Travel Insurance Question

[Petronillus]

Up to now I've always booked our travel insurance with Travel Guard (principally because it's primary insurance). I've also always paid the upcharge for the rider that allows me, in the event of a medical evacuation, to designate the facility to which I'm ultimately admitted for hospitalization. Because I'm old but not yet doddering, I've also taken care to get the rider that sweeps in preexisting conditions. That rider, however, is contingent on buying the insurance within 15 days of the initial payment to the carrier (i.e., HAL in this case).

 

DW & I are about to avail ourselves of the "Have It All" promotion by booking the Koningsdam 18-day Circle Hawaii cruise in February 2021. The deposit for the two of us is a piddling $600, well less than 10% of the cruise fare, and our PCC assures us that we can cancel without penalty up to 90 days before the sail date. The delightful Travel Guard agent who fielded my call, however, confirmed that our insurance premium (roughly $800 or so) would be nonrefundable. That leaves me looking for an alternative.

 

Before getting our PCC's take, I'd like to hear from this august band of experts. I'm assuming that HAL's in-house travel protection also offers a preexisting-condition waiver and the extra-charge coverage I mentioned above. Is that assumption correct? And, more to the point, if we cancel the cruise, or if HAL cancels for that matter, will we get our insurance premium back?

 

This forum is a bottomless well of useful guidance, for which DW & I are profoundly grateful.

 

P.S. Two of the aspects of FlightEase I appreciate are that payment is not due until final payment on the cruise and that HAL permits us to cancel without penalty up until final payment. I've also observed that folks who booked airfare through Flight Ease who were got stranded in this COVID-19 disaster found HAL's assistance in rebooking to be a godsend. I'm hoping it's similar in the case of HAL's travel insurance.

[Tampa Girl]

Your agent is correct that the insurance money will not be refunded if you cancel the cruise.  So why purchase it?  The HAL Platinum policy does not need to be purchased until final payment, and it truly is cancel-for-any reason.  A pre-existing condition doesn't come into play.  However, it is not actually a travel insurance policy.  It is a cancellation policy which will pay 90% of your cruise up to the time of embarkation.  After boarding, it will pay some of your medical and other expenses but i am not sure exactly which expenses.  Other posters can fill you in on that, or you can scroll to the end of the HAL home page, and click on FAQ, and then on, if I recall correctly, "How to protect your investment" - or something like that.  

 

We have always taken the 80% cancellation policy, but last fall we took out  an actual travel insurance policy, whose look-back period for pre-existing conditions was only 60 days.  And we could purchase it up to the day of embarkation.  So, it really may  not necessary to purchase a policy at the time you book, depending on the particular pre-existing condition.  Check out these websites for comparative prices and terms of travel insurance:  Insure My Trip and Squaremouth.com.  We booked through the latter site and found that their quotes were cheaper.

 

 

[AryMay]

Why don't you insure just the deposit initially so you can get the pre-existing coverage? The premium for $600 shouldn't be too high.

 

When final payment is due, then increase the coverage for the full amount within the required time to keep the pre-existing coverage (usually within 14 days after payment). 

 

Also, depending on the company, if you cancel before final payment and don't lose any money, the insurance premium can be applied to a different future trip.

Edited April 14, 2020 by AryMay

[Tampa Girl]

40 minutes ago, AryMay said:

Why don't you insure just the deposit initially so you can get the pre-existing coverage? The premium for $600 shouldn't be too high.

 

When final payment is due, then increase the coverage for the full amount within the required time to keep the pre-existing coverage (usually within 14 days after payment). 

 

Also, depending on the company, if you cancel before final payment and don't lose any money, the insurance premium can be applied to a different future trip.

 

It appears that the cruise deposit is refundable, however, so why would he insure the $600 deposit?

[westcoastcruiser]

1 minute ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

It appears that the cruise deposit is refundable, however, so why would he insure the $600 deposit?

