Travellers to US top claims

THE majority of COVID-19-related travel insurance claims are being made by Aussies travelling in the USA, according to new data released by Southern Cross Travel Insurance (SCTI).

Claims filed by travellers in the US were ahead of the UK, which claimed second spot in the list of overseas destinations, followed by Fiji, India and Thailand.

The travel insurer, which added COVID-19 coverage in Aug 2021, said pandemic claims have made up about a third of all lodgements received across its international and domestic travel insurance products this year, with the vast majority being for medical care and travel disruptions occurring when travellers contracted COVID-19 while on holiday.

Four in five claims made by international travellers have been from people diagnosed with COVID-19 while overseas, while just over half of claims for domestic travel insurance have come from customers diagnosed with COVID-19 on their journey.

While the majority of claims submitted to SCTI have been approved in full, the company noted a small number had been knocked back because the claims did not meet key criteria.

These included being diagnosed with COVID while travelling to a destination DFAT has classified as a level 3 travel advisory due to the risks of the virus, the customer being a close contact of someone with COVID and not contracting the virus themselves, and the traveller cutting short journeys after contracting COVID, even though the remainder of the trip was not affected.

So far, the insurance company said it had paid out more than $600,000 in claims due to Omicron for this year alone.