Question concerning pre-existing (on-going) condition

[worry wart]

Has anyone purchased insurance with a pre-existing condition that could answer a question? I have a son who has a seizure disorder. He can have seizures at any given time and has never been completely controlled with medication. He just recently added a new medicine to try and we want to book a cruise within the next week or so. Is he unable to be covered for that pre-existing condition now since he recently had a medicine change and since his seizures are not completely controlled and he has recently had a seizure? If he was to fall on the ship and get injured would they not want to cover him because it could have been a fall related to a seizure? From reading the policies for pre-existing conditions that is how I am understanding it. Am I right or wrong?

[okgirl]

Most policies will cover any pre-existing condition if the policy was purchased within 14 days of making the initial payment on the cruise. Are you saying that you are outside of that time period?

 

If you are I still think that he would be covered if he required treatment unless it could be proven that the fall occurred as a result of a seizure.

[okgirl]

insuremytrip.com is a great resource to compare policies and prices. I always get a better deal through them than what my TA or Carnival offers.

[Ken076]

Has anyone purchased insurance with a pre-existing condition that could answer a question? I have a son who has a seizure disorder. He can have seizures at any given time and has never been completely controlled with medication. He just recently added a new medicine to try and we want to book a cruise within the next week or so. Is he unable to be covered for that pre-existing condition now since he recently had a medicine change and since his seizures are not completely controlled and he has recently had a seizure? If he was to fall on the ship and get injured would they not want to cover him because it could have been a fall related to a seizure? From reading the policies for pre-existing conditions that is how I am understanding it. Am I right or wrong?

 

You haven't booked your cruise yet? You're going to want to look at one of the 3rd Party Policies that offers "Waiver of Pre-Existing Condition" coverage, IF you purchase within XX days of your Cruise Deposit. You also need to investigate the Policies to make sure there's no exclusion for your son's specific illness. If your son is under 16 (some Policies 18) years of age, you can also look at TravelInsured and TravelEx Policies that insure kids free with adults (and offer above Waiver of Pre-Existing Condition".

 

At the worst, you could take the Carnival Berkley Policy, which gives you a Future Cruise CREDIT if your claim is denied as being due to a Pre-Existing condition.

 

TravelEx Select is PRIMARY Insurance, has $50K medical (with an optional Medical upgrade), insures kids under 18 free with insured adult and offers Waiver of Pre-Existing conditions if purchased w/in 21 days of cruise deposit. I'd call TravelEx to confirm coverage for your son's situation.

 

Travel Insured Trip Protector is SECONDARY Insurance, has $25K medical with $50 deductible, insures kids free with insured adults, and offers Waiver of Pre-Existing conditions if purchased w/in 14 days of cruise deposit. I'd call TravelInsured to confirm coverage for your son's situation. If you're Military you can get this cheaper and with some expanded coverages via USAA.

 

ken

[dlbaqua]

I found out on these boards that Carnival does not waive pre-existing with their insurance, They give you a future cruise credit if you are denied for a pre-existing condition, but that won't pay the bills, so I took out a second policy through insure my trip dot com.

[worry wart]

Yeah that is my concern.What if he falls due to a seizure and had to be airlifted off the ship? Would any pre-existing coverage kick in for that? I know I can get it to cover if we had to change the trip for some reason or he had some other illness that prevented him from going but I am mainly concerned about him being covered for an injury due to a fall because that is the thing that could happen. We have regular insurance but don't know how those policies work out of the country. Guess I will have to call and see after reading all the policies on insuremytrip. It sounds like from what I have read that he would be able to get a policy but not be covered for anything related to a seizure since they have not been controlled for at least 60 days prior to getting the insurance. That is how it reads to me. If that's right then he could never be covered for the thing I am most afraid of happening. He does occasionally fall and require stitches. No matter how closely you watch him it still happens sometimes.

[Ken076]

Yeah that is my concern.What if he falls due to a seizure and had to be airlifted off the ship? Would any pre-existing coverage kick in for that? I know I can get it to cover if we had to change the trip for some reason or he had some other illness that prevented him from going but I am mainly concerned about him being covered for an injury due to a fall because that is the thing that could happen. We have regular insurance but don't know how those policies work out of the country. Guess I will have to call and see after reading all the policies on insuremytrip. It sounds like from what I have read that he would be able to get a policy but not be covered for anything related to a seizure since they have not been controlled for at least 60 days prior to getting the insurance. That is how it reads to me. If that's right then he could never be covered for the thing I am most afraid of happening. He does occasionally fall and require stitches. No matter how closely you watch him it still happens sometimes.

