POLICIES
Inbounds
Per Standard RI policy, where Hosting Districts set the terms for how students are insured:
1) All Inbounds to CSRYE must buy the ACI policy that has been voted upon by the CSRYE Board.
The only expectations to this rule are a reciprocal agreement with Norway and Denmark. The correspondents will handle those exceptions.
Outbounds
Conditional on consent of other countries, CSRYE has chosen to try and standardize what our Outbounds purchase:
2) All Outbounds from the US and Canada, as a baseline, bust also purchase the ACI coverage voted on by the CSRYE board. The ACI coverage exceeds the coverage provided by what is offered or asked for by other countries. CSRYE has voted to ensure that our students have the highest coverage available. This policy is sent to the student to purchase by going to YEAH and triggering the appropriate email.
There is an exception for Outbounds going to Brasil. We are trying a pilot program where Outbounds (and Outbounds only) going to Brasil will purchase the CISI Part D plan, found through this link. NOTE: Students much purchase the part D plan, not the part B plan most countries will request.
There is a one-time exception for Outbounds going to Sweden. They will purchase the insurance Sweden as requested, and not our ACI policy. The Swedish Rotarians will send the necessary links for this process. Your district need not do anything for the Swedish Outbounds, other than gather the insurance card from the student and post it to YEAH.
Policy FAQ:
My Outbound student is being asked to purchase the national insurance policy of a country. Do they have to purchase that AND the CSRYE ACI policy?
Answer: Yes. National insurance policies, though perhaps mandated by law, will not fully cover all events required to be covered by RI. There is often no evacuation insurance, no liability insurance, and no guarantee that they will be covered if they go on a trip across the national boarders of the hosting country. There are also times where the national insurance has limits on coverage that the CSRYE board has considered too low.
My Outbounds is being asked to purchase a CISI part B policy. The hosting district claims it is compliant. Do they have to buy this policy?
Answer: Hopefully No. The CISI-B policy has limits that are substantially below the ACI policy. Our correspondents have usually communicated CSRYE's desire to have higher limits under ACI, and this has become the typical situation. If you have questions about this, please contact csryeinsurance@gmail.com and your correspondent. Note, however, that it is within the purview of the Hosting district to set insurance policies. Sweden, for example, stopped allowing our Outbounds to have the ACI policy, and has forced our Outbounds to purchase the CISI-B policy. As a one time exception, the board voted to release the Swedish Outbound students from ACI for the 2026-2027 year. But this was not the case for previous years, where students going to Sweden had to purchase the ACI policy and the CISI-B policy. It is important you communicate any of these types of "dual RI-compliant coverages" to csryeinsurance@gmail.com so that we can continue to refine how we will set policy in the future.
My hosting country is asking for a certification for the ACI policy. What should I do?
Rotary International has no official certification process, and so this is often a language issue. What is likely being asked is for proof that the ACI policy meets the required limits and coverages as specified by RI, but there is no official certification for any company's products. Make sure to communicate with your correspondent, and you can also use the comparison found here to show that ACI exceeds the CISI-B policy many districts are familiar with and require, which also meets RI's requirements, and so by transitivity, meets the RI's policies.
PROCEDURES
Inbounds
1) As a default, the Correspondents will send the request for Inbounds to purchase insurance. Between the Insurance Coordinator and the Correspondents, the Insurance Cards will be posted into YEAH. Note, any progress on obtaining a visa is often contingent on this step, and the RO cannot issue a DS-2019 until insurance is verified. If you have any contacted with inbounds, it is imperative that you encourage them to get their insurance as soon as possible (no later than May) to ensure limited visa issuing problems.
Outbounds
Commonalities across all situations:
Insurance Cards should be posted into YEAH. This will most likely be a manual process. To do so, go to the Documents section in the student's YEAH file, and click upload. Choose insurance Card as the category choice
Make sure Students know that insurance is a pre-requisite to the visa process, and so any directions to purchase insurance should be done ASAP, and not delayed.
