What Should You Do In The Event Of Medical Emergency/Damage/Loss?

1. Contact the medical and emergency assistance hotline
Certain travel policies cover 24-hour emergency hotline service which provides you with access to assistance such as medical advice, referrals, medical evacuations and travel related matters such as lost passport and baggage.

2. Notify the authorities
If your insured belongings are lost or damaged, you must take all reasonable measures to protect, save and recover them, and must also promptly notify the local police, hotel, transportation company or transportation terminal authorities, whichever is applicable.

3. Notify your insurer as soon as possible
You should submit the claim form with all supporting documents such as your original policy, the medical report, police report and any relevant documents to support the claim as soon as possible to your insurance company. You should check the time frame for claim notification stipulated in your policy.

via InsuranceInfo Travel Insurance Booklet

Chartis Vice President, Mr Wong Fu-tat, said at a press conference that as the incident was a special case, “the level of compensation for victims has been doubled from HK$500,000 to HK$1 million, under insurance covering accidents caused by public transport”. The insurer will also help with the cost of bringing the remains of the dead to Hong Kong.

Mr Wong adds that the injured stand to receive up to HK$1 million in medical insurance benefits. Chartis will also provide them with cover of up to HK$100,000 for six months of follow-up medical treatment in Hong Kong.

Separately, the Manila Bulletin newspaper reports that the victims of the hostage-taking crisis will receive insurance benefits from the Passenger Accident Management and Insurance (PAMI) Agency as the bus that carried the tourists is insured by the agency.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) officer-in-charge Assistant Secretary, Dante Lantin, said: “The families of the dead victims of the hostage are entitled to at least PHP60,000 (US$1,318) insurance claims each. As for the injured passengers, PAMI has committed to shoulder part of their hospital expenses,” he said. Apart from the eight Hong Kong tourists killed, the hostage-taker himself, former police officer Rolando Mendoza, was shot dead. At least seven others were injured in the incident.

In general, most Insurers would require you to furnish the following critical documents before any claims can be processed:

1) Fully completed Travel Claim form (incomplete form may cause delay in processing)
2) Original Insurance Certificate & Proposal Form
3) Original used air ticket & boarding pass

So, it’s always to your advantage to keep all your insurance documents filed and organized.

For each type of claims, preparing the following supporting documents will help a lot in the claim process. However, each Insurer will have a different set of requirements, so it’s best that you adhere strictly to their request to avoid any delays.

Medical Expenses
a) Original Medical Bills/Invoices
b) Original Payment Receipt issued by the clinic/hospital
c) Original Medical Report/Diagnosis note duly certified by the attending Physician

Flight Delay
a) Letter from airline confirming the delay duration (in number of hours), actual departure time and reason for the delay.

Flight Misconnection
a) Letter from airline confirming the actual time of arrival at the airport of the transit point and actual departure time of the connecting flight.
b) Original receipts for hotel accommodation, restaurant meals or refreshment.

Baggage Delay
a) Property Irregularity Report
b) Letter from airline confirming the delay duration (in number of hours), the reason for the delay and their offer of compensation.
c) Original receipts for emergency purchases of essential clothing & toiletries during the delay duration.

Baggage Loss
a) Property Irregularity Report
b) Letter from airline confirming the loss and their offer of compensation
c) Original receipts for items claimed

Baggage Damage
a) Property Irregularity Report
b) Letter from airline confirming the damage and their offer of compensation
c) Photographs depicting the damage
d) Original quotation or receipt for repair
e) Original purchase receipt of the damaged luggage

Trip Cancellation & Trip Curtailment
a) Original invoice and payment receipts confirming the full amount paid
b) Tour Fare breakdown charges & travel itinerary
c) Letter from Travel agent confirming the refund amount. If nil refund, to state reason
d) If the cause of cancellation/curtailment is due to medical condition of an immediate family member, to provide Proof of relationship, e.g. birth certificate or marriage certificates. If due to death, also enclose the Death Certificate.
e) Medical Report and to provide details of all normal attending physicians.

