WARNING ! travel insurance thru your TA

[Hlitner]

Folks should never preach about one type of insurance vs another. When it comes to purchasing insurance policies, each person/family, needs to make their own decision based upon their personal needs and their risk tolerance. So, for example, DW and I carry very good travel medical insurance ($250,000 of medical and $500,000 of evacuation) because we know that our medical costs risk is virtually unlimited. And we are not comfortable taking that kind of risk....and our annual travel med policy (which covers every trip we take for an entire year) only costs about $450. But we do not normally purchase cancellation insurance or cancel for any reason insurance because we think the policies are too expensive for what they provide....and we are willing to take the cancellation risk (our liability is limited to the cost of the trip...which is money we were spending anyway). Since we travel over 6 months a year, we save thousands of dollars per year by not buying cancellation insurance...and multiplying that by forty or so years we have traveled...we figure we are more then $100,000 ahead of the game. This is the money we have saved by not buying cancellation insurance. If we now have to eat the cost of a $25,000 trip....we are still way ahead of the game.

 

But many other folks are very risk adverse...and would spend 7-10% of the cost of their trip for cancellation protection. Our approach is most simply...we just do not cancel trips (it has only happened once in over 40 years). We would also point at that many "cancel for any reason" policies do not reimburse 100%...and some only offer credit on a future trip.

 

Hank

[Lizzie68]

There are people on this forum who get a real bee in their bonnet over what THEY think that OTHER people should do about absolutely anything, including insurance. It is OK to just state and opinion or say what you do, but not to continually question and shout demean other people's choices.

 

If someone chooses to get HAL's insurance, fine. Personally, I found it so darned easy to deal with them compared to insurance companies when you have to cancel for ANY reason. Totally stress-free. Other than that it is a great supplement to medical insurance coverage.

 

Do what feels comfortable for you, and what suits your needs. No need to explain to anyone else.

[Hlitner]

When I worked in the travel Field, I had to cancel my vacation at the last minute several times, but fortunately I was not on a cruise, because I never took insurance.. Once when another airline went on strike & once when my Mother became ill, DH & I cancelled a vacation at the last minute.. Now that we are up in age, & are mostly cruising, we always purchase insurance..HAL insurance would cover these cancellations..

 

If you are "up there in age" we assume you are on Medicare..which gives no medical coverage outside the US (although some Advantage Plans and Supplemental Plans give some coverage). The HAL Policy provides no more then $10,000 in Medical Insurance....which is really not nearly enough (especially for someone "up there in age"). We are now living in a world where a relatively simply medical emergency can rack up 10s of thousands of dollars of cost within a few days.

 

We have long been very critical of the cruise line's Medical Coverage...and would like to see them all (including HAL) offer a "high option" for medical coverage...say to $100,000 or higher. The additional cost of taking travel med from $10,000 - $100,000 is actually not very expensive (from an insurance perspective).

 

Hank

[HALrunner]

Folks should never preach about one type of insurance vs another. When it comes to purchasing insurance policies, each person/family, needs to make their own decision based upon their personal needs and their risk tolerance. So, for example, DW and I carry very good travel medical insurance ($250,000 of medical and $500,000 of evacuation) because we know that our medical costs risk is virtually unlimited. And we are not comfortable taking that kind of risk....and our annual travel med policy (which covers every trip we take for an entire year) only costs about $450. But we do not normally purchase cancellation insurance or cancel for any reason insurance because we think the policies are too expensive for what they provide....and we are willing to take the cancellation risk (our liability is limited to the cost of the trip...which is money we were spending anyway). Since we travel over 6 months a year, we save thousands of dollars per year by not buying cancellation insurance...and multiplying that by forty or so years we have traveled...we figure we are more then $100,000 ahead of the game. This is the money we have saved by not buying cancellation insurance. If we now have to eat the cost of a $25,000 trip....we are still way ahead of the game.

