Travel Insurance

For employees, students, and persons sent on behalf of Palacký University Olomouc (UP)

Insurance contract for long-term insurance while on business trips abroad
Policy number: 2000055471
ERV Evropská pojišťovna, a. s.
(formerly: Evropská Cestovní Pojišťovna, a. s., or ERV pojišťovna, a. s.) registered in the Commercial Register of the Municipal Court in Prague, Section B, Entry 1969, with registered headquarters at Křižíkova 237/36a, CZ-186 00 Prague 8, Business ID No. 49240196

1) Medical expenses

Minor treatments are paid by you in cash at the doctor’s office or hospital – ask for a receipt/proof of payment, then contact Jiří Zapletal immediately by e-mail for settlement/reimbursement. In doing so, complete this Notice of Insurance Claim: MEDICAL EXPENSES (in Czech, employer = UP, employment = study or professional position). Sign the notice and scan relevant documents including receipts and medical reports (preferably in colour in pdf/jpg formats; if you cannot print and scan these documents, take a photo of them and just fill in the above-mentioned Excel file and write your name instead of signature) and send it to jirzapletal@gmail.com. The insurance claim will be paid to your private account. You can do all this even when you are abroad.

For major claims when you do not have the means to pay (200 euros and above), surgeries, hospital stays, etc., contact the assistance service immediately; the worldwide assistance service headquarters is based in Prague. You will need to know the UP insurance policy number: 2000055471, and the assistance telephone number: (+420) 221 860 606, see https://www.ervpojistovna.cz/en/worldwide-assistance-service.  

You can find out what to do in case of a medical expenses claim in this ERV travel guide (in Czech), with an exception: always report the insurance claim through Jiří Zapletal instead of following the instructions in the last paragraph (unless you use the assistance service).

2) Other types of damage

For other claims (E to P codes), keep any and all possible documents – i.e. police report, boarding tickets, luggage ticket, Property Irregularity Report (PIR), receipts for stolen property, claims by the persons who suffered damage, etc. – and contact Jiří Zapletal by e-mail, who will give you instructions and send you the relevant papers to fill in. Do not contact the insurance company directly unless you have called for assistance, even when handling a claim – UP management wants to keep track of all claims made by persons travelling abroad on behalf of UP.

3) Details on flight claims

What you are entitled to in connection with any damages caused by the airline (flight delays, cancellations, luggage issues, etc.) is listed in this flight rights calculator: https://www.forbrukerradet.no/fly/en/.

• According to this EU guide, the compensation should be handled by the airline first, followed by the UP insurance coverage, which is supposed to only make up for your damages if they have not been fully covered by the damaging party (do not throw away the airport P.I.R. protocol, boarding pass, luggage ticket, flight ticket)
• These rights apply to flights with carriers based in the EU. They also apply to non-European carriers if the flight is operated from an EU airport.
• Useful links:
  What to do if I have a problem with my luggage?
  Damaged or missing luggage and how to claim it

1. What about students who interrupt their studies and go abroad for a year?

In this case, it is a personal initiative of the student who is not sent abroad on behalf of UP and therefore the insurance coverage does not apply to them.

2. What proof of the student’s travel is adequate for the insurance company in the event of an insurance claim?

– Travels not registered in advance (practically only UP employees within 30 days to EU countries): for insurance claims that you claim retroactively after you arrive back in the Czech Republic, the UP stamp in the Notice of Insurance Claim is sufficient. For insurance claims when EuroAlarm Assistance Prague needs to release funds to the health care provider immediately (unexpected surgeries, serious injuries, serious illness, etc.) it is necessary to receive approval of an application sent to the International Relations Office by Jiří Zapletal.

– Travels registered in advance: No approval from UP is required.

3. Is travel insurance a substitute for health insurance?

Although UP has exceptional all-risk protection, this insurance does not replace regular health insurance or extras health insurance, (e.g. pre-planned, non-life-threatening surgery, or preventive check-ups). Persons suffering with a long-term illness, i.e. if the illness started prior to travel, always need health insurance – please check with your health insurance company before leaving the country. In the event of an unexpected collapse, significant or life-threatening deterioration of condition in connection to a long-term illness, the costs from abroad can be reimbursed by travel insurance if medical records prove that you have had no problems for six months prior to the travel.

Travel insurance covers all sudden, unexpected, painful incidents, accidents, and injuries. On the other hand, it does not cover preventive examinations, preventive tests, and non-acute procedures and surgeries. In regards to pension (social) insurance, the student may request a review of the foreign school by the Czech Ministry of Education and, on this basis, the state will continue to cover this insurance during the period of absence. For students over the age of 26, for stays abroad of more than half a year, there is the possibility of suspending their health insurance in the Czech Republic and reporting back to their health insurance company upon their return within 8 days, submitting a Certificate of travel insurance duration, which Mr. Zapletal will arrange and send to their given address upon their email request upon their return. The health insurance company will include the student’s stay abroad on the basis of this certificate.

