International Travel Insurance and Assistance Services

Announcements

International travel will revert back to the standard approval processes effective January 1, 2022. 

Extreme caution should be used if considering any travel to Ukraine, Russia, and regional neighbors (Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) until further notice. Any such travel would need to be reviewed and approved by the International Travel Oversight Committee. The State Department has currently issued advisements against travel to a number of countries including Russia, North Caucasus, and Crimea. US citizens should be aware that US credit and debit cards no longer work in Russia and options to provide routine or emergency services to US citizens in Russia are severely limited.

High Risk Travel: The standard approval process requires an additional step for travel to a high-risk country and/or restricted regions (risk advisory levels 3 or 4).  In some instances, Covid-19 will be listed as the reason for the high-risk advisory level; in such instances, the additional approval process is still required. For more information, refer to FASOP AS-18 and the “High Risk Travel” section at the bottom of this page.    

 

LSU will be transitioning international travel assistance partners to On Call International effective July 1, 2022. Services and benefits are comparable to our prior provider (ISOS), and provide you emergency and non-emergency services and benefits while traveling internationally. The program will provide services ranging from pre-trip planning, to telephone advice, to full-scale medical and security evacuations. 

Key features of the program:

• Medical, travel, and security assistance including insured evacuation services
• and international medical expenses coverage
• Coordination of emergent and non-emergent medical care
• Coordination of travel arrangements for you or a person you designate for certain emergency circumstances such as your hospitalization abroad
 

If you are currently traveling …

• If you have any type of active request open with International SOS, they will work with you until your case is resolved.  
• As of July 1, 12:01 AM locally where you are, all services and benefits transition to On Call, and you should contact them for any assistance needed.  
 

To ensure you have the On Call plan information and contact information in the easiest place to reference it – on your phone. Take the following step: 

✓ Visit this link from your phone and follow the prompts to save it to your home screen. This will give you a tile on your phone that opens a PDF of the plan ID and summary. From here you can click to live-chat with an On Call assistance coordinator, or click to dial via phone.  
 

If you need assistance…

You can make a collect call, send an email, live chat or text On Call from anywhere in the world 24 hours day to request assistance. If you need medical care, encounter a travel problem, suffer a medical emergency, or are impacted by security crisis anywhere in the world, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of services available through On Call.

 

If you need Medical, Security or Travel assistance, regardless of the nature or severity of your situation, contact On Call International 24 hours a day.  

 

  • Employees - Must complete a Spend Authorization in Workday
  • Students - Must be enrolled at the University during travel and participate in a University led or sponsored trip (i.e. APA, Continuing Education, Volunteer LSU)
  • Guest - Host department must complete a Request for Authorization to Travel for Non-Worker (AS-516)

Faculty, Staff and Guest insurance is provided at no cost to the department. Student insurance will be charged to the cost center entered in my trips. Risk Management will contact departments with registered student travel at the end of each fiscal year to make arrangements for payment.

Faculty, Staff, and Students traveling abroad should download the On Call tile or print the LSU-specific insurance ID card found on the On Call Plan ID and Summary link. Employees or Student group leaders may also request plastic cards to be delivered via campus mail. If specific proof of coverage is required for a visa application, please request a custom certificate of insurance. 

In addition to utilizing On Call International, travelers are encouraged to register with the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). Once registered you will automatically receive the most current information the State Department compiles about the country where you will be traveling.

 

High Risk Travel

LSU monitors US State Department travel advisories. To mitigate the risk associated with travel to high risk regions, the university requires that all travel to countries and/or regions for which the U.S. Department of State has issued a travel advisory to be reviewed and approved by the International Travel Oversight Committee (ITOC). Detailed information on the university’s policy on travel to high risk areas can be found in FASOP AS-18.

Any travel intentions to regions or countries with U.S. Department of State advisory level of 3 or 4 must include separate approval request to ITOC.

The request forms are:

  • AS295 - Request for Travel to Restricted Regions for Individual Travelers (students or faculty)

  • AS296 – Request for Travel to Restricted Regions for Student Study Trips

  • AS297 – Faculty and Staff Emergency Contact Form

If more assistance is needed please email Zelena Williams at travel-insurance@lsu.edu.

 

LSU