Travel insurance for all trips / cruises on a yearly basis?

[nevadajack]

What is the best company for travel insurance for medical / airline / and cruise available on an annual basis? 

Thank you.

[RJ2002]

Here is my post on another thread:

 

We have a multi-trip policy with Roamright.  There aren't a lot of multi-trip policies out there, at least as far as I could find.   Luckily have not had to make a claim yet.   We've used them for several years now.

[GeezerCouple]

32 minutes ago, RJ2002 said:

Here is my post on another thread:

 

We have a multi-trip policy with Roamright.  There aren't a lot of multi-trip policies out there, at least as far as I could find.   Luckily have not had to make a claim yet.   We've used them for several years now.

 

Could you re-post that link again?  (It didn't seem to get copied/pasted/etc.).

 

We are under the impression that there just isn't an "annual policy" that will fit our needs, for a variety of reasons (e.g., total annual $$ limit too low), but just in case, we are always on the lookout!

One problem that came up when we were investigating (IF I remember correctly; also things may have changed) is that IF we had a claim that used up the annual limit, we'd then have other trips planned that weren't covered, and it might be too late to get other insurance for those.

There may have been other reasons we couldn't find anything that worked for *us*.

 

Thank you.

 

GC

[RJ2002]

7 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Could you re-post that link again?  (It didn't seem to get copied/pasted/etc.).

 

We are under the impression that there just isn't an "annual policy" that will fit our needs, for a variety of reasons (e.g., total annual $$ limit too low), but just in case, we are always on the lookout!

One problem that came up when we were investigating (IF I remember correctly; also things may have changed) is that IF we had a claim that used up the annual limit, we'd then have other trips planned that weren't covered, and it might be too late to get other insurance for those.

There may have been other reasons we couldn't find anything that worked for *us*.

 

Thank you.

 

GC

 

Sorry, I didn't actually link to anything...  just the mention of Roamright as the multi-trip policy that we have.

 

I can understand your concerns.

 

We have coverage for the maximum trip cost insurable on the multi-trip policy...  $10,000 per person, per year.  What we like is that the coverage is always there - regardless of what we've got planned, and in the event we had to make a claim which might use up our limit, we have fallbacks.  We can rely on our fairly decent coverage through our Chase Sapphire Reserve card (assuming we don't run into pre-existing condition issues), or we can always just buy a separate, single trip policy (and yes, that could be an issue for timing with regard to pre-existing waivers).   Our approach is to have a certain level of coverage (i.e., the multi-trip policy, backup Chase coverage) and then "self insure" any excess loss on a more expense trip.  This works for us, but perhaps not for everyone.

 

 

 

[MisterBill99]

On 5/4/2019 at 1:40 PM, GeezerCouple said:

We are under the impression that there just isn't an "annual policy" that will fit our needs, for a variety of reasons (e.g., total annual $$ limit too low), but just in case, we are always on the lookout!

One problem that came up when we were investigating (IF I remember correctly; also things may have changed) is that IF we had a claim that used up the annual limit, we'd then have other trips planned that weren't covered, and it might be too late to get other insurance for those.

There may have been other reasons we couldn't find anything that worked for *us*.

 

Can't you just get another annual policy at that point with another $10k limit? I may be younger than you (especially with your screen name ) but I'd like to think that the odds of more than one large claim in a year is unlikely.

[GeezerCouple]

1 minute ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

Can't you just get another annual policy at that point with another $10k limit? I may be younger than you (especially with your screen name ) but I'd like to think that the odds of more than one large claim in a year is unlikely.

 

Nope, we'd likely be past the deadline for coverage of pre-existing conditions, and also CFAR if we wanted that.

That's the problem in a nutshell.

 

And unfortunately, we can speak from experience that Travel Insured has paid claims promptly, with no "nonsense", because we've had several in just a few years.  And as long as *very* elderly MIL is still "with us", we don't dare not have coverage that would allow us to stay here/cancel a trip, or interrupt a trip to head home fast.

But until just now, the claims have been for one of the other of us, although mostly for lost travel costs, not the medical care itself.

One never knows...

