Worldwide Coverage
The word worldwide applies to everything together, or all together, as in all things together, or all of it. It’s used as an adjective when it denotes that something was noted worldwide or that all existing facts are known worldwide. When applied to a word, worldwide means “all around” or “all over the world?” This spelling has remained unchanged to translators since the early 20th century because the origin spelling, worldwide, didn’t occur to many translators until then. Nowadays, worldwide is usually spelled as “worldwide” or “wide.”
There are many uses to describe worldwide coverage. One popular way is to indicate that a product or service is available anywhere. A company could market its products globally in countries like Australia, Canada, and China. Or an entrepreneur could offer products and services worldwide to attract customers from every corner of the world. These products and services may be offered in different languages to facilitate the broadest possible global coverage. Another frequent use is to indicate a worldwide trend or direction.
In legal documents and literature worldwide, the term worldwide usually refers to individuals, companies, and institutions. For example, the United States State Department uses the term worldwide for reference to its entire diplomacy community, which is scattered around the world. Similarly, the governments of many countries use the term to refer to their entire governing bodies or delegations. The U.S. State Department also defines worldwide coverage in its own language as meaning “all the employees of the department.”
Many business documents use the term worldwide coverage in their title, for example, a United States patent application or a commercial contract. This implies that the entire United States is the coverage territory of that particular document. Likewise, all personal property owned by a corporation will be deemed to be located in the United States. Similarly, all international assets are deemed to be located in the United States and its territories. However, some insurance policies do not specify a worldwide coverage territory and assume that the policyholder will have a basis for choosing a local coverage area.
Some insurance policies specify worldwide coverage only when the insured is a U.S. citizen or a green card holder, regardless of whether the policyholder lives in one country or another. Green card holders are legal immigrants who have been granted permission to live and work in the country for a year or more. Although green card holders can travel to other countries to obtain medical care, they usually do not have the same rights as other non-immigrant workers. Therefore, some personal property purchased on an international trip can be seized by the worker’s compensation insurance provider if it is found that the policyholder has traveled outside the United States to obtain medical care.
In addition to these broadside exclusions, worldwide coverage is also available with a number of specific conditions. For example, certain U.S. corporations offer life insurance through mutual funds, investment accounts, employee retirement accounts, and so forth. Workers’ compensation insurance companies may also provide worldwide coverage for companies that manufacture products outside the United States. Finally, life insurance companies may also provide worldwide coverage for companies that are financially unstable and would become unable to maintain the payment of benefits if a workers’ compensation claim were to result. For these reasons, it is important for employers to review their employees’ worldwide coverage as part of the overall disability and injury claims process.