 

But many other folks are very risk adverse...and would spend 7-10% of the cost of their trip for cancellation protection. Our approach is most simply...we just do not cancel trips (it has only happened once in over 40 years). We would also point at that many "cancel for any reason" policies do not reimburse 100%...and some only offer credit on a future trip.

 

Hank

 

Any chance you can share (or perhaps hint with a "Rhymes With…") the company that offers annual travel medical?!?

We also travel over 6 months/year and our TG policy charges additional for every day over 30 in any given trip.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Any chance you can share (or perhaps hint with a "Rhymes With…") the company that offers annual travel medical?!?

We also travel over 6 months/year and our TG policy charges additional for every day over 30 in any given trip.

 

I do not know of any rules against stating companies that sell travel insurance here on CC :confused: But the one I know that sells an Annual one for frequent travelers is Allianz.

[sail7seas]

If you are "up there in age" we assume you are on Medicare..which gives no medical coverage outside the US (although some Advantage Plans and Supplemental Plans give some coverage). The HAL Policy provides no more then $10,000 in Medical Insurance....which is really not nearly enough (especially for someone "up there in age"). We are now living in a world where a relatively simply medical emergency can rack up 10s of thousands of dollars of cost within a few days.

 

We have long been very critical of the cruise line's Medical Coverage...and would like to see them all (including HAL) offer a "high option" for medical coverage...say to $100,000 or higher. The additional cost of taking travel med from $10,000 - $100,000 is actually not very expensive (from an insurance perspective).

They choosse to self insure price of the trip as they are okay absorbing that loss. We did that for about 50++ cruises and thankfully never lost any money because we never cancelled during panelty period. Te saved gtgends of thousands of dollars therough the years on premiums we avoide.. Itwas onlyt gthe last few years of ourr tteravll we startewwd to weite teravel insurance as we went onto Meicare and would not risk being withoutr out of country medical innsurance. Prior to Medicare, we had health insurance that paid anyhwhere in the world. No need to buy additional.

Hank

 

don't always agree with you but I do agree with this post Onee knows the cost of their4 trip/air/cruise. The do not know how muddch a serious illness or accidcent coulcc c ost gtghem for medicals care. Presumably tghey can aford the tgrip or wouled not have booked it. No way tgo presume swomeone can afcord to absorbe what vcould bre very dramatic meeical bills eithoutx gthagt adequate health coverage. The commissiongto TA'are a higbh qn i for them cengtive for them to push whichevdvervcov erage they pesonally like. IMO

Edited August 27, 2016 by sail7seas

[VennDiagram]

There are people on this forum who get a real bee in their bonnet over what THEY think that OTHER people should do about absolutely anything, including insurance. It is OK to just state and opinion or say what you do, but not to continually question and shout demean other people's choices.

 

If someone chooses to get HAL's insurance, fine. Personally, I found it so darned easy to deal with them compared to insurance companies when you have to cancel for ANY reason. Totally stress-free. Other than that it is a great supplement to medical insurance coverage.

 

Do what feels comfortable for you, and what suits your needs. No need to explain to anyone else.

 

I agree with all that you have said here. Information is one thing, opinion is another matter entirely. People request information, and instead they get opinions that may or may not have anything to do with their own situation.

 

For me, it is becoming easier and easier to pick out the posters who provide solid information, vs people who just opine ;) I'm not saying opinions are not worthwhile. Often, I want to hear a variety of opinions. But when I need solid information about a specific thing, I want information, until I ask for opinions :)

Edited August 27, 2016 by VennDiagram

[iancal]

I suspect that many people do not really spend much time buying out of country travel medical/evac insurance. Both in terms of coverage/conditions and cost.

 

Two buys really opened our eyes to the differences. The first was shopping for a three week policy for my father. The second was .shopping for a six month out of country policy for DW and me. Two insurance specialists were kind enough to point us in the right direction and to caution us about some of the 'duds' in our marketplace. In many instances we found the relationship between price and coverage was inverse.