 

Good News! With at least the CSA Freestyle Policy, MedEvac coverage is not subject to Pre-Existing condition exclusion, so that's a reason to consider CSA FreeStyle (and maybe CSA Comfort, but I havent checked it yet for this exclusion) - which also offers Waiver of Pre-Existing condition if you purchase w/in XX days of Cruise Deposit. Again, I'd call the Insurance 800 number (not necessarily Insuremytrip) to determine if there are any limitations on coverage for your son.

 

Again, if you get a Policy with Waiver of Pre-Existing conditions, it doesn'tmatter if his condition initially occurred in the last xx days or was not under control in that period, as the insurer waives exclusion of pre-existing conditions. Still have to make sure there's no separate exclusion for son's condition in the exclusions section later in the Policy.

 

You didn't mention age of your son?

 

I'd be happy to help you research this.

 

ken

[canajo]

Hi Worry Wart! I love your screen name and can identify with your situation as my daughter also has a uncontrolled seizure disorder. I had a posting earlier concerning Carnival representing that pre-existing conditions were covered if you bought the insurance at the time of the booking. Carnival's insurance does NOT cover the medical and evacuation aspect of pre-existing condtions, which is all I really care about.

 

Ken, who has posted here in this thread, was very helpful to me and I did buy a 3rd party policy that pays for medical and evacuation. Also, Carnival did refund the travel insurance costs after I raised enough trouble about them misreprenting the insurance. I too am most concerned about evacuation and medical costs. Luckily, if you purchase the 3rd party insurance within 14-21 days of your deposit, you will be covered for your son's seizure disorder....even with the change in medication.

[Ken076]

canajo - Glad to hear that everything worked out OK!!!!!!! ken

[worry wart]

Thank you Ken and Canajo! Appreciate the quick response. Can I ask what policy you ended up purchasing and the price? I know the price can vary depending on cruise time and all but just a ballpark figure of what it can run for a cruise costing around 400.00 range. Did you get the CSA insurance policy that Ken recommended? When I first read the policy and read the lookback period information my son fit the description of the pre-existing and had not been medically stable within 60 days under their terms. But then it said if 1, 2, or 3 applies and you're past the first 14,15,21,30 days from the inital trip deposit or 24 hrs. after final trip pmt. then you won't have any covefrage for claims from that pre-existing medical condition. So I take that to mean that as long as you get that particular coverage right away (before that 14,etc. day period) then you will be covered for pre-existing? Is that correct?? (I hate figuring out policies!!). Also wouldn't your own personal insurance cover emergency medical needs wherever you are even though it wouldn't cover paying for trip expenses, cancellation, things like that?? Oh, my son is 25but we are his legal guardians.

[Ken076]

Thank you Ken and Canajo! Appreciate the quick response. Can I ask what policy you ended up purchasing and the price? I know the price can vary depending on cruise time and all but just a ballpark figure of what it can run for a cruise costing around 400.00 range. Did you get the CSA insurance policy that Ken recommended? When I first read the policy and read the lookback period information my son fit the description of the pre-existing and had not been medically stable within 60 days under their terms. But then it said if 1, 2, or 3 applies and you're past the first 14,15,21,30 days from the inital trip deposit or 24 hrs. after final trip pmt. then you won't have any covefrage for claims from that pre-existing medical condition. So I take that to mean that as long as you get that particular coverage right away (before that 14,etc. day period) then you will be covered for pre-existing? Is that correct?? (I hate figuring out policies!!). Also wouldn't your own personal insurance cover emergency medical needs wherever you are even though it wouldn't cover paying for trip expenses, cancellation, things like that?? Oh, my son is 25but we are his legal guardians.

 

Worry -

 

(1) If you purchase the CSA Policy up to final Cruise Payment (I'd purchase at time of initial Cruise Deposit!!!), CSA waives the pre-existing exclusion and there is no lookback window and there are no pre-existing conditions. Again, I'd first confirm direct with CSA that there's no specific exclusion for your son's specific condition; make sure you understand your coverage.

