During this week’s briefing by the NCCC on the reopening of South Africa’s borders, a sweeping statement was made that travellers may only enter South Africa if they are in possession of travel insurance to cover the cost of COVID-19 tests and quarantine costs. Local insurers have responded with outrage to this statement saying that government has fundamentally misunderstood how insurance works and is creating a situation that makes travel impossible.
“I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the ministerial briefing mandating that travellers may only enter the country if they are in possession of travel insurance to cover the cost of COVID-19 testing and quarantine costs. The government has not conferred with the travel insurance industry at all over this and has got its facts wrong about what travel insurance covers. As a general rule travel insurance products around the world do not cover elective or government-regulated testing or quarantine costs,” said Uriah Jansen, md for Oojah Travel Protection Insurance which administers Hollard Travel Insurance.
Head of Travel Insurance for TIC, Jason Veitch, concurred, explaining that insurance worked on the premise of uncertainty of an event occurring and that there was no way that a R400 insurance policy could be expected to cover mandated government testing requirements and quarantine costs for a known event.
“It appears that the government has made these unilateral decisions in an attempt to pass the costs relating to their testing and quarantine regulations onto a third party without engaging with the sellers of insurance about what their policies cover. As insurers are under no obligation to take on this level of risk, the government is creating a situation where it is impossible to travel to South Africa,” said Jason.
What is covered from an outbound perspective?
The ministerial briefing mentioned only that travel insurance would be required for travellers to visit South Africa and did not specify if this would also be a requirement for South African’s planning to travel abroad. However as the ministerial committee also stated that South Africans returning from high risk countries would be treated like travellers originating from high risk countries there is a lot of confusion in the market.
Ceo of Asata, Otto de Vries, told Travel News that he was urgently trying to obtain clarification from the government about whether returning South Africans would also need to produce proof of travel insurance. Otto said that the industry also needed clarity on what the insurance must cover, if it was indeed required, as insurers have limited what they cover in their policies due to COVID-19.
“It is all still a bit muddy but my understanding is that the government is leaving outbound travel requirements up to the destination country’s regulations. However, many countries - such as Thailand - are already mandating that travellers have travel insurance policies in place to enter,” said Uriah.
“From a medical perspective Hollard Travel Insurance covers the cost of a test for an infectious disease when you test positive while on your trip; the cost of inpatient treatment if you are hospitalised for more than 24 hours as the direct result of an contagious disease; and the costs of additional accommodation (3 star for a maximum of 10 days) and any cost incurred to amend an existing ticket if a medical practitioner confirms in writing that you require medical quarantine. We do not cover testing if this is elective and unrelated to illness (ie if the traveller tests negative) and we do not cover government- mandated testing or quarantine costs,” said Uriah.
When it comes to cancellation cover Hollard will reimburse 75% of your loss up to R10 000 if your booking is affected by a city going into lockdown due to the outbreak of a virus whilst you are holidaying there. We also offer a “cancel for any reason” benefit which specifies that we will reimburse 50% of your loss up to R25 000 if you cancel your booking for any reason more than 48 hours before departure. Both of our cancellation benefits are only applicable if a traveller purchases their policy within 24 hours of paying their trip deposit,” she added.
Jason confirmed that TIC also offered full medical cover for any traveller who contracted COVID-19 whilst travelling.
“If a traveller contracts COVID-19, whilst abroad, we cover testing, hospitalisation and hotel costs as well as any costs incurred if the passenger’s return flight needs to be amended due to illness. We do not pay for elective or mandated COVID-19 tests or government-mandated quarantine costs.”
Jason added that TIC no longer offered cancellation cover for bookings that were cancelled or curtailed due to COVID-19. But, he said that its “cancel for any reason” benefit was still in place. For incidents unrelated to Covid-19, the costs are paid out to a maximum of the benefit level and without restriction. To qualify for this cover travellers must purchase their TIC insurance policy within 48 hours of paying their booking deposit however.