Worldwide Coverage

Key Takeaways

• Worldwide coverage protects insured individuals or businesses globally against loss or damage.
• This coverage often requires additional premiums and may need periodic renewal.
• It usually applies to personal property, business interruption, and crime, but not all insurance types.
• Most U.S. policies cover territories like the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, with limited claims elsewhere.
• Health insurance typically covers medical issues globally, while other policies have specific coverage areas.123

What Is Worldwide Coverage?

Worldwide coverage is an insurance feature that protects the insured globally against loss or damage. It can apply to personal property, certain business exposures, and sometimes crime-related risks, depending on the policy. Because many policies are territory-limited, worldwide coverage is often added for an extra premium, which can matter for people or companies operating abroad.

How Worldwide Coverage Works

Certain insurance policies, such as personal property insurance, allow policyholders to add worldwide coverage to their existing policy, usually for an additional premium. The worldwide coverage can be requested in the amount needed for valuable possessions. Some limits apply to certain types of property, and some properties might be excluded from coverage depending on the insurance company.

Typically, because of the different laws in different countries, worldwide coverage only applies to property, issues related to the obtrusion of business, and crime. It's critical to understand where your insurance applies before finalizing your business or personal insurance.

Some insurance companies distinguish between blanket coverage, which involves coverage of items between certain prices, and scheduled coverage for individual items that may fall outside of blanket coverage values. The latter requires detailed documentation and a bill of purchase attesting to the cost price. In some cases, worldwide coverage may only be valid for a certain period of time.

Examples of covered items include jewelry, furs, cameras, musical instruments, silverware/goldware, golf equipment, fine art (such as paintings, vases, antique furniture, oriental rugs, rare glass, and china), collectibles, sports equipment, and computer equipment.

Geographical Scope of Coverage

Insurance is a location-based business. Nearly every type of policy assumes it will be in force in a stated geographic area, known as the coverage territory. Most liability policies, for example, only cover incidents that occur in the coverage territory.3

Most policies issued in the U.S. include the U.S. (with its territories and possessions), Puerto Rico, and Canada. They would also cover international waters or airspace if the injury or damage occurs while a person or property is traveling between the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.3

For an additional cost, policies can include anywhere in the world other than the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada. For a business, this might include liability for products used or sold outside the U.S. or even claims arising from something a business put on the Internet that was accessed in another country. The limitation for many of these policies is that any suit must be brought in the U.S., Puerto Rico, or Canada.3

Insurance Types and Their Global Reach

Standard commercial auto policies include the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada.1 Insurance for driving in Mexico, for example, must be bought in that country or as a rider to a standard U.S. policy. Auto policies for private vehicles are worldwide with certain stipulations.4

Workers' compensation insurance applies to the state it's purchased in and the laws that that state created. Some workers' compensation insurance does extend to employees who are traveling in other states and overseas on a temporary basis.2

Homeowners insurance is tied to the property insured but certain theft and liability coverage can extend to the location of the policyholder in another state or country, but only under certain, limited circumstances.5

Most health insurance policies cover any health issues that occur worldwide. For example, if you have a health insurance policy from a U.S. insurer but break your leg skiing in France and have to go to the hospital, your health insurance policy will most likely cover that.6

When a policy doesn't specify the coverage territory it usually implies that it is worldwide coverage.