Recommendations for Trip Insurance

[CanWeGoYet?]

A secondary insurer is always going to ask that question -- not so they can decline to pay but to make sure that you've already settled up with any primary insurer you may have.

 

The one exception that I know if is HTH which has several plans where the medical coverage (secondary) is only valid if you do in fact have some sort of primary coverage already in place. No primary coverage? No medical coverage at all from the HTH plan.

 

 

It's been a while but I think it was HTH. And I had a bear of a time getting the coverage from them. They finally, finally payed but not before I filed a complaint with the insurance commissioner. It took months, many phone calls, hours spent on hold, dropped calls & resubmitting same paperwork. They really did all they could to avoid payment.

 

Here is a link to the thread for anyone who is interested. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1234775

[iamtrustworthy]

I love the way you explained this in the post - I know this is from a ways back so I hope you are still following the thread. But I had thought secondary coverage plans are only good for people who have primary insurance. When I filed a claim back in 2010 for a visit to the ship's doctor, the first thing they (they trip insurance company) asked for was proof of my son's primary insurance, and then proof that the company had declined payment. I could be wrong but from what the rep on the phone said, it sounded very much like they would have refused to cover if we did not have primary insurance at the time.

 

Hi CanWeGoYet,

 

Yes, I'm still following this thread. Thank you for your kind words. And, as cruiseco already explained, the insurance company automatically asks if you have other coverage because they don't want to pay more than they have to.

 

In fact, companies who have Primary coverage also ask that same question because they want to save money, too. I personally think that's a tricky thing to do because answering yes means you are agreeing to have your claim processed as a secondary claim.

 

Also, while I like HTH as a company (and I never had any problems with them), I stopped recommending them in Sept. 2009 when they changed their plans to require primary medical.

 

Steve Dasseos

[iamtrustworthy]

Trustworthy: Whew! Thanks for the info. You couldn't have explained it any better. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand your explanation :).

 

Hi CRUISE4JANE,

 

Thank you for your kind words. I try to make all my explanations as simple as possible. They do get wordy, so I'm happy to know it made sense to you.

 

Steve Dasseos

[CRUISE4JANE]

My trip is costing $2800. I am insured for 100% of that amount if I should have to cancel and up to 150% for trip interruption. If you go to the Travel Guard website your can checkout the "Protect Assist" policy it explains all of the other coverages, like lost baggage, trip delay, medical, etc. The policy is $55 each for me and my husband. My son is under 18 so his policy is free. Minors are free with the Protect Assist policy only.

 

What is the coverage for medical and evacuation. Does it cover pre-existing condition?

[iamtrustworthy]

What is the coverage for medical and evacuation. Does it cover pre-existing condition?

 

- The medical is $25,000 pp primary (or secondary if you live in FL or PA)

- Pre-ex is covered if you buy no later than 14 calendar days after your initial deposit date (they say 15 days)

 

Another rule to cover pre-ex is to insure your actual per person trip costs. Don't divide you full cost by the number of travelers, because if any of you have a lower pp cost (ie - 3rd person in a cabin) you'll under-insure & forfeit the pre-ex coverage.

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

Steve Dasseos

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We always buy it through our TA

[4275princess]

We had to cancel the "3rd person" in a cabin earlier this year with Princess.

Princess refunded the "full amount" of passenger 3; because they said passenger 1 and 2 were still paying the full amount. We were very surprised by this...but in fact, the full amount for that 3rd person was credited by Princess on our charge card... with absolutely no penalty fee's. This was cancelled 1 week prior to sailing.

[artvlay]

I am considering buying HTH insurance. They seem to have a good pre-existing coverage policy. We have Blue Cross, but that doesn't cover you outside of the U.S. Any opinions if they are a good company? Thanks

[CanWeGoYet?]

I am considering buying HTH insurance. They seem to have a good pre-existing coverage policy. We have Blue Cross, but that doesn't cover you outside of the U.S. Any opinions if they are a good company? Thanks

 

Did you see my post (#27) with thread on the troubles I had on getting them to pay on a good claim? You might want to read the thread first. :)

[cruiseco]

I am considering buying HTH insurance. They seem to have a good pre-existing coverage policy. We have Blue Cross, but that doesn't cover you outside of the U.S. Any opinions if they are a good company? Thanks

 

There's a quirk in some of the HTH plans you need to be aware of. Their medical coverage is secondary -- no big deal, lots of good insurers are. The quirk is that the medical coverage only applies IF you have some other primary medical coverage in place. For example, since your Blue Cross does not cover you outside the US you don't have a primary insurer for medical expenses. Thus, HTH won't provide any medical coverage either. You'd be traveling with no medical coverage at all, which I think is really a bad idea.

 

Double check with Blue Cross as they probably will cover you outside the US -- you'll just have yo pay the bill yourself and submit it for reimbursement. If so, then they'd pay the medical bills minus whatever deductible or co-payment you have then you'd submit that leftover amount to HTH.

 

If Blue Cross really won't cover your medical bills I'd look for a travel insurer that will.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We buy it through our TA