Travel Insurance - what I was told sounds crazy????

[twoatsea]

I'm trying to buy travel insurance (Travel Insured International) & I was told by this company (that I thought was the best policy & price; got it from insuremytrip.com), that all travel insurance is always secondary insurance. Too bad, but I asked, what does that mean. I was told that I would pay out of pocket while on the trip (in Europe - even hospital, everything), & then when get home file a claim to all other possible payers - homeowners, airlines, everyone, & then if I'm not covered by them, then file a claim on the travel insurance company?????

 

Does this sound right? How can a traveler pay a tens of thousands of dollars medical bill in a foreign country (or at home!)? I thought that was what travel insurance is for?

 

I've spent all day on this & the more I learn the more I think that all of these years we've had travel ins., we were not as covered as we thought! Do other travelers just not get told this & live in a travel ins fantasy world that I lived in before today?

[Sue L]

Plenty of policies are primary you have to research each one to find out which. A primary will be more expensive. And all travel insurance requires you to pay now and then get reimbursed. If is goes into hospital stays and such then that is different.

[twoatsea]

insuremytrip only has 2 primary - travelex & trutravel. we don't qualify for tru because the trip is over 30 days. Do you know of others.

 

Does it really matter if the ins. is primary or secondary? "matter" meaning in case of extensive costs while traveling, such as, medical. Is primary going to really operate any differently/quicker than secondary in such an instance?

 

Sounds like I am nitpicking, but DH is 72yo & in the past has had a heart bypass & stent. He seems healthy now, but one never knows; even those who have no past medical problems - could be an accident while traveling.

 

Another strange thing, that I bet a lot of people don't know, is I was told by Travel Insured Int'l person - you cannot have another travel ins. policy with our policy. We use MedjetAssist for med evac because there are no strings attchd. She said not even that! Weird! Obviously we will not go with them, but makes me wonder about all of these other companies & policies that we all pay for without knowing!?

[Lynnees]

That must be as U.S. problem. Here in Canada if you have an issue you call the emergency number from whereever in the world you are and they authorize payment.

 

Once you return home the insurance company will investigate to see if there are any other payers available to pickup any part of it including out of pocket expenses that need to be reinbursed - credit card, out of country through employment etc. before they will pay them.

[celle]

I'm trying to buy travel insurance (Travel Insured International) & I was told by this company (that I thought was the best policy & price; got it from insuremytrip.com), that all travel insurance is always secondary insurance. Too bad, but I asked, what does that mean. I was told that I would pay out of pocket while on the trip (in Europe - even hospital, everything), & then when get home file a claim to all other possible payers - homeowners, airlines, everyone, & then if I'm not covered by them, then file a claim on the travel insurance company?????

 

Does this sound right? How can a traveler pay a tens of thousands of dollars medical bill in a foreign country (or at home!)? I thought that was what travel insurance is for?

 

I've spent all day on this & the more I learn the more I think that all of these years we've had travel ins., we were not as covered as we thought! Do other travelers just not get told this & live in a travel ins fantasy world that I lived in before today?

 

Maybe it's different in your country, but here in New Zealand we have always understood that, with travel insurance, we have to pay up at the time and claim the expense when we return home.

 

For major expenses, like medical evacuation or re-patriation back to NZ, we have to first confirm by phone with the insurance company that they will cover the cost on our return.

 

The potential high cost of paying medical expenses at the time is one reaason why we pay to have a credit card with a high spending limit on it. We have paid for medical care and had no problem in being re-imbursed by the insurance company when we get home.

[uppitycats]

LOTS of insurance plans are "secondary", not just travel insurance. That's why you have to read the fine print, and ask careful questions. I have a very good health insurance program for which I pay significant premiums, and it's secondary.

 

insuremytrip isn't the only site to search for travel insurance. If they only have two that are primary, you should go elsewhere and see if you can find something better suited to your needs.

 

Often providers will work with you -- hold off on demanding payment -- until the issue of secondary/primary is worked out. But as someone already suggested, having a large credit limit, and/or a second "emergency" credit card, is a good alternative.

[bethaniesmom]

we got travel health insurance for my DD when she stayed in Prague for 75 days....all she had to do was call the number on the back of the card for authorization for treatment, they would tell her what doctor/hospital, etc to use. she just had a copay like her regular policy at home.

