Pre-existing condition when buying insurance

[Daniel1313]

I have booked a cruise and I am using someone else for the insurance. They said I don't have to pay for the insurance until I make my final payment for the cruise. What exactly does it mean when they say it is a higher price for a pre-existing condition? Do you have to give them my entire medical history??? What exactly will they ask??

 

Thanks

Dan

[Sheffie]

I had to get my insurance within a certain amount of time (I don't remember if it was 10 days or not) to get pre-existing conditions covered. It wasn't MORE for this insurance than if I had purchased it after my final payment. I am using Accessamerica.

[cali-croozer]

For my insurance, I had to pay within 10 days of booking in order for pre-existing conditions to be covered. There was no difference in price, just coverage. If I paid after the 10th day, pre-existing would not have been covered. They do not ask for medical history.

[CaptData]

It is higher priced if you wait for final payment and pre-existing may not be covered. Most insurance you must buy within a few days of the first down payment to have the pre-existing covered. I'm diabetic so that is classified as pre-existing so I alway purchase my insurance the same day I put down a payment. They do not ask anything to begin with unless you buy your insurance late then they can get ver, very curisous.

 

My late husband and I boutght insurance for our first cruise in 2002. When he passed away 8 days before the cruise one of the questions I had to answer was if what he died from was present before hand. We did not know about the cancer until the day after we bought the insurance but he had seen the doctor before because of pain. This was then classified as pre-existing but becuase we bought the insurance immediately when he died they gave me back all of the money.

[Rumncoke]

Some may not be aware of this, but this also pertains to family members. My DH's mother has heart problems. If something were to happen to her to cause us to cancel our cruise, it wouldn't be covered if we didn't purchase the insurance within 10 days of booking our cruise.

[LSUtraveler]

Also be sure to understand what the insurance covers and what it pays.

[cruzermon]

Is there any risk-based reason why insurance companies have this pre-existing condition clause? I can't think of one, but maybe there is a reason that I'm unaware of. I understand the economic reasons, which are essentially "because we can" and none of the competition seems to argue, so everyone has the same clause.

 

I guess an imperfect analogy would be a homeowner's insurance policy saying they will insure you for replacement cost on the home's contents you've just made a purchase deposit on if you buy the insurance today, but if you wait until closing they'll only insure actual cash value on the contents. And, oh by the way, if you don't close on the house, we'll keep the premiums anyway.

 

Seems like no one would accept this on the home insurance side, but it's a standard practice for cruise insurance.

 

Have I missed something here?

[PurpleCow]

Actually, homeowners insurance wouldn't cover a pre-existing condition at all. If there's a fire burning in the wastebasket when you purchase your policy, then you won't be covered if the house burns down. I'm surprised that travel insurance policies cover pre-existing conditions at all. Most health insurance doesn't, or there's some kind of elimination period, say 6 months or even longer. It's a problem when people change jobs and have to move to a different insurance carrier. Usually the employee is covered in any case, but dependents won't be covered for pre-existing conditions until a certain period of time has passed.