Make sure to let the students know that most of them (exact situations listed below) will need to share their insurance card with your district, as well as with a travel agency (if being used)
Non-fixed Fee Districts
1) All Outbounds (except for those going to Brazil or Sweden) are required to purchase the ACI policy voted upon by the CSRYE board.
To start that process, go to the student's page in YEAH, go to the brown rectangle in the upper left, selected Email, and find the choice that pertains to Insurance. This will send an email to the student requesting that they follow the links in the email (it is individualized to the student).
Once the student has purchase the insurance, make sure to get their Insurance Card that will have been sent to them by ACI, and then upload that into YEAH (the process used to be automatic, but there is a configuration problem between YEAH and ACI that is preventing the automation. While that is being worked on, you'll need to manually load the card)
Make sure the student knows they will likely need to share the insurance card with their travel company if that travel company is involved with helping in the visa process. Different districts have different solutions to facilitating travel and visas, so there is no uniform expectation here, but if your district uses a travel company, mention that possibility to the student to help facilitate that process.
2) For Brazilian Outbounds only: Send your student this link: www.CISI-Bolduc.com and have them purchase the PART D policy. You'll also need to collect the insurance card from the student, and upload it into YEAH, and ensure that any card is sent to the potential travel company helping with the visa process
3) For Swedish Outbounds only: You will let the student know that the Swedish Rotarians will send information on insurance, and that the student needs to act on that information ASAP. Once they purchase the insurance required by the Swedes, the card associated with that policy should be sent to the district representative so that it can also be uploaded into YEAH.
Fixed Fee Districts
1) All Outbounds (except for those going to Brazil or Sweden) are required to purchase the ACI policy voted upon by the CSRYE board.
Go to the Forms page and download the Fixed Fee template, and fill it out for all your students (EXCEPT for those going to Brazil or Sweden)
Send the excel file to csryeinsurance@gmail.com . I will then forward it on to our insurance agent, as well as the contact at ACI. If you have done this in the past, the insurance agent has changed. The contact at ACI is the same as in the past two years. I won't stop you from sending directly, since it is kind of easier, but it is less robust from year to year if their personnel changes, so the official procedure is to send to the email listed, and then the I will take care of the rest.
Make sure to upload the cards that will be sent to you to the Outbound's YEAH account, and share them with the student so they have them available to share with the travel company helping with visas, if you use such a company.
2) For Brazilian Outbounds only: Go to this link: www.CISI-Bolduc.com and purchase the PART D policy. for your Brazilian Outbound You'll also need to upload it into YEAH, and ensure that any card is sent to the student so they can share it with the potential travel company helping with the visa process
3) For Swedish Outbounds only: You will let the student know that the Swedish Rotarians will send information on insurance, and that the student needs to act on that information ASAP. LET ME KNOW (csryeinsurance@gmail.com) how you manage to have that bill paid. It will have to be an ad-hoc solution ... perhaps you will be reimbursing the family, or perhaps you'll find a way to pay on the student's behalf. It will be good to keep track of how this is handled. Once they purchase the insurance required by the Swedes, the card associated with that policy should be sent to the district representative so that it can also be uploaded into YEAH.
ORIENTATIONS
If you need some help with your orientations, there is no official CSRYE guide, since each district is different, and each district should have their own repository of help guides and tips for Outbounds. That said, I can offer up a two page overview found in the Forms page for you to use if you'd like. the CSRYE_Insurance_Overview_2025.docx will likely have some gaps in everything you want to communicate to your students, and may not fit the bill, but feel free to edit it and adjust it. The 2025 fee information still pertains to 2026_2027, and hopefully the framing of why there is often 2 insurance policies in play will be helpful.
If you do create additional handouts or have other artifacts you are willing to share with others, I will start collecting them and we can work toward making a more holistic set of help in the future. Please send to csryeinsurance@gmail.com .