Jump to content

Travel Insurance recommendation


 Share

Recommended Posts

Can anyone recommend a travel insurance company that has plans that include pre-existing conditions? Are there any special rules for purchasing that particular plan?

 

Go to TheInsuranceStore.com and you'll be able to compare six plans, all of which offer the pre-existing conditions waiver and what is needed for each.

 

You can also call the phone number and ask questions of a knowledgeable agent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Old thread, but since several people mentioned how good CSA is, I thought I would ask.

Wife and I cancelled our Oct 5, New England cruise on RCI out of Baltimore, due to health issues with my mom that got considerably worse after we booked our cruise. Taking a 10 day cruise to New England/Canada is just out of the question at this time.

We cancelled in time to get a partial refund from RCI, now waiting on CSA and they are incredibly slow as in taking a week just to respond to an email.

Are all the travel insurance companies just slammed taking care of all the cruise issues due to Sept and Oct major hurricanes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Old thread, but since several people mentioned how good CSA is, I thought I would ask.

Wife and I cancelled our Oct 5, New England cruise on RCI out of Baltimore, due to health issues with my mom that got considerably worse after we booked our cruise. Taking a 10 day cruise to New England/Canada is just out of the question at this time.

We cancelled in time to get a partial refund from RCI, now waiting on CSA and they are incredibly slow as in taking a week just to respond to an email.

Are all the travel insurance companies just slammed taking care of all the cruise issues due to Sept and Oct major hurricanes?

 

First, you are probably correct about the travel insurance companies being swamped after those hurricanes.

 

However, did you phone them?

We've *always* had better luck calling, and then (hopefully) getting the name and direct dial number/extension of the person handling our specific claim.

 

Another suggestion for the future is to use a broker such as www.TripInsuranceStore.com

(No additional cost to the traveler, by the way.)

 

They can also run interference, if it's needed, or just generally assist if you have questions with a claim, and of course, they can help at the start with recommending the most suitable insurance policy.

 

We've used CSA a couple of times, but no claims. Our claims thus far have been with Travel Insured, and they've paid promptly after getting all of the appropriate documentation.

We've gotten all of our policies from TripInsuranceStore

 

Anyway, call CSA so at least you know that someone has started looking at your claim, and also can tell you if you need any additional documentation (rather than waiting a long time only to then first find out more documentation is needed, or such).

 

Hope all goes as well as possible with your mother!

 

GC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I have talked to customer service but getting thru to the claims dept is a different story. CS tells me the claim has been received but the claims dept has not looked at it yet or assigned a claim number to it. They tell me to call back after a week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I finally spoke with someone in the claims dept the other day. Despite sending in LOTS of paperwork 2 months ago, everything they asked for, they still want more.

I don't have a good feeling about this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I finally spoke with someone in the claims dept the other day. Despite sending in LOTS of paperwork 2 months ago, everything they asked for, they still want more.

I don't have a good feeling about this.

 

First, what is it they still want?

That is, is it really something that is reasonably necessary for them to determine either the validity of the claim, or the amount to pay?

Is it at all complicated by the fact that there is another insurer involved?

 

Second... if this is taking as outrageously long as it seems, then I'd suggest contacting the state insurance commission.

Or.... you could send a return-receipt/signature required letter telling them that you expect a resolution and receipt of payment check within, say, 2 weeks OR you will indeed report this to the insurance commissioner's office.

Insurance is a regulated industry...

 

Please let us know what "really" is happening.

We may need to re-think whether we want to consider CSA as our "back up" insurer.

We already know we like Travel Insured, but very occasionally, we might miss their initial deadline to waive the pre-existing condition exclusion.

 

Good luck!

 

GC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Short answer....

when we booked our cruise, my 94 yo mother was living independently in her own home. After booking, health started going downhill fast. Spent all of July and half of August either in a hospital or mostly, a medical re-hab facility. Moved her into asst. living Aug 17 and signed her up for Hospice care a few days later. In the course of 2 months, she went from independent living to being wheel chair bound on oxygen and depending on health care people to help her for most of her basic needs.

