Business Travel or LeisureWhat you need to know about SARS |
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Your company imports from overseas, and you regularly schedule visits to vendors and manufacturers. This close contact insures quality and keeps you ahead of your competitors. You've planned the trip of a lifetime. Your airline tickets are paid in full and you've paid a huge, non-refundable deposit for accommodations. Travel prices to exotic destinations are dropping. If you don't go now, you many not have the time or money to do so for a long time to come. But, you are concerned about the impact SARS may have on your travel, your work and your health. These scenarios are playing out over and over again in the United States and throughout the world. Business managers and leisure travelers alike question whether to postpone travel or take advantage of the falling transportation and accommodation rates. Some concerns are shared by everyone, some are specific to the type of travel you plan. Business TravelBusiness managers have tough decisions to make. Aside from the important concern for the well-being of individual travelers, they must also consider the affect SARS can have on the business. Most employers depend on business interruption policies to limit losses if a location must be closed. And, they rely on workers compensation for employees who become ill. The impact from an incident of SARS, however, may not be ameliorated by either type of insurance. Interruption policies are specific to the physical components of a business. If a tornado hits the workplace, most businesses are covered. SARS does not affect such infrastructure but, if health officials order a site quarantined, can lead to equivalent disruption and losses. Even if a manager sought a policy to cover biological incidents, most insurance companies do not offer such coverage, even as a rider. The possibility is too new for insurers to have assessed risks and assigned appropriate rates. Given the new concerns, such riders will certainly appear in the near future. The savvy business manager, forced to send an employee on essential travel, may require that employee to work from home until the traveler is no longer a risk to the work environment. Should an employee actually become ill, his or her coverage under workers compensation is unclear. According to a report in National Underwriter, workers compensation in the U.S. market would only apply if the employee had not traveled out of the country and no one at home had contracted SARS before the sick employee. Domestically and abroad, the workers compensation issue, among others, is sure to lead to litigation. Leisure TravelThe picture is a little less daunting for leisure travelers. Most travelers on organized tours are required to have medical insurance which provides for health care while abroad. Even if not required, medical travel insurance is highly recommended, readily available, and rates are still modest. In the U.S. where insurance regulations make changes time-consuming, no carriers have imposed limitations on travel policies. In some countries, insurers have imposed restrictions but only for travel to affected areas. The leisure traveler should be aware, however, that medical travel policies require travelers to seek health care while traveling. If a person feels ill and cuts a trip short to seek treatment at home, the travel insurance does not apply even if the illness was contracted while traveling abroad. Here's a possible scenario. Presumably, your regular health plan will cover you once you get home, but just in case, you go to a doctor in New Zealand then head home. Not so fast. If your symptoms indicate SARS, you will be quarantined. You can't go home. At which point, medical bills may mount to exceed the maximums of the travel policy. Read your policy before you travel, and be aware of your options. Whether for business travel or leisure or no travel at all, the insurance industry may soon take the lead of Taikang Life Insurance Company in China. As reported by BBC News, Taiking Life plans to offer a SARS policy for 100 yuan (~ $12) per year. The coverage offers a daily pay-out of 100 yuan if the policy holder is hospitalized and 50,000 yuan if the holder dies. As concerns rise and biological threats become more prevalent, other companies around the globe and right here in the U.S. are sure to follow suit. General Information - SARSSymptoms Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) is characterized by the following symptoms which appear within 10 days of contact with an infected person:
Anyone with these symptoms who has returned from travel from affected areas within the past 10 days should contact a healthcare provider by telephone. Travel Guidelines The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in coordination with the State Department and the World Health Organization (WHO) regularly puts out travel alerts and advisories. Please check at www.cdc.gov for updates. As of May 9, 2003, the following were in place. Travel Advisory - recommends that nonessential travel be deferred
Travel Alert - informs travelers of health concerns but does not advise against travel
As of May 9, 2003,WHO recommends postponing all but essential travel to certain areas of China: Beijing, Guangdong, Hong Kong SAR, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Tianjin and Taipei in Taiwan province. No other restrictions are recommended. For current information on WHO recommendations, visit http://www.who.int/csr/sars/en/. |
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