Travel Guard Gold--Need Cancel any Reason?

[lvz2cruz]

Our 7 night cruise will leave 6 weeks before our daughter's due date (She is not going).

Her pregancy has been fine and she plans to work until delivery. She and her husband live 20 minutes away. His family is 3 hours away.

I was wondering if a regular policy would cover if she had complications and we needed to cancel. I ask this because a friend is on bedrest near the end and I know this is rare but want to consider any problems.

The Travel Guard Gold policy covers if you need to care for a very sick family member--I could see me doing that while her husband works. How easy would it be for us to cancel and be covered if anything went wrong?

Or do I need to get the cancel for any reason addendum? Or am I just being a worried mother;).

[cruiseco]

Our 7 night cruise will leave 6 weeks before our daughter's due date (She is not going).

Her pregancy has been fine and she plans to work until delivery. She and her husband live 20 minutes away. His family is 3 hours away.

I was wondering if a regular policy would cover if she had complications and we needed to cancel. I ask this because a friend is on bedrest near the end and I know this is rare but want to consider any problems.

The Travel Guard Gold policy covers if you need to care for a very sick family member--I could see me doing that while her husband works. How easy would it be for us to cancel and be covered if anything went wrong?

Or do I need to get the cancel for any reason addendum? Or am I just being a worried mother;).

 

Pregnancy is probably the most unclear situation that comes up in discussions about travel insurance. The reason is that most insurers do not consider a normal pregnancy to be an "illness" or "sickness" so oftentimes what you think should apply does not and vice versa.

 

However, most insurers consider unexpected complications of a pregnancy to be covered. But what these "complications" are are so ill-defined that in most cases it's impossible to make heads or tails of the plan wording. Travel Guard is better than most in that most of their plans do list what TG will will cover. Here's from one of their plans:

 

"“Complications of Pregnancy” means conditions whose diagnoses are distinct from pregnancy but are adversely affected by pregnancy or are caused by pregnancy. These conditions include acute nephritis, nephrosis, cardiac decompensation, missed abortion and similar medical and surgical conditions of comparable severity. Complications of Pregnancy also include nonelective cesarean section, ectopic pregnancy which is terminated and spontaneous termination of pregnancy, which occurs during a period of gestation in which a viable birth is not possible. Complications of Pregnancy do not include false labor, occasional spotting, Physician-prescribed rest during the period of pregnancy, morning sickness, hyperemesis gravidarum, preeclampsia and similar conditions associated with the management of a difficult pregnancy not constituting a nosologically distinct complication of pregnancy."

 

Other insurers don't define "complications of pregnancy" at all.

 

Allainz has the broadest normal childbirth coverage:

 

"Childbirth

You need to attend the birth of an immediate family member's child ( trip cancellation coverage only ). "

 

However, I'm not sure if there's any exceptions to that -- maybe the conception has to occur after you bought the policy? Maybe you have to cancel your trip within a certain timeframe after learning of the pregnancy? I don't know if those questions matter but I'd ask before buying.

[6rugrats]

You apparently booked this cruise a long time ago? You need to also consider whether this pregnancy would be considered a "Pre-existing" condition, and thus perhaps not covered. I know in my state, a Travelguard Gold plan must be purchased within 15 days of your initial trip deposit to cover "Pre-existing" conditions. You are also too late to get "Cancel for any Reason" coverage from TG now; it would only reimburse you 50% anyway, and you have to cancel up to 48 hours before your trip departure.