He would not be insuring  the deposit.  He would be purchasing a policy with no preexisting condition exclusion and oftentimes has a CFAR inclusion.  The premium would not be high since it is only for $600 coverage.  At time of final payment, he would up the coverage to cover the cost of the cruise, flights, etc & pay the increase in premium and still have CFAR and coverage for any preexisting conditions.  

sometimes this insurance is transferable should he cancel the cruise and book another or transfer the cruise to a different date.  

[rkacruiser]

It's my understanding that to qualify for the pre-existing conditions waiver, one must insure the entire cost of the cruise within 10-14 days (seems to vary from company to company) of making the initial deposit.  The cost for any additions to that itinerary then need to be reported to the insurance company and an additional premium paid for the pre-existing conditions waiver to be kept in effect.

 

12 minutes ago, westcoastcruiser said:

sometimes this insurance is transferable should he cancel the cruise and book another or transfer the cruise to a different date.  

 

I recall that I was able to do this when I had to cancel a 2006 cruise for a covered medical reason and was able to transfer the insurance to a 2007 cruise.  

[Petronillus]

Thanks to all who have responded.

Things I know only compliments of y'all:

1. The limited scope of HAL's "protection plans." The "standard" coverage has no medical insurance component. The platinum level does include medical coverage and medical-evacuation coverage but the coverage limits are relatively paltry: $10,000 in the case of medical and $50,000 in the case of evacuation. And nothing indicates that I get to designate the medical facility I am ultimately transported to. Perhaps since this is a Hawaii cruise (with only a single, nugatory stop at Ensenada, Mexico to satisfy the Jones Act), it probably is a safe bet, but don't we (in large part) buy insurance for the sake of peace of mind?

2. That travel policies can be obtained in stair-step fashion. I'll have to give Travel Guard a second call.

3. That in the event of a cancellation, some insurers permit the customer to transfer their coverage to a rebooking or other future cruise. Again, a question for Travel Guard.

[AryMay]

You might want to compare other companies in addition to Travel Guard. There are several online sites where you can do a side by side comparison to compare features. The one I use is Trip Insurance Store. The owner, Steve, is a frequent poster on CC and has always been helpful in helping me decide which policy fits my needs the best. 

[kd202]

We have been able to get comprehensive travel insurance for a small initial fee at the time of booking (for the pre-existing condition coverage) , with a policy revision and additional premium paid at the time of final payment. These have been Travel Guard policies purchased through our travel agent. 

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, Petronillus said:

2. That travel policies can be obtained in stair-step fashion. I'll have to give Travel Guard a second call.

3. That in the event of a cancellation, some insurers permit the customer to transfer their coverage to a rebooking or other future cruise. Again, a question for Travel Guard.

 

This is what I experienced with Travel Guard in the past.  

 

I have insured with one other company since my last with Travel Guard.  Why?  Coverage was comparable.  Price was better.  Ease of making a claim?  Not so good.   

Edited April 15, 2020 by rkacruiser

[Petronillus]

59 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

I have insured with one other company since my last with Travel Guard.  Why?  Coverage was comparable.  Price was better.  Ease of making a claim?  Not so good.   

 

That's the funny thing with insurance, isn't it? You don't know how good a product you've bought until the time comes to make a claim. One of our traveling companions had to be medevacced (sp?) a few years ago, and Travel Guard's performance was well beyond satisfactory. Experiences like that, coupled with the word of mouth, makes for huge customer loyalty. 

[djett]

There are policies that you can purchase after final payment that still cover pre-existing conditions. I suggest you contact Trip Insurance Store (https://tripinsurancestore.com/) and discuss your situation with them. They are brokers who represent several different companies and they'll give you good advice. There is no extra cost going thru them and no pressure. 

