Trip Insurance Store (travel insurance)

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, beshears said:

GeezerCouple, thanks for your response.  I believe my friend sent off everything that was needed  (she is in AZ., and I am in MO.), and is still trying to re cooperate from her surgery, doing a lot of therapy, before she has the last surgery to take care of her shoulder.

 

Thanks.

As I just posted in my other post today, we learned about ALL of this "travel insurance stuff" here on CC.  It just hadn't occurred to us before. DUH. 

OTOH, we had not previously been taking trips that were both expensive AND pre-paid/non-refundable.

 

So I try to "pay it forward" and help in an area where we've (unfortunately) developed more experience than we would like to have.

There are still special situations that I don't understand, and Steve (TripInsuranceStore) has been *so* patient answering "what if" questions.  And sometimes, that affects what coverage we get, of course.

 

I'm not sure I'm familiar with or remember what situation you are referring to, but I do hope all goes well!

 

GC

[beshears]

Yes, I like you do appreciate ALL the info I receive here on Cruise Critic.  I have learned a lot by just "asking" questions.  I know many people, like myself at one time, thought these were dumb questions, but their not.

 

I will say when I contacted Trip Insurance Store, I ask for insurance coverage to cover our flight and cruise.  There was nothing pre existing here when we went on the trip, only the accident when Carol had the fall while we were on tour.  She is healing very slowing, and is hoping to get out of the skilled nursing facility very soon.  Then she is to have her 2nd surgery in about 4 months.

 

I'm glad Trip Insurance Store came through for you as well.

Brenda

[counsdr]

I like Squaremouth! They have competitive rates and process claims very quickly.

[beshears]

I've never heard of Squaremouth trip insurance.  Is it a new company, or just in certain areas of the USA?

[LDVinNC]

Squaremouth is a broker.  I have not used them, but have visited their website.

[Luckiestmanonearth]

Has anyone had insurance coverage that covered work cancellations and ever had to cancel because of work reasons?  

 

Was Tripinsurancestore.com accommodating ?

[klfrodo]

37 minutes ago, Luckiestmanonearth said:

Has anyone had insurance coverage that covered work cancellations and ever had to cancel because of work reasons?  

 

Was Tripinsurancestore.com accommodating ?

Tripinsurancestore is a broker who sells a selection of 9 policies. 4 of the policies that I just looked at include Cancel for Work Reasons. Not sure what you mean by "was Tripinsurancestore.com accommodating". Accommodating for what?

 

Fine Print is important to look at. First is what determines a covered cancel for work reasons. That is important information. Then, who has to sign off at your company to verify that they are requiring you to cancel. That's important also.

3rd,,, what State do you live in. That fact can vary the coverage, the prices, and the procedures.

[Luckiestmanonearth]

54 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

Tripinsurancestore is a broker who sells a selection of 9 policies. 4 of the policies that I just looked at include Cancel for Work Reasons. Not sure what you mean by "was Tripinsurancestore.com accommodating". Accommodating for what?

 

Fine Print is important to look at. First is what determines a covered cancel for work reasons. That is important information. Then, who has to sign off at your company to verify that they are requiring you to cancel. That's important also.

3rd,,, what State do you live in. That fact can vary the coverage, the prices, and the procedures.

 

Thanks for the advice

Edited June 9, 2019 by Luckiestmanonearth

[naiwenzh]

On 5/18/2019 at 1:37 PM, GeezerCouple said:

 

The claim form that Travel Insured sent us either had a place for us to enter the information, or requested specific information/documents.  They had a form for the physician to fill out.

It will depend upon the nature of the claim, and the costs involved.  The costs do not need to be only medical.

 

For example our very first claim was the first time we took out travel insurance and again - THANK YOU to those here at CC whose posts encouraged us to get it!v It was for DH's first cruise (long overdue!), and we had to cancel at the last minute for medical emergency.  So the medical costs were "on us" (well, our regular health insurance).  It was the total cost of the trip that we needed.

So in that case, the physician/surgeon needed to state the date the emergency occurred, the diagnosis, and the fact that we could not travel at the time planned.  (We couldn't travel for quite some time, except to/from medical appointments, alas.)