Ins Co has paperwork from Hospice Care saying she has heart failure and family needs to be present, meaning a 10 day cruise many hundreds of miles away is not a good idea. Now the ins co wants "chart notes" on mom from 6/27 thru 9/20. Our Hospice nurse isn't sure what they are asking for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What does your policy say under the Cancellation coverage about cancelling due to the illness of a family member? Are there any limits listed? i.e. new illness or doctor statement that your presence is required. The specific policy coverage is what will determine how your claim is resolved. I hope it works out in your favor.

 

ETA- Just saw your above explanation. When did you purchase the insurance? And you may have to ask insurance which doctor or hospital ‘chart notes’ they are requesting. It is possible they are looking to show that your Mom’s heart failure was in existence prior to your purchase of the insurance. I believe that CSA policies require the illness of a Family Member to be a new illness, not a worsened condition, in order to be a Covered Reason for Cancellation, but check the exact wording of the section and definitions in your policy.

Edited by cherylandtk
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Short answer....

when we booked our cruise, my 94 yo mother was living independently in her own home. After booking, health started going downhill fast. Spent all of July and half of August either in a hospital or mostly, a medical re-hab facility. Moved her into asst. living Aug 17 and signed her up for Hospice care a few days later. In the course of 2 months, she went from independent living to being wheel chair bound on oxygen and depending on health care people to help her for most of her basic needs.

Ins Co has paperwork from Hospice Care saying she has heart failure and family needs to be present, meaning a 10 day cruise many hundreds of miles away is not a good idea. Now the ins co wants "chart notes" on mom from 6/27 thru 9/20. Our Hospice nurse isn't sure what they are asking for.

 

How can the hospice nurse not know what "chart notes" are?

 

If Mother is wheelchair/bed-bound, with hospice care, wouldn't there be *notes* documenting her condition, progress, deterioration, med needs/changes, comfort level... I'm not a medical professional (well, research, but not "bedside"), but wouldn't these be relatively standard? Also wouldn't they be needed for health insurance coverage and qualifying for hospice care?

 

I can see the insurer wanting to see documentation that the condition really IS serious enough that they should fork out payment.

(Keep in mind, insurers are constantly dealing with would-be scammers, so they need both to keep proper documentation and also to keep letting it be known that they *will* require the documentation. I'm sure they'd rather avoid dealing with scam claims rather than waste time investigating and *then* rejecting them.)

 

What I find totally inappropriate on CSA's part is the delay in requesting whatever they need!

 

GC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

CSA has a form signed by the doctor saying she is under Hospice care, has heart failure and recommends that family be present. Sounds pretty clear to me.

 

The insurer has the right to reasonable documentation.

Requesting corroborating documentation from another source makes sense.

(Also keep in mind that the physician might really be your best friend. I'm sure they've "seen everything". Unfortunately for the rest of us, which brings us to requests like this...)

 

I'd just get them what they ask, as quickly as possible.

 

(If they were told that a nurse doesn't know what chart notes are, that could be a real red flag. This is ONLY my opinion, and trying to take the insurers' necessarily jaded view of such things.)

 

GC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, the nurse knows what chart notes are, just doesn't understand why they need 3 months worth.

 

My biggest frustration is how long this is taking and the difficulty in communicating with these people. My gut tells me they are doing everything possible to drag this out as long as possible.

Yesterday, I emailed the claims agent, copied our hospice nurse and asked the agent to touch base directly with the nurse, through email, not snail mail as she said they had done. In other words...communicate.

I can pretty much guarantee nothing will happen unless I continue to push.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, the nurse knows what chart notes are, just doesn't understand why they need 3 months worth. ...

 

Several months "look back" period is always required if pre-existing condition is not waived in the policy.

 

The insurance company is looking to see whether or not it was a pre-existing condition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Several months "look back" period is always required if pre-existing condition is not waived in the policy.

 

The insurance company is looking to see whether or not it was a pre-existing condition.

 

I get it, but they have had my claim almost 2 months.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...