Edited August 27, 2016 by iancal

[Mar56]

We have a family member with a mental illness who has been stable for years. However, any insurance policy I have researched says that person must be in a hospital in a designated mental health area or the insurance company will not cover cancellation of our trip. Our concern has only always been that he might be having a few bad weeks when we are about to leave for our cruise, and would like us within reach, if necessary. So I purchase HALs policy as at least we would get a large portion of our money back.

 

We have a good medical plan through work so that part is covered.

 

I am grateful for our peace of mind when we book our cruises.

 

Marion

[kazu]

What if your house burned down the day before you were to leave for your cruise?

 

All of those examples are covered reasons for full refunds under travel insurance. That was my point....not that things couldn't happen. But the expensive cancel for any reason clause just doesn't seem to have a place in my needs. If my house burns down or my father dies or the airline shuts down....all are covered reasons.

 

Plus, with the outside policies everything is covered....the air, hotels, independant shore reservations. With HAL's policy they won't cover those items if not purchased through them, I don't believe.

 

Sorry, they are not. Mum had surgery and was moved to a different place so that was pre-existing for her.

 

I had elbow surgery just over 90 days before my cruise - but I was still in that brace - that makes it pre-existing. Totally unplanned but there it was...

 

So, if I didn't re-cuperate well enough and couldn't go, we could kiss all the $$ we paid good bye.

 

Unexpected deaths are covered, but there are a lot of things not. (My mother took a turn for the worse and it would not have been covered apparently) Read your insurance policy VERY carefully and don't take anyting for granted.

 

Cancel for any reason has some real benefits. You just need to weigh the cost with the benefits. We have our own medical policy which is very good so our only concern is trip cancellation , etc.

[OVgirl]

Sorry, they are not. Mum had surgery and was moved to a different place so that was pre-existing for her.

 

I had elbow surgery just over 90 days before my cruise - but I was still in that brace - that makes it pre-existing. Totally unplanned but there it was...

 

So, if I didn't re-cuperate well enough and couldn't go, we could kiss all the $$ we paid good bye.

 

Unexpected deaths are covered, but there are a lot of things not. (My mother took a turn for the worse and it would not have been covered apparently) Read your insurance policy VERY carefully and don't take anyting for granted.

 

Cancel for any reason has some real benefits. You just need to weigh the cost with the benefits. We have our own medical policy which is very good so our only concern is trip cancellation , etc.

 

You are right that you might not be covered. My mother also has a ton of medical issues that are not 'stable'. If she should die from one of those (ie heart failure) and it was one of her medical problems, it would not be covered as it is a pre-existing condition. Even though she wasn't the person travelling.

Edited August 27, 2016 by OVgirl

[CaveDiving]

We would never recommend HAL's or any cruise line's insurance to those who do not have terrific worldwide medical insurance. Cruise line policies generally provide $10,000 of medical (some go as high as $20,000)...which we feel is not nearly adequate. These days $100,000 of medical would be our minimum (we have $250,000 on our annual travel med policy). Folks get sucked in to cruise line policies because of cancellation provisions (which have a very limited liability) and do not pay a lot of attention to their medical coverage....which exposes you to unlimited liability. For insurance we always recommend shopping around for the policy that best meets your personal needs. And we currently recommend insuremytrip.com, squaremouth.com and the tripinsurancestore.com....where anyone can compare various policies from multiple providers.

 

Hank

 

Hi Hank,

 

Could you please give an example of a condition that would require a payment of $200,000 from an insurance company for activities while cruising. This seems pretty high to me.

 

Scott & Karen

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Hi Hank,

 

Could you please give an example of a condition that would require a payment of $200,000 from an insurance company for activities while cruising. This seems pretty high to me.

 

Scott & Karen

 

While I am not Hank, my guess is that $250,000 amount is for Emergency Medical/Emergency medical Evacuation. If you are at sea and need a helicopter to get you to the nearest hospital those do not come cheap. We had three helicopter evacuations when I was on the Oosterdam several years ago return from Hawaii. The ship had to turn around to get within 100 miles of Hawaii or the US Coast Guard would not come to get them off the ship. We ran into the son of a gentleman in the San Diego Airport and was told by him that his Mom was handed a Bill for approximately $150,000, he said fortunately they had very good travel insurance that would cover the amount.

