Travellers to Italy need additional insurance

TO QUALIFY for an
Italian Schengen visa,
SA passport holders
now need to purchase an
additional day of travel
insurance that will cover
them for up to at least one
day after they return to
South Africa.
The new requirement
can be a costly exercise
for travellers, especially
when the extra day of travel
insurance needed to obtain
the visa results in the
insurance premium jumping
into the next premium
bracket.
Simmy Micheli, sales
and marketing manager of
TIC, told TNW the provider
was happy to reimburse
travellers for the extra day
if the premium went into
the next bracket. “In some
instances the consulate
has asked for the insurance
period to be doubled, in
which case we will refund
this too if unused.”
Simmy says the reason
consulates insist on
extra insurance is that in
some instances where
travellers extend their
trip or may be delayed on
their journey home, they
forget to extend their travel
insurance cover. “This can
be problematic if an illness
or accident occurs during
this uninsured period. The
various countries undertake
to protect their medical
services from being left with
unpaid bills on behalf of
foreign nationals.”
Uriah Jansen, md of Oojah
Travel Protection, says all
travel insurance provides
an automatic extension
if someone cannot travel
back to SA due to medical
reasons covered by the
policy.
According to Uriah, less
than 5% of travel delay
claims relate to flight delays
in excess of 24 hours. She
told TNW she believed in
a pro-active approach and
would set up a meeting
with the Italian embassy to
establish the reason for the
ruling and to see whether
there was not a more
effective solution without
having to issue a policy for
one day extra, and then the
administrative burden of
having to refund a relatively
small premium after their
return.