For many students who have secured admissions at universities abroad, particularly in the United States of America, it’s time to fly out to their study destinations.

If you are a student headed to your study institution abroad, by now, you probably have all the paperwork – Visa, admission and loan formalities – in place already.

However, your plan can be considered foolproof only after you buy insurance against the risks that you might encounter during your journey. No one wants to consider the possibility of falling sick, losing expensive gadgets or crucial documents while travelling or after reaching the destination country, but these risks cannot be wished away.

Most universities overseas insist on students being covered under health insurance policies. Some also encourage students to opt for covers offered by local insurers once they reach the campuses.

However, even if it is not mandated, you must ensure that you purchase an international student travel insurance policy offered by Indian general insurers before you leave the country’s shores.

Your university-recommended policy can come to your aid once you reach the campus, but an overseas travel policy will take care of risks such as loss of baggage or laptop and trip cancellation or flight delay that may crop up during your journey.

Moneycontrol spoke to Amit Chhabra, Chief Business Officer, Travel Insurance, Policybazaar.com to understand the importance of buying these policies, nitty-gritties, choosing between university-recommended health covers and overseas student policies offered by Indian insurers.

Here are some key pointers that emerged out of the discussion:

– August and September typically see a lot of students flying out, as September semester typically sees a large intake, particularly in the US.

– As against business or leisure travel, which offer coverage for a maximum of 180 days, an overseas student travel policy offers longer-term insurance.

– This is important because unlike business or leisure travellers, students have to stay in their destination countries for one to five years, depending on the courses they have signed up for.

– Another big difference is that regular travel policies are primarily meant to cover emergency situations (for instance, a stroke that needs immediate medical attention). Student travel insurance policies are more comprehensive.

– They will not only pay for medical expenses incurred if you, say, contract a viral infection or have to undergo dental treatment but also for loss of laptop and study interruptions due to emergency at home or violence in the city where your university is located, for instance.

– It is like your long-term companion during your stay abroad – a health insurance policy with additional benefits such as sponsor protection, compassionate visit, study interruption, coverage for legal expenses if the need arises and so on.

– You can buy an international student insurance policy online even a couple of days before you fly out, but ideally, you should do it at least a week prior.

It is a serious subject and premiums are not cheap, so you ought to do a  thorough comparison before you choose a policy.

– A student travelling to Europe and choosing a $500,000-cover will have to pay a premium of Rs 23,000 for two years, while the premium for a sum insured of $100,000 would be Rs 14,000.

– The difference in premiums is not exorbitant. So, ideally, you should look to buy policies with maximum sum insured, budget permitting.

– Understand the sub-limits and deductibles. For instance, even if you buy a $500,000-policy, the coverage for baggage loss could be limited to $500 or $1000, for instance.

– Likewise, there could be deductibles. For instance, if the dental treatment cover is $500, you might have to shell out $50 from your pocket before the insurance company chips in with the balance.

– Universities abroad encourage students to buy health insurance from local insurers they might have tied up with. However, they typically do not make it mandatory to buy covers from such partnered insurers

– Buying overseas student travel policies offered by Indian insurers is a better idea for two reasons. One, they are rupee-denominated and not foreign-currency denominated unlike university-recommended covers and hence, cheaper. Some sample (university-recommended plans) that we have seen are 2-3 times costlier than Indian travel policies.