 

Additionally, our trips can sometimes substantially exceed $10k for the both of us.  (We got a late start to "serious travel", and have lots of "catching up" to do.  )

GC

[mndctrl]

We just bought a yearly travel insurance through Allianz Travel.  This is the first year we have had it and fortunately we haven't needed to use it.  I was not aware that there is a yearly limit, but got the middle plan because the basic one did not cover enough for trip cancellation. It was a lot cheaper than buying insurance for each trip.  I over heard about it on a ship's tender.

[MisterBill99]

On 5/20/2019 at 11:23 PM, GeezerCouple said:

 

Nope, we'd likely be past the deadline for coverage of pre-existing conditions, and also CFAR if we wanted that.

That's the problem in a nutshell.

 

And unfortunately, we can speak from experience that Travel Insured has paid claims promptly, with no "nonsense", because we've had several in just a few years.  And as long as *very* elderly MIL is still "with us", we don't dare not have coverage that would allow us to stay here/cancel a trip, or interrupt a trip to head home fast.

 

So I was about to repurchase my annual RoamRight coverage until I noticed that it only covers trips up to 30 days. I booked B2B 14 day Asia sailings for next year and between the 28 days on the ship, the travel time to fly there and back and an extra couple of days at the start and end (at the end is somewhat optional, at the beginning not really), I will exceed the 30 days. Steve is looking at other options for me. Looks like I may need to buy separate policies for the next couple of trips.

[GeezerCouple]

3 minutes ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

So I was about to repurchase my annual RoamRight coverage until I noticed that it only covers trips up to 30 days. I booked B2B 14 day Asia sailings for next year and between the 28 days on the ship, the travel time to fly there and back and an extra couple of days at the start and end (at the end is somewhat optional, at the beginning not really), I will exceed the 30 days. Steve is looking at other options for me. Looks like I may need to buy separate policies for the next couple of trips.

 

Hopefully, Steve will find something for you.

 

He was able to up the limit for us for one particular trip (I think it's now generally higher, not just for us, etc.).

And we'll eventually need something longer than 30 days, because for one trip, we had to change our return date by one day to stay within that.  That won't be possible with a truly longer trip, such as yours.

 

Let us know what you find.
Thanks.

 

GC

[MisterBill99]

7 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Hopefully, Steve will find something for you.

 

He was able to up the limit for us for one particular trip (I think it's now generally higher, not just for us, etc.).

And we'll eventually need something longer than 30 days, because for one trip, we had to change our return date by one day to stay within that.  That won't be possible with a truly longer trip, such as yours.

 

Let us know what you find.
Thanks.

 

GC

 

I need to close on this soon since I have a cruise in less than 3 weeks that I expected to cover under the new annual policy. Plus airfare on the Asia cruise that I was waiting to buy until I had a new policy in place just went up in price. Hopefully it will drop back down.

[cpl100]

I am researching this today and would like to buy today as I booked my cruise one week ago.  It is my understanding that pre-existing conditions are only covered if you have purchased the insurance in the first 7 days.

 

Looking for any advice to be found on these forums and will look at the providers listed above as a start.  

 

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

[GeezerCouple]

4 minutes ago, cpl100 said:

I am researching this today and would like to buy today as I booked my cruise one week ago.  It is my understanding that pre-existing conditions are only covered if you have purchased the insurance in the first 7 days.

 

Looking for any advice to be found on these forums and will look at the providers listed above as a start.  

 

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

 

You are researching "annual basis travel insurance"?

That's not as common, but there have been discussions about this, and I think some folks here had indeed gotten that type of coverage.

Hopefully they'll see your post.  I don't remember hearing about a 7-day window for that (or for almost any travel insurance) for pre-existing condition coverage.

 

I'd suggest that you call a travel insurance broker, such as TripInsuranceStore.com or InsureMyTrip, given that the annual policies aren't that common.  And yes, do follow up on any of the suggestions already mentioned in this thread.

There can be some down sides to the annual policies that we found out about, so double check that they'll cover everything you'd need for a year.  The main problem we saw is that if we used up the coverage, then IF we already had other trips booked, it would be too late to start other insurance within the 20 days that our policies require for the PEC coverage.

 

I hope you have more than just today as a deadline, as there is likely to be lots of fine print to double check if you haven't had this coverage before.