Loss of Travel Document
a) Original receipts for additional hotel accommodation, land transportation cost & communication expenses
b) Original police report & official translated copy of the report, if report is not in English
c) Insured’s account on the exact description of the incident
d) Loss of Money
e) Original Police report obtained at the place of loss
f) Official translated police report, if report is not in English.
g) Insured’s account on the exact description of the incident

The number of UK motorists deliberately crashing their cars to make fraudulent insurance claims is increasing, the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) warned this week.

‘Induced accidents’, or ‘crash for cash’ accidents, as they are more commonly known, involve a driver deliberately causing a crash so as to profit from fraudulent insurance claims.

After the crash, often caused by slamming brakes on a motorway junction forcing the driver behind to crash into them, the fraudsters make claims for damage to their car and for personal injuries they don’t have.

In some cases, they will make personal injury claims for people who weren’t in the vehicle, and use other gang members as ‘phantom witnesses’ who falsely say they were at the scene of the accident and blame the accident on the innocent party.

According to the IFB, induced accidents are becoming a serious problem in the UK, with fraudulent claims adding around £40 to every insurance policy sold to honest drivers.

John Beadle, IFB chairman, said: “The criminal gangs targeting honest motorists are ruthless.

“Innocent lives are being put at risk and fraudulent insurance claims add approximately £40 to every premium paid by honest policy holders each year.”

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) believes that some people are using bogus insurance claims to boost their income during the recession.

“Fraud thrives in a recession, so insurers are intensifying their crackdown on insurance cheats,” said Nick Starling, the ABI’s director of general insurance and health.

Mistake 1: Did not contact the Insurer during an emergency

Let’s face it, we all panic during an emergency. That’s why it’s called an emergency, a state for us to justify our panic-driven behavior. And it is during such a time that a calm and collected mind would provide the best solution to get us out of the emergency, with the most minimal damage or loss.

And so it is when you are traveling out there in a foreign land. Mistake number one is of course, not having any proper travel insurance coverage. I’m not saying you should pay through your nose for travel insurance, but unlike traveling domestically, getting stranded in an emergency while traveling overseas can really complicate things. So getting some basic coverage can at least minimize the psychological burden, while it buys you some time to analyze the situation.

However, one of the most common mistake for people who are covered with travel insurance is that they often did not notify their insurer immediately. They do not realize that the travel insurance also comes with advice on how to get the most effective treatment or solution for their emergency. Also, by contacting the Travel Insurer immediately, you can also get the necessary information on what paperwork you must obtain from the relevant authorities to ensure a speedy claim when you are back to your home country. Most people just assume that by filling up a claim form provided by the Travel Insurer, they will get their reimbursement. This is definitely not the case- all claims must be backed by authentic and relevant documents.

Yes, it’s also true that the travel insurance do not cover every emergencies, but one should utilize the facility provided by the Travel Insurer where you can ask for the best course of action.

Mistake 2: Did not submit original documents when making a claim

Most if not all Travel Insurer only accepts original receipts for claim submission. Yes, if you have lost your original receipts, you will have some problem verifying the authenticity of your claim. The alternative is to probably request for a copy of receipt from the relevant party and have them verified by either the party involved. Some Travel Insurer might also allow you to use your original credit card statement, verified by the card issuing bank.

However, by not providing the original bills or receipts for the payments you have made, you are just putting yourself in between a rock and a hard place. Don’t take it as an insult on your character when the Travel Insurer says that they will not reimburse you until you show up with the original documents. No one is saying your dishonest, it’s just that, to proceed with the claim, photocopy of your payment documents are not going to make it through the Claims Department, period.

There is a reason why Travel Insurers insist on original documents, in fact, it is the practice of all Insurer that all monetary claims that is to be reimbursed to the policyholder must be furnished with original and authentic payment receipts. This is to ensure that policyholders do not claim the bills from other Insurers and try to profit from the claim.

So, no matter what policy is being practiced by the country you have traveled to, you must insist on the original copy of all the payments you have made. Do not settle for photocopy or carbon-copy. You have the right to receive original receipts as proof of your payments.

