Glossar – Insurance terms from A to Z

Annual travel insurance gives you the best possible protection all year round. It applies for an unlimited number of trips in a given year and is valid worldwide.  Insurance with a term of one year (annual insurance) tacitly renews after expiry of the one-year contract term (insurance period) for successive terms of one year each, provided that neither the policyholder nor HanseMerkur International terminates the contract in writing giving one month’s notice.

If you cannot embark on the trip, contractually owed cancellation costs incurred for an insured reason will be reimbursed. Cancellation insurance also includes the following benefits:

• Reimbursement of surcharges for single occupancy or reimbursement of the pro rata costs for the double room in the event of partial cancellation

If the start of your trip is delayed:

• Reimbursement of the additional costs of outbound travel
• Reimbursement for travel services that were not used

If you rebook your trip:

• Reimbursement of rebooking costs if the trip is rebooked for an insured reason
• Reimbursement of rebooking costs of up to CHF 30 if the trip is rebooked up to 42 days before it starts, without the need for an insured reason

Insured reasons:

• Illness, accident, death, pregnancy
• Intolerance to vaccinations
• Fracture of prostheses and loosening of implanted joints
• Organ donation/receipt
• Unexpected acute aggravation of a chronic illness
• Significant damage to the property of the insured person (at least CHF 2,500)
• Unexpected summons in court
• Adoption of a minor
• Loss of job through no fault of the insured person as a result of termination
• Re-employment after unemployment
• Change of job
• Short-time working due to the economic situation
• Resit of a failed examination at a school/university
• Transport delay
• Official travel warning
• Theft of the passport or identity card if this makes it impossible to commence the trip
• Being called up for military/community service
• Divorce petition or dissolution of cohabitation
• Disaster relief services provided as a member of the fire brigade or rescue services
• Private vehicle is not roadworthy due to an accident or breakdown

The cancellation insurance is part of both the Annual insurance Travel 365 and the Single-trip insurance Travel.

A claim or insured event refers to a scenario in which the insured risk materialises, triggering the insurer’s benefit obligation. This can include, for example, an unexpected and serious illness prior to the trip in cases involving travel cancellation insurance, but also the loss of luggage in cases involving luggage insurance.

If you want to report a claim, please refer to the information on our website. You can find tips there for what to do in the event of a claim. We also provide you with further information on what to do in an emergency.

For products featuring cancellation insurance (travel cancellation insurance), there is a conclusion period of 30 days after booking your trip. Insurance for foreign-national visitors can be taken out up to five days after they arrive in Switzerland. All other travel insurance policies can be taken out at any time before you embark on the trip (at the same time as, or after, the travel booking).

The insurance cover for cancellation insurance starts upon delivery of the insurance policy. For all other types of insurance, the insurance cover also starts upon delivery of the insurance policy, but at the earliest upon commencement of the insured trip.

Our 24-hour emergency hotline service is available for any emergencies you have while travelling. It is available any time and across the globe, including on Sundays and public holidays. Our worldwide emergency hotline service for travellers is available round the clock: +41 43 550 21 21

Important things for us to know in an emergency:

• Who is calling and the holiday address and telephone number
• Insurance cover taken out
• Local contact (name of the doctor, police, address, telephone number)
• Facts of the case
• Insurance number

A family is considered to be no more than two adults and any accompanying children up to the age of 21 (i.e. their 21st birthday), irrespective of the family relationship or place of residence, but not more than a total of seven persons.

The General Conditions of Insurance set out the rights, duties and obligations incumbent on HanseMerkur International AG and the policyholder. They also include provisions governing the inception, term and termination of the insurance cover. The General Conditions of Insurance also provide a precise description of the benefits provided (content, scope, insured events) and, where appropriate, a definition of the persons at risk.

You can find the General Conditions of Insurance on our detailed product pages or in the download centre. We also make them available to you during the booking process and after you take your insurance out online.