 

GC

 

 

[cpl100]

On 5/4/2019 at 1:04 PM, RJ2002 said:

Here is my post on another thread:

 

We have a multi-trip policy with Roamright.  There aren't a lot of multi-trip policies out there, at least as far as I could find.   Luckily have not had to make a claim yet.   We've used them for several years now.

I am on the Roamright website now and a little confused.  I clicked annual but it also asks for cost of the trip (and trip start date).  I can understand that it should start with the next trip, but not sure where the cost of this particular trip comes into play.  Also, having trouble figuring out exactly what is covered.  Any advice?

[cpl100]

3 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

You are researching "annual basis travel insurance"?

That's not as common, but there have been discussions about this, and I think some folks here had indeed gotten that type of coverage.

Hopefully they'll see your post.  I don't remember hearing about a 7-day window for that (or for almost any travel insurance) for pre-existing condition coverage.

 

I'd suggest that you call a travel insurance broker, such as TripInsuranceStore.com or InsureMyTrip, given that the annual policies aren't that common.  And yes, do follow up on any of the suggestions already mentioned in this thread.

There can be some down sides to the annual policies that we found out about, so double check that they'll cover everything you'd need for a year.  The main problem we saw is that if we used up the coverage, then IF we already had other trips booked, it would be too late to start other insurance within the 20 days that our policies require for the PEC coverage.

 

I hope you have more than just today as a deadline, as there is likely to be lots of fine print to double check if you haven't had this coverage before.

 

GC

 

 

Thank you for your response.  What is PEC please?  Did you end up going with the Annual or what did you do?  What company did you look into for annual?  Did they only offer one upper limit to the plan or could you enter a limit of your choosing?  Thanks so much!

[RJ2002]

1 minute ago, cpl100 said:

I am on the Roamright website now and a little confused.  I clicked annual but it also asks for cost of the trip (and trip start date).  I can understand that it should start with the next trip, but not sure where the cost of this particular trip comes into play.  Also, having trouble figuring out exactly what is covered.  Any advice?

 

I don't believe you calculate the specific cost of the trip, but rather the blanket amount of coverage you want.  This is from their website:

 

How to Prepare a Multi-Trip Quote

When completing the quote form on this page, please use the following information:

• Permanent Residence: Select your state of residency from the drop down list
• Departure Date – Use tomorrow's date. Plans will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day after purchase.
• Return Date – Use tomorrow's date. Coverage will remain in effect for one year from the purchase date.
• Trip Deposit Date – Use date of purchase
• Trip Cost - Enter the level of trip cancellation coverage you want to insure for the year - $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000
• Dates of Birth - Enter travelers date of birth using format: mm/dd/yyyy

Also, there is a link on page to download the complete policy so that you can review the particulars.

 

I'd give them a shout if you have specific questions.  I've spoken with them in the past and they are helpful.

[GeezerCouple]

Just now, cpl100 said:

Thank you for your response.  What is PEC please?  Did you end up going with the Annual or what did you do?  What company did you look into for annual?  Did they only offer one upper limit to the plan or could you enter a limit of your choosing?  Thanks so much!

 

Sorry - PEC = Pre-Existing Conditions.  (I should have labeled that more clearly.)

 

We could not find an annual policy that would work for us.  The limits were too low, and we'd have had the problem I mentioned (of using up the Annual coverage limits, and needing to get per-trip, and already being too late for PEC coverage for trips already planned).

 

I'm also not at all sure if there is an annual policy that would work for us, given that we don't always know precisely what the trip costs would be for the entire year.  And we do want coverage for cancelled/interrupted trip costs; not everyone does.  Almost all of our claims have been for cancelled trips, with one for an interrupted trip, although medical events were the reason for all of the claims.

"Unfortunately", with the claim we are about to submit, we'll be back to "ahead" in terms of costs of insurance and claims paid.  This is a situation where we would MUCH prefer to pay for insurance and NOT make claims, as with our homeowner's and auto insurance!

 

We work with TripInsuranceStore (and have learned a LOT from them!), and our policies (all but one) have been with Travel Insured.  They pay claims promptly.  The other company, we didn't have a claim, so we can't comment on them.  We needed that because we had missed the 20 day window for the PEC with a TI policy.