 

Beverly

[just4kixx]

FWIW here is another place to compare travel insurance:

http://www.squaremouth.com/travel-insurance/

 

I always pay for primary insurance. that's my personal preference, tho.

 

A~

[jmf123]

I definitely recommend obtaining Primary coverage, give Travel Guard a call at (800) 826-1300 and ask about their Protect Assist Gold policy. Excellent coverage that (if purchased within 15 days of making your initlal trip payment) even covers pre-existing medical conditions. The Protect Assist policy plus adding their Medical Coverage Upgrade (minimal cost) doubles your Medical and Emergency Evacuation benefits.

 

And Travel Guard offers 24 hour travel assistance, and will insure your trip that is over 30 days in length.

[Kellie Poodle]

I definitely recommend obtaining Primary coverage, give Travel Guard a call at (800) 826-1300 and ask about their Protect Assist Gold policy. Excellent coverage that (if purchased within 15 days of making your initlal trip payment) even covers pre-existing medical conditions. The Protect Assist policy plus adding their Medical Coverage Upgrade (minimal cost) doubles your Medical and Emergency Evacuation benefits.

 

And Travel Guard offers 24 hour travel assistance, and will insure your trip that is over 30 days in length.

 

I used Travel Guard last November. They belong to AIG, those people the government bailed out then had their execs partying in Arizona on our tax dollars.

 

They were NOT nice to deal with. Their "medical expert" was a paramedic who countermanded the doctor's orders because, he, the paramedic, didn't think the doctor was justified in his request.

 

Further, Travel Guard would have kept us trapped in Palermo, Sicily even though they knew my DH had to get home to his own physician and could not eat the salt-laden food in Palermo, they were going to keep us there until the wildcat strike of Alitalia was over. If it were not for the excellent assistance of the RCI customer service person in Miami, who took care of us via phone in Palermo, we would have been stranded for days. The gal at RCI screamed at them enough for them to change our flights.

 

The so-called medical experts of Travel Guard were not the least bit interested in what DH's personal physician had to say and would not speak with him. They would not even take messages relayed by him through me. They didn't tell me until DH was discharged from the hospital that they could have put the doctors in Palermo on a translator assisted phone call with DH's physician at home if the Sicilian doctors had asked for it. If they had told us earlier, we would have made use of the service, but they tried to save every nickle and dime they could at our expense.

 

If I seem a little angry, I think I am justified. We were at the end of a 7 week European trip and we had paid over $2,000 for the Travel Guard insurance policy, believing it was the "best in the business".

 

Though Travel Guard may have been a good company at one time, the one time I needed them, they did not come through for me. I had to fight them all the way to get the contractually spelled-out benefits we had paid a premium price for.

 

Of course your mileage may vary, but there are other companies and for our upcoming trip, I can assure you, I will not be using Travel Guard.

[imsulin]

Hmmmmm. Wow.

[twoatsea]

Well, I spent way too much time & effort into this yucky part of our travels! :eek: Hopefully I was not micro-managing (as my son says); just being an informed consumer. We've traveled so much & bought so many travel insurance policies & were blissfully unaware of how inadequate many/most/all of them were. Luckily today I learned a lot - primary vs secondary; having 2 insurance plans voiding one; underinsuring can void policy, etc. Hopefully I have us better protected - physically & financially.

 

So, I'm done; let the cards fall where they may. My wish is that we will not use the travel insurance & the insurance companies will make a profit from us. ;)

 

I liked squaremouth.com better than insuremytrip.com. Thanks just4kixx.

 

Here's what I did -

1. Company-Travel Insured International; rated A-A+; confirmed the policy details via phone with insurance company; purchased from the company, not a broker.

 

2. Plan-Worldwide Trip Protector (WTP) Comprehensive Plan; only requires that I purchase a policy for the amount of the "total nonrefundable prepaid" amounts (some require the total amount of the trip costs that can be counted, such as hotels, transfers, etc. that are not prepaid, but will be incurred; raises the price of the policy a lot); NOTE: all of the companies I called said if I underinsure, could void my coverage if/when needed.

 

3. $100,000 PRIMARY Emergency Medical & Dental; this is lower than the $250,000 that I normally desire. However with MedJetAssist (explained below), I feel we could use their services to get home before the costs raise beyond the $100,000.

 

4. Pre-existing conditions waiver received

 

5. 100% Trip Cancellation of the policy amount (prepaid amts)

 

6. free 14 days to review the policy; if don't like, get full refund -$8

 

The rest I don't care about. The medical & trip cancellation are the big bucks.