[Hlitner]

Hi Hank,

 

Could you please give an example of a condition that would require a payment of $200,000 from an insurance company for activities while cruising. This seems pretty high to me.

 

Scott & Karen

 

We never said that anyone would have a "$200,000" medical bill. On the other hand, we did say that the $10,000 provided by HAL (on their Platinum Plan) is wholly inadequate! A single day in Critical Care can easily cost $10,000 or more! Have a run of the mill MI (heart attack) or a CVA (stroke) on a ship...and its likely your medical bills (once tossed off the ship at the nearest port) will exceed $10,000 by many times!

 

So here is the sad story. These days, $10,000 in Medical coverage is just not adequate for any senior...or even a junior! Chances are excellent that most of us will never have that level of medical emergency while on a trip. But personally, we are not willing to roll the dice when our personal liability for medical emergencies is unlimited (as opposed to the limited liability of cancellation).

 

After nearly a lifetime working in the Medical insurance industry...we are always amazed at how folks minimize the risk of medical expenses. So, yo might want to consider that the leading cause of Personal Bankruptcy in the USA are s Medical Bills......not cruise cancellations. DW and I just finished a major travel period where we were away on cruises for 79 days from March 11 - Aug 9. During that time neither of us had so much as a sniffle. Less then a week after we finally returned home....DW had a sharp abdominal pain (and high fever) that resulted in several hours in the ER and more then a week in recovery (she is now perfectly fine). If this had happened 10 days earlier, we would have been tossed off our ship in Russia (or perhaps Estonia) and one can only speculate what the financial cost could have been.

 

We are not trying to be fear merchants...but rather realists. Medical Emergencies are never planned...but they do happen. If you are on a cruise, the ship will normally toss you off the ship like a hot potato and you will be on your own, have to deal with your medical costs, transportation, etc. Trust me that the lost money from leaving your cruise will be the least of your problems. DW's medical emergency would have likely kept her wherever it happened for at least 4 or 5 days. If that country/hospital lacked the diagnostic equipment we have here in the USA she likely would have been hospitalized for several days. And what happened to her was nothing even close to a MI or CVA (both common problems with seniors).

 

So here is my lecture :). Many cruisers will spend hundreds of dollars to get decent cancellation insurance that only pays out the equivalent of a few thousand dollars (if that) in the event of cancellation. Yet those same cruisers seem to have little concern that a medical emergency could cost them many times that amount of money. And the further irony is that travel medical insurance is actually quite inexpensive...when compared to some cancellation coverage.

 

Hank

Edited August 27, 2016 by Hlitner

[DizzyDallasDi]

I just can't wrap my head around the cancel for any reason need. I did book a policy with that for a teenage daughter going on an abroad trip. I had concerns she might not get on the plane. But if I have booked a cruise for us, I am sure I am going. I can't imagine a scenario where the day before sailing I would just change my mind.

 

But as someone here just said, everyone needs different assurances.

 

I got food poisoning :eek: from dinner the night before I was leaving on a short trip. There is no way I could have anticipated that.

[IsanTom]

$1000 for Travel Insurance! How long was your cruise?

[Lizzie68]

$1000 for Travel Insurance! How long was your cruise?

 

As you age, insurance costs go up dramatically, and in higher increments as you go over 65, 70, 75 etc. If you have certain medical conditions, even more. Our next one is going to cost well in excess of $1,000 - only $160 of it is for me, the rest is DH's insurance.:eek:

[serendipity1499]

If you are "up there in age" we assume you are on Medicare..which gives no medical coverage outside the US (although some Advantage Plans and Supplemental Plans give some coverage). The HAL Policy provides no more then $10,000 in Medical Insurance....which is really not nearly enough (especially for someone "up there in age"). We are now living in a world where a relatively simply medical emergency can rack up 10s of thousands of dollars of cost within a few days.