 

GC

[cpl100]

On 5/20/2019 at 11:23 PM, GeezerCouple said:

 

Nope, we'd likely be past the deadline for coverage of pre-existing conditions, and also CFAR if we wanted that.

That's the problem in a nutshell.

 

And unfortunately, we can speak from experience that Travel Insured has paid claims promptly, with no "nonsense", because we've had several in just a few years.  And as long as *very* elderly MIL is still "with us", we don't dare not have coverage that would allow us to stay here/cancel a trip, or interrupt a trip to head home fast.

But until just now, the claims have been for one of the other of us, although mostly for lost travel costs, not the medical care itself.

One never knows...

 

Additionally, our trips can sometimes substantially exceed $10k for the both of us.  (We got a late start to "serious travel", and have lots of "catching up" to do.  )

GC

Have just spoken with Travel Insured.  They do not sell a yearly policy.

 

[Jersey42]

52 minutes ago, cpl100 said:

Have just spoken with Travel Insured.  They do not sell a yearly policy.

 

As others have said, call one of the recommended brokers such as tripinsurancestore.  It will not cost anything more to book through a broker and the advice can be very valuable.

[cpl100]

Thank you for all the advice and suggestions.  I have just booked a policy (which is actually a RoamRight policy) through TripInsurance website and by phone.  I chatted with a gal on chat for quite a while.  She was very patient with my many questions.

 

I wish you all smooth sailing!

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, cpl100 said:

Thank you for all the advice and suggestions.  I have just booked a policy (which is actually a RoamRight policy) through TripInsurance website and by phone.  I chatted with a gal on chat for quite a while.  She was very patient with my many questions.

 

I wish you all smooth sailing!

 

What broker did you use?

 

I was not aware that TripInsuranceSTORE.com (as mentioned above) works with Roamright.

TIS works with insurers that they vet, in terms of paying promptly (or at all, in some cases).

 

GC

[Jersey42]

40 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

I was not aware that TripInsuranceSTORE.com (as mentioned above) works with Roamright.

They sell RoamRight for annual travel insurance.  Look at their site map and the 3rd link takes you to http://www.annualtravelinsurance.ws/.

[cpl100]

47 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

What broker did you use?

 

I was not aware that TripInsuranceSTORE.com (as mentioned above) works with Roamright.

TIS works with insurers that they vet, in terms of paying promptly (or at all, in some cases).

 

GC

Oh Darn!  I hope I wasn't redirected to something bad/inferior.  Will research!

 

[cpl100]

Yes, I was talking to TripInsuranceStore.com.  I just opened the chat window and started chatting with Deanna, told her I want annual trip insurance and that's the quote she gave me.  I have to check now to be sure it has medijet coverage because I see that the website sells that separately.  

 

Color me confused again!  **sigh** :-(

[GeezerCouple]

3 hours ago, cpl100 said:

Yes, I was talking to TripInsuranceStore.com.  I just opened the chat window and started chatting with Deanna, told her I want annual trip insurance and that's the quote she gave me.  I have to check now to be sure it has medijet coverage because I see that the website sells that separately.  

 

Color me confused again!  **sigh** :-(

 

As far as I understand it, MedJetAssist is an entirely different company from the regular travel insurers, although I assume that two companies could offer a combo product.

MJA has a "per trip" or annual plan.  It sounds like you'd want the annual plan, given your initial inquiry.

 

Call the folks a TIS again; they are very helpful, and ask her to help you with some general choices/decisions that you might want to consider.  The more they know about your concerns and also travel style/needs, the more they can help you customize the right policy.

 

Glad you are with them after all!

They can also help with a claim.  They helped us with our first claim.  After that, we pretty much knew what to do, etc.

 

As I mentioned, annual plans have total coverage that is way too low for us, so it turned out to be a non-starter.

 

GC

[RJ2002]

cpl100, glad you were able to get something arranged!  It is also good to know that tripinsurancestore will apparently write policies for companies other than the *handpicked* companies that are listed on the website.

 

Selecting travel insurance is really an individual decision based on one's circumstances and tolerance for risk.  On this forum you read about folks that never buy insurance (essentially, they self-insure), all the way up to folks that buy individual Cadillac policies for each trip.  Many travelers fail somewhere in between.   What works for one traveler might not make sense for another.

 

 

Edited June 25, 2019 by RJ2002