 

As an aside, this was also by far our most expensive trip other than our honeymoon.  And it was the first time that *everything* had been pre-paid/non-refundable.  I am absolutely certain that IF we did not have that insurance, DH would have been so upset, that he wouldn't have agreed again to give it a try (after MANY years of coaxing on my part, and he was hooked instantly on the next actual cruise!).

Sure, we "could have afforded it"; we had already paid for the entire trip, of course.

However, it was a very, very stressful time, and we both took some degree of comfort from the occasional mumbling about "Well, at least we got insurance, and we won't have to pay a *second* time to take this trip!"

And I also admit to some uncertainty about whether the claim would "really be paid", etc.  But the claim went just fine, as I've stated before.  NO nonsense involved, on that claim or any other.  TripInsuranceStore and Travel Insured get our top recommendations!

 

In one case, I had a medium thick stack of papers from a foreign hospital, in a language we do not speak.

So I scanned the entire thing, and sent it to them, and they apparently found it sufficient.  However, note that there was no hospital BILL to pay, so that may have mattered.  We needed to document why our trip went sideways and we had to spend almost a week in the "wrong town".  Nice as it was, it wasn't where we had planned to be!

 

There was one small "glitch" in that a physician who saw me at the hotel a few times didn't write in English very well, so his bill/statement/description of my medical situation wasn't satisfactory (and we understood why).  We finally sent him a draft with the exact language that we thought was needed, and he sent us yet another letter.  We submitted it, and that was the final thing prior to getting the claim approved.

 

Most of that claim was for several days of hotel bills and meals, mostly for DH, until I could join him again, and unused train tickets, and some alternate transportation, etc.

 

I should probably mention here that we came VERY close to calling MedJetAssist to get me home.

However, just as we were about to do that, I turned a corner.  We were able to recover the final week of our trip, and that was very special.  I just sat around at a luxury hotel in Bellagio, looking out at Lake Como.  We had to cancel some excursions, but it was definitely a NICE place to recuperate! 

 

We remain quite sure that the speed of payments (we each had a medical reason for a claim) was because we had coverage for pre-existing conditions.  We'll never know, but we suspect that if we had those excluded, Travel Insured may have needed to sort through some amount of previous medical records, to make sure that the episode wasn't due to any pre-existing condition.  And of course, we didn't need to worry about having the claim rejected for that reason.

 

We did find it helpful to get the name of a particular claims person, and to double check with that person each time we sent something, to make sure it was properly routed and logged, etc.

We tried to scan everything, and send as email attachments.

 

GC

 

Just for my reference just in case I need to file a medical expense claim.

What kind of documents do  i need to request from the physicians?

Is it better if I download the required form the physician need to fill on my trip?

Were the physicians accommodating if you need to requires more documentation after you return to you home?

[naiwenzh]

It seems that a couple of you guys had good experience with Travel Insured when filing claim.

I was deciding btw IMG and Tinleg, guess I will go with Travel insured. Even though it is a bit more expensive it seems more efficient when I need to file a claim (hopefully I don't need too)..

 

IMG has the lowest rating and find some frustrating experience in this forum. Tinleg has the highest rating but they are relatively new and ownby Squaremouth. I see good help from Tripinsurancestore when in need, so leaning toward getting Travel insured from them. Tinleg is not available at Tripinsuranstore and they are relative new. Tinleg is relatively new, (since 2014), old reviews were horrendous, maybe they have improved these few years, hence the high rating. Please note Tinleg is owned by Squaremouth.

 

anyone has experience with Tinleg. Their price were in the middle of what I need to insure, $92. IMG quoted me $60 and $70 plan. Travel Insured quoted me $104.  IMG is out of my choice. I don't want to deal with their claim department. Since people had good experience with Travel Insured and it is for $12 more, i guess i will stick with long standing company Travel Insured.

[beshears]

I don't know if Travel Insured is the same as Travel Insured Store, as that is what I have used up till now. Fortunately, only a couple times in my many flight/cruises have I had to file. For me, the bad part is just getting ALL the papers needed to file, to get reimbursed back.

[GeezerCouple]

34 minutes ago, beshears said:

I don't know if Travel Insured is the same as Travel Insured Store, as that is what I have used up till now. Fortunately, only a couple times in my many flight/cruises have I had to file. For me, the bad part is just getting ALL the papers needed to file, to get reimbursed back.

