UM students, faculty, staff, and volunteers are covered by several different forms of insurance while participating in UM-sponsored international travel. This document is intended to provide an outline of international travel insurance coverage.

GeoBlue Insurance

What’s covered?

• GeoBlue Insurance provides a broad range of coverage, but is primarily intended to cover expenses related to medical care, hospitalization, medication, medical transportation, and medical evacuation during international travel and periods of study abroad.
• Additionally, GeoBlue covers expenses and logistics related to “safe haven” needs, unanticipated travel, and emergency evacuations necessitated by certain triggering events such as natural disasters, threats of kidnapping, war, and civil, political, or military unrest.

 Who is covered?

• UM students, faculty, staff, and volunteers who purchase GeoBlue Insurance coverage through UM’s Global Engagement Office.
• Please note: the purchase of GeoBlue Insurance is required for all travelers participating in all forms of UM-sponsored international travel unless their program requires them to enroll in a specific insurance policy comparable to the Geoblue policy.

FAQ:

• I’m leading/sponsoring an international program that will include individuals who are not UM students, faculty, staff, or official volunteers. Can non-UM individuals purchase GeoBlue Insurance?
  • Answer: YES, non-UM individuals can (and should) purchase GeoBlue Insurance.
• I’m leading/sponsoring an international program in partnership with another non-UM sponsoring agency. The non-UM agency requires the purchase of insurance that is almost identical to GeoBlue. Are travelers required to purchase both?

• • Answer: It depends on the scope of the non-UM-provided coverage. Any alternatives or substitutions for GeoBlue Insurance must be reviewed and approved in advance by the Global Engagement Office.

State of Montana Foreign Insurance Program

What’s covered?

• Foreign General Liability Insurance covers institutional and individual liability during UM-sponsored international travel. Individuals are covered for liability only when they are in the course and scope of their official duties as related to UM-sponsored international travel.
• Special Contingency Risk Insurance covers expenses and logistics related to “safe haven” needs, unanticipated travel, emergency evacuations, and repatriation necessitated by certain triggering events such as natural disasters, threats of kidnapping, war, and civil, political, or military unrest.

 Who is covered?

• UM faculty, staff, students, and volunteers.
• Important Note: Volunteers need to be signed up as an official volunteer with UM Office of Risk Management, see the steps needed below.
• Also note: the state’s foreign insurance package is provided automatically to officers, agents, and employees of the State of Montana (including students) who are participating in UM-sponsored international travel and have registered their travel with the UM International Travel Registry. No purchase is necessary.

 FAQ:

• What exactly is general liability insurance and what does it cover?
  • Answer: general liability insurance covers institutions and individuals who are accused of directly or indirectly causing property loss or bodily injury to a third party.
  • Typically, general liability insurance offers protection when a third party accuses an insured individual of causing property loss or bodily injury through negligence, and the injured party then engages the legal system to compensate them for their loss. Throughout most of the world, demands for liability “damages” (i.e. monetary compensation) are made through lawsuits or legal actions that can vary widely from country to country. General liability insurance covers the insured institution and its employees (and in UM’s case students) for the cost of both legal defense and damage payments related to lawsuits and legal demands.
• It sounds like Special Contingency Risk Insurance covers a lot of the same things as GeoBlue Insurance. Are they redundant?
  • Answer: No. While it is true that there is overlap between GeoBlue and the state’s Special Contingency Risk Insurance, GeoBlue covers a wide range of medical care, while Special Contingency Risk Insurance does not cover medical care.

UM Workers’ Compensation Insurance

What’s covered?

• Work Comp Insurance typically covers the cost of medical treatment and missed wages incurred by employees who are injured while working in the course and scope of their employment with UM.

Who is covered?

• UM employees paid through UM’s payroll on work travel out of the country are covered by MUS Work Comp Insurance when in the course and scope of work for MUS. Longer term work assignments or residence outside the U.S. are handled on a case-by-case basis depending in part on the requirements of the other country involved. While MUS Work Comp Insurance recognizes its liability as a payer for qualifying events during authorized, out-of-country business travel, it is limited in its ability to provide time-critical functions, such as time-of-service payment or medical evacuation, that may be required to secure appropriate medical services outside the U.S. (This is in large part why GeoBlue Insurance is required for UM faculty and staff who are traveling internationally on UM-sponsored business).

International Rental Car Insurance

Coverage explanation:

• Rental car insurance almost always includes two separate forms of coverage:
  1. Liability Coverage
     • Rental car liability insurance covers damage to property, including other vehicles, and bodily injury to other individuals when the driver of a rented vehicle is at fault in an accident.
  2. Comprehensive/Collision/Damage Coverage
     • Rental car collision/damage insurance covers damage to the rented vehicle caused either by the authorized driver or by natural occurrences such as wind or hail. Collision/damage insurance also covers damage to the rental vehicle when an accident is caused by another uninsured/underinsured driver.

Coverage requirements:

• UM students, faculty, and staff must purchase local rental vehicle liability insurance any time a rental vehicle will be driven outside of the United States.
• UM students, faculty, and staff must purchase local rental vehicle comprehensive collision/damage insurance, but only if collision/damage insurance is not provided via car rental from Enterprise/National/Hertz through the state’s corporate rental account.

FAQ:

• Don’t state insurance rules prohibit the purchase of any additional or supplemental insurance coverage for rental vehicles?
  • Answer: Yes, but only when vehicles are rented within the Unites States. When vehicles are rented outside of the United States, those normal state insurance rules do not apply, and the purchase of both liability and collision/damage insurance is required (unless collision/damage insurance is already provided by Enterprise/National/Hertz through the state’s corporate rental account. Important Note: All UM-affiliated international travelers who plan to rent a vehicle from Enterprise/National/Hertz for international travel should verify at the time of the rental reservation that collision/damage insurance is provided via the state’s rental account; if it is not, then supplemental collision/damage insurance must be acquired).

Volunteers and Non-UM-Associated International Travel Participants

FAQ:

• Our international travel program wants to include a co-director/co-leader/chaperone who will travel with our group and provide assistance with our program. Will they be covered by insurance?
  • Answer: insurance coverage depends on a number of factors:
    • All individuals, regardless of employment status, must purchase GeoBlue Insurance in order to receive that coverage. GeoBlue Insurance coverage is provided to anyone who purchases it.
    • Any individual who is a UM employee, meaning that they are paid through UM’s payroll, even temporarily for the duration of the international travel, will be covered by both the state’s Foreign Insurance Program and UM’s Work Comp Insurance.
    • Any individual who is not a UM employee, but who signs up as an official volunteer by filling out UM’s Volunteer Form, will be covered by the state’s Foreign Insurance Program. However, volunteers are not covered by UM’s Work Comp insurance. Important note: UM’s Volunteer Form must be filled out, signed, and submitted to Jason Sloat in the Office of Risk Management in order for volunteers to be officially recognized as such by UM.
  • Our international travel program will be using the services of a trip leader/tour guide/facilitator who will travel with our group but is employed by another entity, such as a tour group operator, travel agency, or guide service. Will they be covered by UM’s insurance?
    • Answer: No. Any time an individual is employed by another entity that is providing a service to UM for the purpose of international travel, that individual must be covered by their employer for all forms of insurance coverage, including medical, work comp, liability, and emergency services.
    • Outside entities that provide international travel services to UM groups must provide proof of adequate liability insurance to UM prior to travel as part of the trip approval process managed by the Global Engagement Office.