KIDNAP & RANSOM INSURANCE POLICY INFORMATION
When examining a kidnapping insurance policy you must know what you are buying because there are large differences among policies, with the features being the essential elements for expatriate security. We have isolated the critical areas and have outlined what is most important in each section.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE POLICY BENEFIT
- The part of kidnap insurance everyone easily understands. This is the amount of insurance that can be paid to kidnappers in order to secure the safe release of an abducted expatriate or kidnapped international traveler. $500,000 USD is the minimum benefit we recommend, but in most cases we do not recommend a client carry more than $1,000,000 USD, unless the person in question is a very high net worth or public figure. (We can explain why a massive ransom benefit is not necessary for most.) We remind clients there is FAR MORE to a kidnap and ransom insurance policy than just the benefit offered.
- Does the client have to "front" the ransom money to international kidnappers and later seek reimbursement from the insurance company? Can you raise $250,000 in one week? Amazing, but many polices work this way and don’t pay kidnappers directly. Beware of them.
BEHIND THE POLICY SHOULD BE AN INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE SECURITY OR SPECIALIZED EXPAT SECURITY COMPANY
- If a carrier offers a $50,000,000 expatriate ransom benefit, it’s meaningless until you know who is behind the benefit. If an expatriate is abducted in Mexico City, who will provide the expertise to get them back? How soon will they be "at your doorstep" offering assistance? The annual defense budget of the United States is meaningless without competent U.S. marines to respond immediately. Think of the consulting piece this way. The best consultants can have someone ready to intervene SAME DAY in the major hot spot cities and this can SAVES LIVES.
- Is the consulting company’s cost, which can be up to $3,000 US per day, included in the kidnap and ransom insurance coverage? Clients that have a $5,000,000 ransom benefit without a policy that also pays the consulting costs is not a good policy. Some policies have a nice "benefit" but do not pay the consulting cost. Avoid them.
OTHER KIDNAPPING INSURANCE POLICY DETAILS
- WHAT ARE THE INSURED EVENTS: Where a client can get assistance from the kidnap and ransom insurance carrier? In other words, are they just limited to kidnapping and global traveler abduction or do they include all of the following benefits: extortion, express kidnap, wrongful detention, expatriate disappearance, hostage crisis, child abduction, express hijacking, legal defense and general threat. If a note is slipped under your door in the Presidente Inter-Continental Hotel in Mexico City that says, "if you don’t close your office, people will die," you don’t want to find out at that time you have no assistance for matters other than "kidnap."
- WHO ARE THE COVERED PERSONS AS DEFINED IN THE INSURANCE POLICY: Is an individual policy covering the entire family? Are corporate policies limited only to the individual employee? Again, there are differences among policies.
- OTHER BENEFITS: Does the kidnap and ransom insurance policy include other features and benefits? Some carriers now offer some or all of the following to expand coverage and benefits: medical benefit after abduction, psychological counseling after abduction, evacuation or repatriation out of country, assault expense, legal fees, cash transfer, and even AD&D.
- WHAT IS NOT COVERED: Last, but certainly NOT least, look closely at the exclusions. In their basic forms these are still insurance policies. Even the best insurance policies have exclusions. Pay close attention to excluded countries. You would not be the first individual to be under a kidnap & ransom insurance policy only to find out the host country is excluded! Look at the other basic exclusions.