Mistake 3: Did not submit the claim within the stipulated time period

Most people would think that as long as they have the proper documentations in place, they can submit their claim anytime. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to check the details of your travel insurance policy before making any assumptions on the time given for you to submit your claims. A ‘Notice of Claim‘ clause in a standard Travel Insurance policy might look like this:

NOTICE OF CLAIM: Notice of claim must be given to the Company within thirty (30) days after the Date of Loss/Accident. The Policyholder and/or Insured Person hereunder shall produce for the Company’s examination pertinent documents at such reasonable times and shall co-operate with the Company in all matters pertaining to any loss and/or claims. Failure to comply with this condition may prejudice the claim. Notice of claim given by or on behalf of the Policyholder and/or Insured Person to the Company, or to any authorized official of the Company providing information sufficient to identify the Policyholder and/or Insured Person shall be deemed notice to the Company.

In some cases, it might not be feasible to send in or fax a written notification to the Travel Insurer. Hence, it’s a good idea to always keep the Travel Insurer’s 24 hours emergency assistance hotline number and your travel insurance policy number when you are traveling. Check out this link for a list of Malaysia Travel Insurance Provider’s emergency hotline numbers.

For example, let’s say that you’ve lost your passport the moment you’ve arrived in your destination. Under most travel insurance, the loss of travel documents entitles you for a claim. And it would be another 2 months before you are heading back to Malaysia. Under this circumstance, it would be wise for you to call up the Travel Insurer and inform them about the loss and then have them advise you on the steps you need to take to ensure a speedy claim. If you wait till you come back to Malaysia, which is more than 30 days after your loss, you might need to furnish all the reasons of you not being able to notify the company and all the unnecessary ping-pongs with the Travel Insurer’s Claim Department.

So, to make your life easy, always contact your Travel Insurer whenever you have an emergency, regardless of whether you are entitled for a claim or not.

The Nakuru Cat Burglar is remarkable for its resemblance to the baboon. (Nakuru, Kenya)

Though I’ve had more tropical diseases than the average petri dish and once had to survive in Iceland for 24 hours without so much as a toothbrush and clean socks, I have been fortunate that I’ve only once had to make a claim on my travel insurance.

Travel insurance is one of those things that I faithfully buy but hope never to get my money’s worth from. Over the years I have probably spent enough money to pay for a pretty decent vacation, but so far apart from one visit to a doctor in London (see “How To Get A Head in Africa” 10 July 2008), I’ve never got back a penny – but I have scored a ton of peace-of-mind.

The silence at the end of the telephone line when I called the insurance company about my tick suggests it might well still be discussed around the water cooler. But I am glad to know that I am not the only one who has entertained or bemused travel insurance companies. Here are a few others that are likely pinned to a bulletin board beside Terry the Tick:

- A pensioner, whose false teeth fell out while he vomited over the side of a cruise ship, put in a claim to his travel insurers for new dentures under “lost baggage”.

- A young traveller, distracted by the appearance of a group of women in bikinis, broke his nose when he walked into a bus shelter in Athens.

- A traveller lost his wallet in a drain in Israel. Instead of filing a police report and making a claim through his insurance, he instead stuck his hand down the drain – only to be stung by a poisonous scorpion. He ended up claiming for both a lost wallet and a hospital visit.

- A man who claimed for holiday cancellation when refused boarding was turned down by his insurance company when it emerged his ticket was for a flight from Manchester, New Hampshire…not from Manchester in the North West of England.

- Returning from India, a traveller filed a claim with his insurance company for $1100 worth of “Bombay Mix” snack food that he had lost from his luggage enroute. The insurance company performed a few quick calculations and determined that at less than $2 per 250g bag, the man would have had to have misplaced more than 137 kilograms of munchies…and refused to pay.

- A couple on vacation in Malaysia returned to their lodge to find that monkeys had climbed in through an open window, stolen their clothes and scattered them throughout the neighbouring jungle.

- A family’s camping holiday was ruined when a parachutist from a nearby airbase missed his target and landed squarely on their tent, destroying their equipment. Their insurer rejected their claims as they weren’t insured against accidental damage.

And in the category of needing a vacation to recover from a vacation:

- A holidaymaker in Sri Lanka needed hospital treatment after a coconut fell on her head while she was reading in the shade below.

Life Insurance Coverage for Influenza A(H1N1) – Press Release

Kuala Lumpur, 21 August 2009: The Life Insurance Association of Malaysia (LIAM) has confirmed that death due to the Influenza A(H1N1) will be payable. In addition, all the 16 life insurance companies under LIAM will also be paying claims arising from hospitalization due to Influenza A(H1N1). Even though a majority of the medical policies carry exclusion on communicable diseases requiring quarantine by law, life insurers are responding to an immediate need of the nation in light of the increasing number of people who have been infected.

