Travel Insurance for pre existing conditions

[gracecarmo]

I read many of the policies listed at http://www.insuremytrip.com, and am confused as to what type of policy would cover a pre existing condition if one had to cancel the cruise, or for that matter collect a medical expense.

I know this may have been discussed before, but now I fall into a catagory for "pre existing conditions".

Anyone with suggestions as to what type of policy I would be best to subscribe to?

 

Thanks, Grace

[DEL67]

Grace:

 

If you just booked or are about to, look for a policiy that waives the pre-existing condition clause if you buy it within a specified time period from booking (usually 2 to 3 weeks.)

[gracecarmo]

Del67: well, this cruise has been booked for over a year, so I guess the pre condition waiver is null.

thanks though, for the info.

 

Grace

[kitty9]

For future reference, when purchasing insurance for pre-existing conditions, you must purchase the insurance within 10 to 14 days of booking the cruise. You can still cover pre-existing even if you buy the insurance at final payment, using CSA insurance Silver Plan. It will cost more than if you purchased the insurance at the time of booking.

[montgomeryfamily]

Actually CSA has expanded the number of insurance offerings that cover pre-existing conditions if the insurance is purchased within 24 hours of final payment. These policies are Comfort, Luxe, and Freestyle Luxe and you should be able to find all of them through the insuremytrip website. In addition, the price is comparable to the amount paid at the time of booking for these coverages.

 

These insurance policies offer lots of other extras, including trip delay, baggage coverage, etc., as well as the medical evacution and payment for medical expenses.

 

So it isn't too late to purchase some insurance coverage for your trip.

[gracecarmo]

Montgomeryfamily: I have checked out all the CSA plans, and it seems that the Comfort Plan fits my needs. I know they are a secondary payment for medical, as I am filing a small claim with them now, but have to go through my primary insurance first. It is just a lot of paperwork, but once you do it the system gets easier.

Also: what about insurance provided by the cruiseline? My TA said that she always gets their insurance. (Celebrity Cruise Care).

 

Grace

[montgomeryfamily]

Gracecarmo, unfortunately most trip insurance is secondary insurance. The few companies that offer primary coverage are very expensive and only waive pre-existing conditions if purchased shortly after booking.

 

As far as the cruise line insurance, all of the RCI company based (RCI and Celebrity) and Carnival company based cruise lines (Carnival, Holland America, Princess, etc.) use Berkely Care as their underwriters. Most of these Berkley Care products don't even have a waiver for pre-existing conditions and the ones that do require the purchase within a short time after booking. We have actually gotten copies of the Berkley Care policies (directy from Berkely Care) and compared them to other third party insurance such as CSA, TravelGuard, and TravelEx and without exception the coverage provided by the third party insurance was superior, as well as considerably cheaper.

 

The only benefit from cruise company insurance is if you buy the coverage that permits cancellation for any reason--then you get some portion (depending on the level of coverage that you buy) back in the form of a cruise credit. This is good for people who might have to cancel for reasons that aren't covered by regular insurance policies, such as those who are involved in various business activities that might have to cancel. But since the only thing you get back is cruise credit and not actual money, plus you don't get the full amount back, we've never thought it worth while.

 

I understand why you selected the Comfort. It does provide a good amount of medical and evacuation coverage--as good or better than many other third party insurance coverage. However, we usually buy the Luxe or Freestyle Luxe because we like the larger amount of coverage and also because it includes a return of premium waiver. The latter benefit will return your insurance premium if you need to cancel before final payment. However, in your case, you may be very close to final payment date and may not really need this.

[cusyl]

We purchased pre existing conditions insurance several months ago from ITI(I Travel Insured) from our travel agent. It had to be purchased within so many days of booking.

[gracecarmo]

Montgomeryfamily: thank you thank you, for the wonderful explanation. that's what I was looking for. I think I will go with CSA, as I have always done in the past. (they had gold and silver then).

 

Grace

[SHINEMAN]

If you purchase the insurance when booking and then cancel before final payment, is the insurance premium refunded?

[montgomeryfamily]

The only travel insurance I've found that offers this is the CSA Freestyle Luxe and Luxe. They call this the return of premium waiver.

 

I have researched this issue extensively after losing hundreds of dollars when TravelGuard (another travel insurance company) refused to refund my insurance premiums when I canceled BEFORE final payment date because I am in the AF Reserves and received notice that my unit would be activated extending through the time of the cruise I had booked. This was going to be a very expensive cruise and the travel insurance premium for our party was almost $800. Needless to say, that was also the last time I used TravelGuard.

[SHINEMAN]

I think Travel Guard is the one that the Travel Agencies sell you when you say OK for the insurance when you make your reservation.

I guess the lesson is to do your research before you deal with the TA.

[montgomeryfamily]

In my case, I used Travel Guard because I had used them previously for several cruises, the company had a good reputation and at that time I wanted travel insurance which offered primary coverage and covered preexisting conditions. My TA didn't sell travel insurance that offered this coverage .

 

Actually Travel Guard is not sold by many travel agencies because it is usually more expensive, although it often offers more coverage. I know that none of the TAs I have used have ever offered it. I had done a lot of research before purchasing private insurance as what most travel agencies sell is either the cruise line insurance or sometimes another insurance company policy (not Travel Guard). But I found there many of these travel insurances offered, especially the cruise line insurance handled through Berkely Care, did not cover pre-existing conditions. And some of the ones that did required you to purchase within a short amount of time after booking and offered very limited amounts of coverage or other exclusions which were unacceptable to us.

 

Travel Guard is one of the few insurance companies that offer primary coverage as well as coverage of pre-existing conditions and adequate coverage amounts. (Most travel insurance only offers secondary medical coverage.) Although I was in the military reserve, we had never been activated--only volunteer deployments. But the 2001 World Trade Center disaster changed that. Our cruise which I cancelled was for January 2002.

 

Since that time, I have been very careful about this possiblity. I found that most insurance companies don't offer a refund of premium and most also require obtaining coverage at the time of booking or shortly thereafter in order to cover pre-existing conditions. I found a couple of insurance companies that will let you apply the insurance premium to another cruise if you cancel before final payment, but there are time constraints. Also I found a couple of travel insurance companies who, as a matter of their company policy (not in their insurance policy) will allow miltary reservists to cancel because of activation. But until CSA began offering this refund of premium waiver about one year ago, no company would routinely refund the insurance policy premium.

 

So you are getting the benefit of my research which I have done over the past five years.

 

In my case, the lesson I learned is just because you are dealing with a United States company which hasn't lost any money because you cancelled before final payment is due, and the reason for the cancellation is military duty, providing security and protection for their company and their traveling clients, you cannot count on them passing up the opportunity to make money from your situation. (This is just another of the sacrifices U.S. military personnel make.) I recognize that that is this is these companies' business decision to make. And now, when I purchase travel insurance, I make the business decision not to use such companies.

[betsy51556]

I was told by my travel agent that as long as you take insurance when you book the cruise there is no pre exsisting problem.