I’m going to keep this section short, as your home school should provide exact details regarding health and travel insurance. The following article will cover my personal experience and choices regarding health and travel insurance.
All exchange students must have insurance coverage for their entire stay in their host country. WU makes it explicit makes it very explicit that all incoming exchange students must have health coverage during their term and entire stay in Austria. While WU did not offer its own insurance plans for students, they offered options for third party providers, which was sent to us via email a couple of months before our semester began.
At our first WU orientation, the staff members checked that we all had purchased health insurance coverage. Students were not allowed to receive their WU student ID if they could now show proof that they had insurance coverage for the duration of their exchange semester.
Basic Insurance Coverage
I received BOTH health care and travel insurance through my home school. Because I already opted into my home school’s enhanced health and dental plan as part of my tuition (which was approximately an additional $250 per year), I immediately qualified for coverage during my academic exchange semester. To ensure that I had coverage for my exchange semester duration, I was told to email our insurance provider to inform them that I was departing for exchange.
Upon sending them my unofficial transcript and host school nomination letter, they provided me with a proof-of-coverage letter, indicating that I had health and travel coverage for the duration of my exchange.
I was also instructed by my health and travel insurance provider to fill out a small information card with my personal information to take on-the-go with me at all times. In case I ever needed to show proof of my insurance to any health care or emergency assistance provider, the card had all the necessary details. As well, it had contact information if I needed to get additional help.
One of the key benefits of this plan is that it includes both health AND travel insurance. For a travel fanatic like myself, I was covered for both my duration in Austria and any country that I wanted to visit during my exchange semester. However, keep in mind that my travel coverage was very basic — any additional amenities, such as cancelled flight insurance, lost baggage insurance, etc was not included.
My insurance provider also had detailed information in the case I had to submit a claim, but thankfully, I had never had to do so!
Additional Health and Travel Coverage
If your home school does not have adequate insurance coverage or you are looking into getting additional coverage on top of what is provided, here are a couple of alternatives that my friends opted into:
- An Austrian 3rd Party Provider: WU provided us with the contact information for 3rd party provider to purchase insurance from.
- Alternative Plans from Your Home Country: A couple of my friends utilized existing health and travel plans that they were already paying for. Many of them opted into their parents’ plans, which usually had more coverage than what my home school’s plan covered.
- Travel Credit Cards: These credit cards often had robust travel insurance coverage, along with additional exchange rate and cash-back perks. If you want the additional coverage, booking your transportation, accommodation, and other travel necessities through these credit cards ensured that you opted into their coverage plans. However, please note that these the coverage offered by these credit cards often have to be coupled with existing travel insurance (so please double check your travel insurance before you leave your home country)!