4. Why is there no insurance in war zones?

UP has negotiated a special exemption: should someone be sent on behalf of UP to a territory that is declared a war zone, RiskPlus supplement can be arranged for this insurance at an additional cost. In order for the exemption to be processed, it must be requested from Jiří Zapletal well in advance.

5. Theft

Only theft of items from the accommodation facility, from the locked trunk of a motor vehicle (it does not matter if it is yours, UP’s, or a rental vehicle), or as part of a robbery is covered; theft of money is covered only in the case of robbery (when money and items are stolen under threat of violence or imminent violence) – you must always submit a police report, which does not need to be translated into Czech. There have been cases where the travelling persons were surprised that the damage was illiquid (stolen mobile phone from a handbag at night at a disco, stolen camera from the next table in a cafeteria, stolen money while walking on the street without the person knowing about it – i.e. no robbery, or money stolen from envelopes in the closet when the person travelling on behalf of UP shared a room with other roommates, etc.). Please secure your money and documents, which concerns especially women, so that they are not exposed in a purse hanging over your shoulder; keep them close to you at all times or even carry them in a pouch under your clothes, if you enter more risky areas.

Before a longer stay abroad, it is recommended to visit your doctor and dentist in the Czech Republic for a regular check-up. Cases where you bring a disease with you from the Czech Republic (e.g. you visit the dentist on the first day of your stay with extensive tooth decay, etc.) are NOT covered by travel insurance. For long-term or lifelong illnesses, travel insurance only covers sudden deterioration of the condition requiring treatment or surgery; routine preventive check-ups and the purchase of medicines you have been taking regularly in the Czech Republic are not covered.

Note for travelling persons – vacations:

This insurance applies only to the country or countries and the date(s) determined when you were sent on behalf of UP for study, internship, work, or business travel within various projects, including travel from and to the Czech Republic, even if these are days that are no longer defined by the contract between you and UP (for example, if your stay starts on the 14th of the month and you arrive at your destination a week earlier in order to complete various formalities for your stay, you are covered by UP travel insurance; the same applies when you return to your home country). The travel insurance does not apply to your private vacations (e.g. you interrupt your stay in the destination and fly over to another country to spend a week at the seaside, or your stay is terminated in terms of the UP contract and you stay in the country for another two or three weeks privately, etc.). This restriction does not apply if the travel to other countries within the specified period of stay in the official destination country is related to your internship, teaching, work, and residency.

If you are travelling to European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) countries, please preferably go to publicly funded (not privately funded) medical facilities if your health condition allows. In these state facilities, present the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or the standard “European travel insurance form”  (Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, Tunisia) to avoid paying for treatment. The EHIC is a unified health insurance card issued by your health insurance company and used to provide and pay for emergency healthcare under the same conditions as for nationals. Upon presentation of this card abroad, you are entitled to receive necessary medical care in the territory of another member state, taking into account the nature of the illness and the expected length of stay, without increasing the UP’s policy claim experience (if you have paid a deductible/patient co-payment, a registration fee, etc., all these extra costs can be later compensated from this UP policy or the ERC policy after communicating with Jiří Zapletal).

Which countries are covered by the European Health Insurance Card?

• EU countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom (under the agreement of 24 December 2020, all normal situations are dealt with in the same way as if the UK had not left the EU).
• European Economic Area countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway.
• In Switzerland, your EHIC will be accepted on the basis of the EU-Switzerland Free Movement of Persons Agreement, which also applies to the new member states from 1 April 2006.
• in North Macedonia and Serbia, your EHIC will be accepted under an agreement with the health insurance authority there.

Which countries are NOT covered by the EHIC?

The European Health Insurance Card is not valid in countries that are not members of the European Union or are not listed here. You can travel to Montenegro, Turkey, Albania, and Tunisia with the standard “European travel insurance form” which allows you to receive healthcare under international treaties. The relevant form(s) will be issued by your Czech health insurance company. The insured person is entitled to receive necessary and urgent medical care abroad, which will be reimbursed to the healthcare facility by the Czech health insurance.

Further detailed information (in Czech)

Persons sent abroad on behalf of UP can apply a discount on CANCELLATION insurance with the ERV insurance company (Trip Cancellation and Trip Cancellation Plus) for expensive foreign trips, participation in conferences, or air tickets. To apply for the discount, please contact Mr. Pavel Glavanakov (email: pgl@ervpojistovna.cz, tel: +420 725 173 218) and indicate that you are a person sent on behalf of UP, your name and surname, UP insurance policy number 2000055471, your date of birth, full residential address, where you are going, the beginning and end of the insurance cover, and the sum insured – the cost of the trip, air ticket, or separate travel service. The rates for UP employees are either 2.5% (Trip Cancellation) or 5% (Trip Cancellation Plus). Please read the cancellation policy carefully in advance.

Cancellation due to COVID-19 illness for insured persons has been a standard part of the Trip Cancellation and Trip Cancellation Plus insurance since 1 July 2020.

Since 1 July 2020, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Trip Cancellation Plus insurance has been extended to cover the event that the person travelling on behalf of UP unexpectedly and without fault fails to meet the medical conditions for departure (airport check, etc.) at the beginning of his/her trip (while still in the Czech Republic).