 

In addition, purchased MedJetAssist medical evacuation policy (good for one year in & out of USA). None of the travel insurance plans I checked would allow med evac to USA home or hospital of choice. All were to the nearest hospital, even if that hospital is a dump.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help. Now on to happier stages of this trip planning - like port excursions! :)

[Liz]

If it puts your mind at ease - I had a claim through Travel Insured and they could not have been nicer to deal with. Be sure to keep any receipts and file them as soon as you come home. I was reimbursed for my expenses within about 10 days - before I even got the Visa bill with the charges!

But hopefully you will not need them... have a great cruise!

 

Liz

[just4kixx]

I am glad to hear that you found something that meets your needs! And thanks for sharing what you learned. I would bet that many people are totally unaware of some of the policies you posted about. I for one did not know that undercoverage could void your policy (not that I would intentionally do that!)

 

Happy sailing!

A~

[Tigergenesis]

thanks for the squaremouth recommendation. I have always just bought the cruiseline coverage and am not taking the time to really do some research on other plans/companies. I still need to do some digging, but am curious if anyone here has any thoughts or experience with buying some of the Annual Plans that cover more than one trip? Now that my boyfriend has caught the cruise bug it looks like I'll be doing at least 2 cruises a year (1 with him and 1 with dad) - so I think I'll look into those plans a bit more.

[MVPJEFFMVP]

I just got back from Bermuda last week. My wife was injured. Had Travelex insurance. They are a PRIMARY insurance. I didn't have to submit to my health insurance company. I called my health insurance and they would have paid the claim 70/30 minus a 100 deductable for out of network, but called Travelex and they paid me 100% of the claim. Hope this helps!!!

[Guest maddycat]

There are a lot of misconceptions about travel insurance:

 

1. All plans are secondary. Incorrect. Most plans are secondary however, Travelex offers primary plans; Travel Guard with their Platinum plan is primary; and Travel Insured allows you to upgrade their medical coverage to primary through an additional fee.

 

2. Failure to insure to value invalidates coverage. Incorrect. What it might invalidate is the "waiver of pre-existing conditions" and/or "cancel for any reason" coverage. Some plans require that you insure to the full pre-paid value while other plans say that you have to insure to the full pre-paid value of arrangements that are non-refundable. Don't let the last portion fool you - you still have to insure to the full value of the arrangement and not just the non-refundable portion. An example; a travel arrangement of $2,000 that has a 50% cancellation charge. You must insure for the full $2,000. Also never round your trip cost down. That might invalidate your eligibility for the "waiver" and for "cancel for any reason".

 

3. All travel insurance requires that you pay up front. Incorrect. Even most policies that are "indemnification" plans have an Emergency Assistance benefit where they will make emergency payments to hospitals if required in order to secure you service.

 

4. None of the travel policies will evacuate you to a hospital of your choice. Incorrect. Several plans will. Remember evacuations are usually in 2 phases; the initial emergency phase to get the person stabilized and then the repatriation phase. Here is wording directly out of a Travel Insured plan: ...to Your return destination or the Hospital of Your choice if medically necessary and authorized by the Assistance Company...

 

5. Travel Insurance companies have ratings. Incorrect. Travel Insurance companies are not rated. What is rated is the underlying insurance company that underwrites the plan. Ratings are usually by a firm called AM Best and indicate the financial strength and claims paying ability of the insurance company.

 

6. No difference between primary or secondary plans in how long it takes to pay a claim. Incorrect. Secondary plans require that you submit claims to your primary company prior to submitting to them. That can add several days to the time it takes. One of the biggest time delays is whether a medical claim is pre-existing or not. If possible always buy a plan with a pre-existing conditions waiver. Also, make sure you meet all of the requirements for the waiver. Generally there are 3; 1. that you buy the insurance within the required time period (usually 2 weeks), 2. that you insure to value, and 3. that you are physically able to travel on the day you buy the insurance.

 

As an end note for those that qualify for Medicare remember that they don't cover you outside the USA. Some of the supplemental plans (MediGap) do however, those plans have lifetime limits with large co-pays. Because of the lifetime limits it makes sense to buy a plan with a primary medical coverage rather than a secondary plan. With the primary coverage you won't have to use the lifetime benefit unless the amount of the claim exceeds what the limit is on the travel insurance thus saving your lifetime benefit for when you really need it.