 

(2) If you refer to GENERAL LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS (around pg 23 on my policy) item 13: "....the Pre-Existing condition does not apply to: a) Emergency Medical Evacuation, Medical Repatriation and return of remains coverage.....". this is immaterial if you purchased the Policy prior to final Cruise Payment.

 

for a 5-day cruise costing $600pp (cruisefare only, excluding govt Fees and Taxes):

Age 42 premium ~$54

Age 26 Premium ~$44. T

The Carnival Berkely Premium would be $79pp ($95pp if the cruisefare was $601pp)

 

With any of the Policies, if your son were injured aboard ship and received infirmary treatment, that's charged to your S&S Card and you pay prior to debarkation and file claim with insurance.

 

Off the ship, CSA has a Provider Network that they refer you to, who may (or may not) accept the CSA Policy as Payment; at the worst you pay and file claim - altho CSA has a $1000 Physician guarantee. for MedEvac the Insurance arranges and pre-pays the MedEvac.

 

You need to check with your own personal health insurance to determine if they cover out-of-country and what the coverage is; many don't cover out of country, or it may be covered at lower Out-of-Network reimbursement.

 

ken

[sassyredhat]

We have used CSA insurance and are now using Access America.

 

I always purchase from one of these companies because I have some medical issues which may lead to an air evac. DIL has also had a seizure, so just purchased for her too.

 

All of us were covered for about $100.00.

 

I have been on two long cruises where people had to be evac'ed, both on the way to Hawaii. Once, we were so far out to sea, they had to send a fuel plane to refuel the helio.

 

Pat

[worry wart]

Thanks again Ken for making it understandable! Very much appreciated and thanks for such a quick response!

[CrusinCyndi]

My hubby has a seizure condition that is not well controlled and he can fall, etc. at any time. We have always purchased insurance that covers the pre-ex but never had the occasion to use it thank god. We have never had a problem on any of the ships and we have been on 17 cruises so far in our married life, all different cruise lines.

[canajo]

Hi, it is Canajo. I just checked the thread and saw that you asked what policy I bought. I did what a lot of people on the forum do...I emailed Steve at www.tripinsurancestore.com. He called me back right away and was able to recommend a policy out of the six policies that he recommends on his web site. I got theTravelsafe policy. One thing I would recommend is to read the info page Steve has on his web site about insurance that pays secondary or primary. Based on his info, I called and found out that my Blue Cross policy pays primary, with the trip insurance paying secondary. So, I made sure that I got a policy that was a secondary policy. My daughter is 20, I am 53 and her friend is 19. It cost $139 for all of us. I bought the insurance on day 15 after my payment so the pre existing condition is waived. At Steve's recommendation, I insured the trip for $1000 per person, which covered our air fare and cruise costs. Some of the insurance companies have some kind of glitch in their fine print that if you underinsure the cost of the trip, then the insurance is not valid. At least, that is how I think it worked. So, make sure you insure it for enough.

 

My daughter and our hairdresser both just told me that I worry too much, not even 1 hour ago. Well, I have to say it comes with the territory of having a child with seizures! :eek:

[Delta Dear]

THank you for this info. I am about to book a cruise and want to be sure I understand the insurance aspect.

 

On our last cruise, our travel agent added the Carnival insurance for all of us in the group. I was very worried that it would not be enough in case my husband needed care. ( He has had a heart by pass and a kidney transplant.)

 

Since I had no clue about the time limits on purchasing so that pre-existing conditions are covered, I was way to late to purchase most insurances, I ended up purchasing MedJet insurance in case he needed to be evacuated.

 

This time I'm making sure I have my insurance ducks lined up in a row BEFORE I make the initial deposit.

[Ken076]

 

This time I'm making sure I have my insurance ducks lined up in a row BEFORE I make the initial deposit.

 

Makes it much easier and gives you way more choices! ken

[read52]

What kind of seizures does your son have? Since my husband had viral encephelitis he has had a seizure condition. He has Todd's, staring and headaches that cause him to pass out. He does not have grand mal seizures. If anyone has headaches that led to seizures (or passing out), try botox. My husband has had 3 treatments and it has worked wonders. He has a few passing out situations but not like before. He is also decreasing his Lyrica.

[BC Todd]

Please consult an insurance professional for this IMPORTANT advice. You are asking detailed legal questions that need professional advice, not advice from unknown people on this board.