Coronavirus and Travel Insurance

Given that the COVID-19 National Emergency Act was lifted, the citizens of the Republic of Serbia are starting to consider planning their summer vacations outside our borders. However, the epidemic of the Covid 19 virus is still on-going, and therefore, the risk of getting infected by it still impending.

Planning a trip abroad while the epidemic is still present arises the inevitable question- what happens if we get the symptoms of Covid 19 in a foreign country- who should bear the costs of health care and does our travel insurance policy cover the risk of the Covid 19 virus infection diagnosis?

In the following text, we will try to give the answers to the above questions by interpreting the positive regulations as well as the known legal interpretations given by the insurance companies.

Namely, insurance companies simultaneously solve the dilemma of COVID 19 by unanimously answering that the travel insurance DOES NOT COVER the risk of being infected by this virus. If you are travelling abroad, the travel health insurance policy will cover the costs of testing, diagnosis and other medical needs, until the moment when the test shows that you are positive to the Corona virus.

From that moment, the obligations under the policy cease, which would further lead to the conclusion that you will be obligated to bear the costs of the medical treatment yourself, and the treatment itself continues in accordance with the health regulations and decisions of the country in which you are located. Serbian citizens are not so familiar with the fact that the health insurance of the Republic of Serbia provides medical treatment abroad (including the Covid 19 virus) at the expense of the Fund, if you are entitled with a bilingual Travel- Abroad certificate.

In order to avoid additional costs due to of COVID 19 infection risk abroad, before starting your travel you should contact the Republic Health Insurance Fund of Serbia to acquire a bilingual Travel-Abroad Certificate, which you should have in possession while staying abroad.

Considering the facts we have listed above, we may conclude that the Certificate issued by the Republic Health Insurance Fund is more important document to obtain than a travel health insurance policy. Nevertheless, possessing both of those documents will provide a higher level of medical care.

The number of countries the state of Serbia has signed agreements on health insurance with, of course, limits this benefit.

The list of countries where the citizens of the Republic of Serbia can get a free medical care can be found at the following link: http://www.rfzo.rs/index.php/osiguranalica/zz-u-ino/ino-ugovori.