Medical expense insurance is one of the most important types of travel insurance. It protects you in the event you are involved in an accident or fall ill unexpectedly during your trip. This means that you can relax in the knowledge that you are well protected during your holiday, too. Medical treatment can be a very expensive matter in other countries. As a result, HanseMerkur’s medical expense insurance offers assistance and the assumption of costs for:

• Inpatient hospital treatment, including operations that cannot be delayed
• Outpatient medical treatment
• Pain-relieving restorative dentistry including simple fillings, repairs of existing dentures and dental prostheses as well as temporary dentures and dental prostheses provided in connection with accidents
• Medical treatment of pregnancy complications, termination of pregnancy for medical reasons and miscarriage and premature birth up to and including the 36th week of pregnancy
• Necessary medical treatment for the newborn child in the case of premature birth up to and including the 36th
• Medicinal products, remedies and bandages
• Treatment by state-accredited chiropractors
• Prescribed aids as a result of an accident
• Radiation, light and other physical treatments
• Costs for the accommodation of an accompanying person at the hospital if a co-insured child up to and including the age of 13 is treated as an inpatient
• If the return trip is not possible due to a proven inability to be transported, the insurance will cover the costs of medical treatment beyond the end of the insurance period up to the day of transportability.
• The cover is subsidiary to the existing cover under the compulsory health insurance

You can pay for your insurance on account or by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diners Club).

Our personal assistance includes emergency assistance round the clock. Insured benefits include:

In the event of illness, accident, death:

• Search, rescue and recovery costs up to CHF 10,000
• Transfer to the nearest hospital suitable for treatment
• Return transport to the nearest hospital suitable for treatment at the insured person’s place of residence (also costs for accompanying persons and medical escort)
• Additional return trip costs and any additional costs directly caused as a result in the event of prolonged hospitalisation
• Organisation of, and assumption of costs for, care for/the collection of a minor for return travel
• Costs of cremation outside the country of residence or the additional costs incurred to comply with the international Agreement on the Transfer of Corpses as well as the repatriation of the coffin or urn to the last place of residence of the insured person
• Trip taken by two close relatives to visit the patient in hospital for inpatient stays lasting more than five days (first-class rail ticket, economy class airline ticket, mid-range hotel) up to CHF 5,000
• Naming of a doctor that speaks German, Italian, French or English
• Obtaining and sending alternative medication
• Telephone costs associated with contacting our emergency call centre (up to CHF 25)
• Luggage return up to CHF 2,500
• Hotel accommodation for other insured persons if the insured person is unable to travel due to inpatient treatment and cannot meet the original travel date, up to CHF 2,500 for all insured persons combined for up to 10 days
• Run-off benefits until the patient is able to travel again
• Establishment of contact between a doctor appointed by us and the family doctor of the insured person
• Emergency message

In the event of loss of means of payment and mobile phones during travel:

• Assistance in contacting the insured person’s bank
• Assistance in blocking bank, postal, credit and customer cards

In cases involving significant damage to property (at least CHF 2,500):

• Assistance in finding suitable tradespeople

In the event of a breakdown involving your bicycle or an accident:

• Assistance and the assumption of costs of up to CHF 75 in the event of a breakdown or accident
• Return transport for the bicycle within Switzerland

Personal assistance is part of both the Annual insurance Travel 365 and the Single-trip insurance Travel. 

The following relatives of the insured person are persons at risk:

• Spouse, registered partner or cohabiting partner
• Children, adopted children, stepchildren, children-in-law and foster children, grandchildren
• Parents, adoptive parents, step-parents, parents-in-law, foster parents and grandparents
• Siblings, brothers-/sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews

The following persons may also be persons at risk:

• Insured persons who have booked and insured a trip together; this does not apply if more than six persons or, in the case of family insurance products, more than two families book a trip together
• Carers of minor children or relatives in need of care who are not travelling with them
• Accompanying persons for group trips, if agreed separately

Means of public transport are considered to be those means of transport which run regularly on the basis of a timetable and for which a ticket must be issued for use.

A trip is considered to be a stay of more than one day outside the usual place of residence or a stay of shorter duration in a place at least 25 kilometres from the place of permanent residence, excluding commuting to and from work.

A trip is considered to have been interrupted if you end your planned stay early to travel home (e.g. because you are ill). You can use trip interruption insurance to insure the costs incurred as a result (e.g. to rebook your flight).

We need the trip price to calculate the premium. Please add all of the costs associated with your trip up, for example the cost of your hotel, flight, rental car, etc.