Life insurance companies will nonetheless continue to monitor the Influenza A(H1N1) situation. In the event of any review of this decision on life insurance coverage, the policyholders will be duly informed.

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release

Kuala Lumpur, 19 August 2009 – Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad’s Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr Koh Yaw Hui informed that as a good corporate citizen with a hundred and one years’ presence in Malaysia, Great Eastern will cover hospitalization claims made by its policyholders, who have been hospitalized due to influenza A (H1N1).

“This pandemic disease is distressing for our community. We would like to dispel all uncertainties on hospitalization claims by affirming that Great Eastern will compensate our policyholders who have been hospitalized for treatment of influenza A (H1N1),” assured Mr Koh.

Similarly, Mr. Koh in his capacity as a Director of Overseas Assurance Corporation (Malaysia) Berhad (“OACM”), would also like to take the opportunity to assure the policyholders of OACM who have been hospitalized due to influenza A (H1N1), that they will be accorded similar treatment.

Mr Koh urged the public to adhere to the authorities’ request to take precautionary measures to prevent further spread of this disease by practising isolation should one feel ill or show symptoms of influenza A (H1N1), to curb further spread of this deadly disease.

Mr. Koh added, “Great Eastern and OACM have constantly briefed our employees on influenza A (H1N1) in relation to insurance claims. We have also taken the initiative to communicate regularly with our employees and our agency force on this pandemic so that we are able to serve our policyholders on a timely basis.”

About Great Eastern
Great Eastern began its operations in 1908 as a branch office of The Great Eastern Life Assurance Company Limited. The Malaysian operations were subsequently transferred to a locally incorporated public company, Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad under the Scheme of Transfer of Business. The Company was certified by The Malaysia Book of Records in 1998 as “The Oldest and Largest Life Insurer” in Malaysia. With more than a century of experience and solid financial foundation, Great Eastern has assets in excess of RM37 billion, over 2.8 million policies in force, 24 Branch offices and a network of 17,000 agents nationwide as at 31 December 2008. Its products include life insurance plans, investment-linked plans, mortgage protection, business protection, employee benefits, medical insurance and group health benefits schemes. Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Eastern Holdings Limited (GEH) and its ultimate holding company is Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited (OCBC).

Etiqa said on Aug 21 the H1N1 influenza can affect everyone physically and also financially, in terms of the medication and treatment.

Its CEO and director Datuk Aminuddin Md Desa said in this difficult time, it decided to extend the cover of H1N1 influenza to its medical and health plans and ensure that claims are paid to policyholders hospitalized and treated for the H1N1 influenza.

Etiqa is extending the cover for H1N1 influenza treatment and hospitalisation to its group and individual medical and health plans. This H1N1 coverage benefit is extended to all current policyholders of Etiqa’s medical and health plans and any new policyholders who will be joining the plan from now on.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tow truck operators are resorting to violence to get accident victims to use their services. Federal Territory and Selangor Automobile Repairers’ Association president Datuk Ho Yoon Ping said they had been receiving at least two complaints monthly from accident victims, alleging that they were forced to pay off the tow truck operators.

Trouble starts when the victim refuses to go to the workshop used by these tow truck operators who arrive at the scene first. “In most cases, the victims have their own workshops. The tow truck operators would refuse to release the victim’s car until they are paid RM200 for being ‘first on the scene’ and ‘looking after’ the damaged car”. Ho said the tow truck operators would also demand money from tow service operators of the car owner’s choice.

He urged victims to go to the nearest police station quickly if they are caught in such a situation. “Tell your friends or family members to get to the crash scene and keep an eye on the vehicle. Later, ask a policeman to accompany you to the car, to avoid trouble with tow service operators who would resort to anything for money.”

He was speaking at a press conference at the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department yesterday where two brothers narrated their harrowing experience with the tow truck operators recently. The brothers, Neng Man Seng, 27, and Neng Wah Seng, 29, were allegedly beaten up by 10 men after they had refused the group’s offer to tow their damaged car.