 

We have long been very critical of the cruise line's Medical Coverage...and would like to see them all (including HAL) offer a "high option" for medical coverage...say to $100,000 or higher. The additional cost of taking travel med from $10,000 - $100,000 is actually not very expensive (from an insurance perspective).

 

Hank

Hank Agree with you however in our case we are very fortunate to have Medical coverage through my DH's Company with "United Health Care" it also includes catastrophic (sp?) Insurance.. I sent an e-mail to the Insurance Carrier & questioned our medical coverage...This is their reply:

 

Quote Emergency Health Services are covered while you & your eligible dependent are traveling in a foreign country. If a true emergency occurs, your plan coverage is the same in a foreign country as your emergency health service coverage in the United States..Unquote

 

It's is a long e-mail & they state that normally hospitals etc. must be paid by us & we would be reimbursed when we file a claim.. If you are treated on a ship you also must use the International claim form as HAL is considered "a foreign country"..I learned that on our Alaska cruise..

 

We would file an International claim form with DH's Company Insurance Carrier..Instructions are included with these forms.. However, every one knows Medicare will not pay but we still must file with Medicare first.. Then send Medicare's refusal notice with our International claim form to DH's Company Insurance.. So much RED Tape

 

 

I always take a copy of these forms on our cruises..

 

BTW, One of the Gals with her Mother was on our Amazon trip in 2006.. Her Mom was taken ill & transported to a Hospital in Manaus..This Gal had to borrow $100,000 from her bank to get her ill Mother flown home after she was stable enough to be transported by air..A Nurse had to accompany them to a Hospital in the U.S. from Manaus.. Ten years later IMO it would be close to $200,000 if not more..:eek:

 

 

Edited August 27, 2016 by serendipity1499

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...We have long been very critical of the cruise line's Medical Coverage...and would like to see them all (including HAL) offer a "high option" for medical coverage...say to $100,000 or higher. The additional cost of taking travel med from $10,000 - $100,000 is actually not very expensive (from an insurance perspective)...

 

I agree. At times we have "piggybacked" policies, buying the cruiseline policy for the cancellation and trip delay features, a medical-only policy from a third party, as well as MedJet Assist if traveling far outside the US. MedJet provides return to a hospital near your home; most insurers' evacuation policies only cover to the nearest facility from where you become ill or injured that can adequate care.

[EGG]

My experience with private insurance is that I could transfer insurance to another cruise.

Edited August 27, 2016 by EGG

[alwaysfrantic]

My experience with private insurance is that I could transfer insurance to another cruise.

 

I have had that experience as well. I buy the policy immediately for the pre existing coverage....I couldn't take a policy that didn't have that protection. But I have changed cruises and shifted dates to include time on the front or back. Insuremytrip.com has always been able to make the adjustments.

[Randyk47]

$1000 for Travel Insurance! How long was your cruise?

 

If you take full travel insurance that includes medical coverage, trip interruption, cancellation, etc., for even a 7-10 day European cruise and you're covering airfare, pre and post cruise hotels, and the cruise $1,000 would be a real bargain.

[NancyIL]

We have always been able to transfer travel insurance to another cruise/trip if we cancel the original cruise prior to final payment date. This is "regular" travel insurance rather than cruiseline insurance. There is no refunded amount if the new cruise costs less and we do have to pay an additional amount if the new cruise costs more.

 

I have also transferred travel insurance policies several times from one trip to another. Check with the insurance company.

[NancyIL]

I got food poisoning :eek: from dinner the night before I was leaving on a short trip. There is no way I could have anticipated that.

 

Sickness is a covered reason for cancellation.

Edited August 27, 2016 by NancyIL

[Florida_gal_50]

It seems to me that everyone should do what they are comfortable with. What I don't understand is when others need to tell them why it's wrong.