Protecting yourself and others from Covid-19 includes staying home if you are sick, keeping track of where you have been, wearing a face covering, maintaining good hygiene, getting vaccinated, maintaining good physical distance (according to Unite against Covid-19). Besides that, you should also have Europe travel insurance.
With more travel disruptions and Covid pandemics, it is sometimes mandatory or surely smarter to purchase travel and medical insurance
To travel to the Schengen Area (26 European countries), Vietnamese nationals need to show travel insurance for health treatment costs.
Due to Covid-19, more and more countries request such ‘guarantees’ that you can pay for any treatment costs incurred.
Covid-19 mandatory travel insurance with health coverage to get a visa
Most countries do not want to face the unpaid medical bills of visiting foreigners. International standard hospitals abroad are expensive to access. The EU and the 26 countries of the Schengen Area made travel health insurance mandatory to get a visa. Covid-19 being highly contagious and leading to hospitalisation accelerated the trend with more countries making medical insurance compulsory to enter their territory.
Covid-19 health coverage when visiting a country
Recently, some countries requested mandatory Covid-19 health insurance for visitors to pay for any Covid-19 related medical treatment taken in their hospitals.
Vietnam has had compulsory international travel-health insurance for Covid-19 treatment costs for any visitor entering the country since 24 July 2020 Official Letter No. 3949/ CV/ BCD dated 24 July, issued by the National Steering Committee.
Read the update on worldwide countries’ mandatory travel insurance.
Travel to EU – Schengen countries with mandatory health insurance
It is well-known for Vietnamese and Expat travelers willing to visit EEA (European Economic Area) and 26 Schengen countries are requesting a Schengen compliant travel/ medical insurance cover of minimum to get a visa.
The 26 Schengen countries are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Vietnamese have to get travel health insurance covering at least €30,000 for illness, accidents, and repatriation for the entire duration of their stay.
Note: it is a trend in Western countries to impose travel health insurance to avoid abuses of travelers seeking treatment in EU international standards hospitals.
More global reasons for buying Outbound travel insurance
It is now very easy to buy travel coverage online instantly. Here are a few main reasons travelers will want peace-of-mind when traveling. The travel insurers have recorded more claims for travel delays and disruptions.
The pandemics with country lockdowns result in more last-minute cancellations
Travel disruptions due to cancellations and delays as governments close their frontiers as the pandemics flare up and their hospitalization capacities are overwhelmed. Since March 2020, with Covid-19 pandemics fighting, almost every single trip has seen disruption of sorts; to the point some travel insurers stopped issuing any new policy in 2020 and 2021.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Check if your insurer does not have a new exclusion for “Covid-19 medical and any related claims”.
More traffic, terrorist alerts, climate change catastrophe
Airport security has intensified since the infamous Bin Laden terrorist attacks, creating queues and delays requesting travelers to be 3 hours in advance of departure or transit.
More recently, with global warming, one can witness more ‘super catastrophes’ -in insurance jargon- with the weather causing havoc, intense cold, fires, floods regularly making the headlines with airport closures or traffic coming to a halt.
Local reasons for buying Outbound travel insurance
Of course, there are destination or event-specific risks whereby you want to be insured against any financial loss: if you intend to drive a car, go skiing, practice a ‘hazardous’ sport like diving or kite surfing, competitions etc…
Insurance claims records and statistics show:
- Some countries are known for theft -passport and money-.
- Cyber theft in Asia.
- The USA for very high medical costs, the tendency for legal actions, and winter blizzards.
- France for demonstrations and strikes.
- With social network watch travel interruption due to burglaries.
Check the best value-for-money ACS Globe traveler.
Want to get a quote for Europe travel? Get in touch with us and send the quote form. Make sure to include your location, destination, departure, return date. We would love to hear from you!
