$ in the silver plan, 500$ in the gold plan, and 500$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of the tuition fee has the benefit of 10,000$ in the silver plan, 10,000$ in the gold plan, and 10,000$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of accidents to sponsor has the benefit of 10,000$ in the silver plan, 10,000$ in the gold plan, and 10,000$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of the family visits to the student has the benefits of 7500$ in the silver plan, 7500$ in the gold plan, and 7500$ in the platinum plan.
• The coverage of personal liability has a benefit of 100,000$ in the silver plan, 100,000$ in the gold plan, and 100,000$ in the platinum plan.

Please Note: The above pricing is as of August 2022, for more details refer to the link below – https://b2b.thomascook.in/tcportal/travel-insurance/student-insurance-plans

Exemption

You are not covered if any expenditures are spent directly or indirectly due to traveling against medical advice; seeking treatment; pre-existing diseases and complications emerging from them; Suicide or attempted suicide; war; terrorism; unlawful conduct; risky sports, etc. Please refer to the policy wordings for any more exclusions when overseas student healthcare is taken into consideration.

Prerequisites

Payment for the policy before its issue.

Advice

• Some Western nations require visitors to get health insurance when visiting their country. In its absence, you are at the risk of being repatriated or quarantined at the airport.
• Medical care is expensive in other countries and might become a significant financial burden in case of an emergency or tragedy.
• Payment of reimbursement in foreign currency of the nation where the claim originates is reimbursed for a modest premium paid in Indian currency.
• Furthermore, because the premium is paid in Rupees in the home country, the host nation’s foreign currency allowances can be saved.
• The Claim method is straightforward. The insurance paperwork that you will carry with you provides complete contact information for the claim settling organizations. The insured contacts the Agency, and they assume responsibility for dealing with the respective Hospitals/Authorities, who then agree to pay the bills directly with the hospitals.

Conclusion

Medical care may be costly, and without OSHC, paying for any necessary treatment could be too expensive. The OSHC will assist you in paying for your treatments and maintaining your peace of mind. So, in brief, we can say that OSHC is a type of international student health insurance that is a must for all Indian students studying abroad and dealing with huge medical expenses. This was all about Overseas Student Health Cover, we at Thomas Cook hope this article helps you and give you a better understanding of this topic.