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The Vietnam Insurance Corporation (Bao Viet) plans to offer health insurance products for foreign travellers this year.
The product is for foreigners up to 75 years old coming to Vietnam for travel, visiting friends, doing business, studying, or attending workshops. Cover will be available for up to 180 days.
Bao Viet plans to offer four insurance policy packages: cover for all healthcare expenditure, emergency transport within Vietnam, repatriation and overseas emergency transport, repatriation of a corpse, or covering expenses for burial or cremation in Vietnam.
According to Do Hoang Phuong, Deputy Head of Bao Viet’s Human Insurance Department, the insurance service takes effect when the policy holder finishes entrance formalities and ends when the insured completes agreed formalities or 180 days after the day of entrance into Vietnam. However, the service will be expanded to cover trips to other Asian countries after beginning in Vietnam.
The four policies will offer cover equivalent to US$20,000, $30,000, $50,000 and $100,000/person.
According to statistics of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the number of foreign visitors to Vietnam is still increasing. The figure was around 3.5mil last year, which is forecast to rise to 8.5-9mil by 2010. However, the number of foreign visitors purchasing insurance in Vietnam is very low as they mainly buy insurance in their home countries before travelling. In addition, Vietnam does not have a policy of demanding foreigners have insurance when they visit, and the prestige and packages offered by local insurers are poor.
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