 

Top three travel insurance comparison sites are:

 

www.QuoteWright.com

www.insuremytrip.com

www.squaremouth.com

 

Thanks excellent post. Very helpful.

[Tigergenesis]

I agree! Thank you so much!

[Tucker in Texas]

Tru-travel is secondary. I had stopped up ears on my last trans-Atlantic cruise and went to sick bay to get them unplugged to the tune of $279. I had to first submit my claim to Medicare which paid $68 on the claim under Part B. The nearest "land" on the day of treatment (a questions asked and answered by Medicare) was the Canary Islands so we were well away from US soil.

 

Tru-travel paid the balance less $50 deductible. I was aware when I bought the policy it was secondary, and I was aware of the $50 deductible so that was no surprise. The savings over other policies was more than $50. While waiting for Medicare to settle, Tru-travel contacted me to see what the "hold-up" was (Medicare bounced it back asking us where the nearest land was) which I thought was above and beyond. They weren't hoping I would go away or forget about it. They never asked me if I had secondary coverage after Medicare or tell me that I needed to pursue any secondary coverage.

 

We always carry a high limit credit card (which stays in our safe) with us when we travel just in case a large pre-payment becomes necessary. Of course, we would first contact the insurance company on their hot line to find out just how to proceed before putting out any large sums of money. Fortunately, have never had the problem.

 

The reason I have the high-limit card with me is a fellow cruiser told me that her husband had a heart attack in Nassau and they had to put up $25K to the hospital prior to being admitted. The ship, also, demanded that their Sign 'n Sail account be cleared before releasing him from the ship. They had insurance but the hospital refused to deal with it telling them $25K or stay on the sidewalk. They managed to scrape it up using several credit cards from friends cruising with them. I don't know who carried their insurance but she said eventually they got everything paid to them they had coming.

 

Tucker in Texas

[sisocialworker]

Well, I spent way too much time & effort into this yucky part of our travels! :eek: Hopefully I was not micro-managing (as my son says); just being an informed consumer. We've traveled so much & bought so many travel insurance policies & were blissfully unaware of how inadequate many/most/all of them were. Luckily today I learned a lot - primary vs secondary; having 2 insurance plans voiding one; underinsuring can void policy, etc. Hopefully I have us better protected - physically & financially.

 

So, I'm done; let the cards fall where they may. My wish is that we will not use the travel insurance & the insurance companies will make a profit from us. ;)

 

I liked squaremouth.com better than insuremytrip.com. Thanks just4kixx.

 

Here's what I did -

1. Company-Travel Insured International; rated A-A+; confirmed the policy details via phone with insurance company; purchased from the company, not a broker.

 

2. Plan-Worldwide Trip Protector (WTP) Comprehensive Plan; only requires that I purchase a policy for the amount of the "total nonrefundable prepaid" amounts (some require the total amount of the trip costs that can be counted, such as hotels, transfers, etc. that are not prepaid, but will be incurred; raises the price of the policy a lot); NOTE: all of the companies I called said if I underinsure, could void my coverage if/when needed.

 

3. $100,000 PRIMARY Emergency Medical & Dental; this is lower than the $250,000 that I normally desire. However with MedJetAssist (explained below), I feel we could use their services to get home before the costs raise beyond the $100,000.

 

4. Pre-existing conditions waiver received

 

5. 100% Trip Cancellation of the policy amount (prepaid amts)

 

6. free 14 days to review the policy; if don't like, get full refund -$8

 

The rest I don't care about. The medical & trip cancellation are the big bucks.

 

In addition, purchased MedJetAssist medical evacuation policy (good for one year in & out of USA). None of the travel insurance plans I checked would allow med evac to USA home or hospital of choice. All were to the nearest hospital, even if that hospital is a dump.

 

Thanks to everyone for your help. Now on to happier stages of this trip planning - like port excursions! :)

 

this is great info...if you don't mind..how much did this insur. cost?

[Beowulfpk]

Always read the fine print. I usually use Travelex. Unfortunately, you never really find out how good your insurance is until you have to use it.

 

You will find that your credit card often provides secondary insurance on many things. Either way a good secondary insurance policy is a great way to save money on your policy. If I have a medical claim I have no problem submitting it to my regular insurance first, but I would not want to submit a home owners insurance claim first.