[ghstudio]

Be a little careful buying a policy within x days that just covers a small amount.  In order to buy insurance, you need to have something to insure.  If your deposit is fully refundable and you have no non-refundable costs, the insurance company could claim that your original purchase was invalid and void the policy.  It's very important to check with your insurance company/agent to make sure that you aren't caught by this.....or alternatively, if you are using a travel agent that charges a fee if you cancel the trip, then you actually do have something to insure...that cancellation fee.  We do this....we book with one of two or three agencies that charge a cancellation fee...just to be safe.

 

In the case of a cruise cancelled by a cruise line, I called our insurance company and asked if I could get a refund.  Answer: if you received (or applied for) a full refund, then they would refund the money,  If we opted for a FCC, then our money would not be refunded.  Additionally, we would not have been allowed to move our policy to the new cruise where we used the FCC...you can change the start date of a policy, but not the end date.  We insured with TravelSafe....every insurance company is likely different.

[iamtrustworthy]

12 hours ago, djett said:

There are policies that you can purchase after final payment that still cover pre-existing conditions. I suggest you contact Trip Insurance Store (https://tripinsurancestore.com/) and discuss your situation with them. They are brokers who represent several different companies and they'll give you good advice. There is no extra cost going thru them and no pressure. 

Hi djett,

 

There are trp cancellation policies that always cover stable pre-existing medical conditions of family members who are not travelling with you.

 

If you want travel medical and are under age 85, there are medical plans that don't exclude pre-existing medical conditions.

 

Steve Dasseos

[mrmoviezombie]

18 hours ago, Petronillus said:

And nothing indicates that I get to designate the medical facility I am ultimately transported to.

For this reason, we decided to layer on AirMed https://airmed.com/ with an annual premium.

 

It's probably mostly redundant with my main employer insurance (they would likely make the call repatriate home on their dime anyway), but the cost was worth the piece of mind.

 

It's effectively only hospital to hospital transport, meaning you have to be admitted to a hospital before it can be triggered, but then you call them. And then assuming the medical teams and hospitals all agree it's safe, off you go, worldwide.

[Petronillus]

2 hours ago, ghstudio said:

Be a little careful buying a policy within x days that just covers a small amount.  In order to buy insurance, you need to have something to insure.  If your deposit is fully refundable and you have no non-refundable costs, the insurance company could claim that your original purchase was invalid and void the policy.  It's very important to check with your insurance company/agent to make sure that you aren't caught by this.....or alternatively, if you are using a travel agent that charges a fee if you cancel the trip, then you actually do have something to insure...that cancellation fee.  We do this....we book with one of two or three agencies that charge a cancellation fee...just to be safe.

 

I'm not an insurance expert by any means, but I did wonder about where the "insurable interest" would be found. Even though I got confirmation (and we all know the old adage about oral agreements not being worth the paper they're not written on) from the Travel Guard rep that it was up and up, it just felt fishy to me. Thanks for chiming in!

 

1 hour ago, mrmoviezombie said:

For this reason, we decided to layer on AirMed https://airmed.com/ with an annual premium.

 

It's probably mostly redundant with my main employer insurance (they would likely make the call repatriate home on their dime anyway), but the cost was worth the piece of mind.

 

It's effectively only hospital to hospital transport, meaning you have to be admitted to a hospital before it can be triggered, but then you call them. And then assuming the medical teams and hospitals all agree it's safe, off you go, worldwide.

 

This is just the kind of expertise/experience that makes me marvel at CruiseCritic. Thanks for sharing the insight. It's a great tip.

[ghstudio]

1 hour ago, mrmoviezombie said:

For this reason, we decided to layer on AirMed https://airmed.com/ with an annual premium.

 

It's probably mostly redundant with my main employer insurance (they would likely make the call repatriate home on their dime anyway), but the cost was worth the piece of mind.

 

It's effectively only hospital to hospital transport, meaning you have to be admitted to a hospital before it can be triggered, but then you call them. And then assuming the medical teams and hospitals all agree it's safe, off you go, worldwide.

 

You might want to compare AirMed and MedJet.  AirMed is focused more on domestic US transportation....MedJet is international.