 

I hsve never heard of a company called "Travel Insured Store", and when I just Googled that, and a few variations, nothing with that name showed up.  (I could have missed something, obviously.)

 

However, "Travel Insured" [without the "store" as part of the official name] *IS* definitiely a travel insurance company.  We have used them many times, and also filed several claims (all of which were paid very promptly).

 

And "Trip Insurance Store" (or www.TripInsuranceStore,com ) also *IS* defnitely a company, a travel insurance broker, selling policies from quite a few vetted travel insurers, one of which is "Travel Insured".  We have also used "Trip Insurance Store" for *all* of our travel insurance policy purchases, and also for some help with a coupld of claims.

 

GC

[Coral]

On 3/23/2024 at 12:02 PM, naiwenzh said:

 

Just for my reference just in case I need to file a medical expense claim.

What kind of documents do  i need to request from the physicians?

Is it better if I download the required form the physician need to fill on my trip?

Were the physicians accommodating if you need to requires more documentation after you return to you home?

I broke my wrist on a recent trip. After waiting overnight in an ER with out seeing a doctor until the morning, I had already decided I wanted to go home for surgery. The doctor provided pictures of X-rays (which he took with my phone). He wrote up a note saying which bone I broke, that I needed surgery and that due to not being a local, he recommended I return home for surgery where I could follow up with my own doctors and follow up care. This was important - he needed to indicate that I was "fit to fly". The negative in this is that he put me in a cast. After I was released, I called insurance and they would not let me fly with a cast. So I had to return and have the cast cut. 

 

I submitted all the paperwork to the insurance company in order for them to arrange flights home (with a medical escort). I did not have to pay up front for my medical care (hospital took a picture of my passport).

 

Once I got home, I got a copy of the charges and submitted them. I did not use the forms from the insurance company. I had a claim with Allianz (land portion) and Aon (cruise portion). Both took the the doctor's note and did not require their form to be filled out.

 

Previously I used their form when I cancelled a trip before the vacation.

[beshears]

Geesercouple,  I apologize as I was thinking it was Travel Insurance Store, but when I looked, you are correct and it is Trip Insurance Store. I'm thinking way back when (I could be wrong that it was Travel, but I could be wrong on that part of the name. As far as I know Steve still is over it, and seems to be a very nice person when talking with him.

[GeezerCouple]

40 minutes ago, beshears said:

Geesercouple,  I apologize as I was thinking it was Travel Insurance Store, but when I looked, you are correct and it is Trip Insurance Store. I'm thinking way back when (I could be wrong that it was Travel, but I could be wrong on that part of the name. As far as I know Steve still is over it, and seems to be a very nice person when talking with him.

 

Yes, the names/terminology can start sounding very similar and get very confusing.

I just wanted to make sure you were likely to find what would be useful.

And yes, Steve is terrific, a real gem.  He's helped us *so* much, from when we were total travel insurance newbies to now.  (Alas, we learned more than we would have liked to know, due to our several claims, especially the bigger claims.  But he was always available to help, before or after the policy purchase!)

 

And since the travel insurance policies cost the same to the traveler, regardless of whether one gets it directly from the insurer or via a broker (who gets a commission from the insurer, not the traveler), I don't see much point in *not* using the services of a good broker.  And that's especially IF one ends up with a major claim, which can't be known in advance.

 

We ALWAYS recommend CALLING and speaking with them.  There is so much customizing possible, that they will often ask you questions in addition to answering your own questions.  That's a big part of their value, especially early on.  (Now?  We ususally say something like, "We'll take the regular!" 😀  Or ask if there's anything new we should know about, or tell them anything unusual about "this" trip.)

GC

[iamtrustworthy]

On 3/28/2024 at 12:39 AM, beshears said:

Geesercouple,  I apologize as I was thinking it was Travel Insurance Store, but when I looked, you are correct and it is Trip Insurance Store. I'm thinking way back when (I could be wrong that it was Travel, but I could be wrong on that part of the name. As far as I know Steve still is over it, and seems to be a very nice person when talking with him.

Hi beshears,

 

I own the domain "travelinsurancestore.com" which goes to https://tripinsurancestore.com

 

And, I just bought the domain "travelinsuredstore.com" which also now goes to https://tripinsurancestore.com

 

Thanks for the idea.

 

Steve Dasseos