New York State Insurance Plans

[Daniel A]

Recently, New York State will now allow cancel for any reason insurance.  Do you know which companies are now offering CFAR in New York?

Edited June 1, 2020 by Daniel A

[ontheweb]

Remember I posted after we cancelled with only a refundable deposit that we received our Travel Guard premium back? You said you had never heard of Travel Guard doing that after the small window to cancel. It turned out that I know it was refundable because we were told at the time by our TA. I remember you were trying to find out if other states had similar laws. How successful were you? And if you found any, to which other states did you find that had similar provisions in their laws?

[iamtrustworthy]

13 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Remember I posted after we cancelled with only a refundable deposit that we received our Travel Guard premium back? You said you had never heard of Travel Guard doing that after the small window to cancel. It turned out that I know it was refundable because we were told at the time by our TA. I remember you were trying to find out if other states had similar laws. How successful were you? And if you found any, to which other states did you find that had similar provisions in their laws?

Hi Ontheweb,

 

I haven't found any other States that require a trip cancellation travel insurance plan to refund the premium beyond the Free Look Period.

 

Steve

[iamtrustworthy]

14 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Recently, New York State will now allow cancel for any reason insurance.  Do you know which companies are now offering CFAR in New York?

Hi Daniel A,.

 

I have heard that, too, but I don't know of any companies that now offer CFAR to New York residents.

 

In addition, in early March six of my companies stopped selling the CFAR for all US State residents.

 

Steve

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Ontheweb,

 

I haven't found any other States that require a trip cancellation travel insurance plan to refund the premium beyond the Free Look Period.

 

Steve

Let me understand exactly what you are saying. Are you saying there are no others, or you have not found any others which does not rule out there being one or more other states?

 

I remember you saying you were having trouble getting the information from the insurance companies. I suggested travel agents. I know that is how I found out about NY from ours. I wish I could give you his name as he would know, but the rules of cruisecritic forbid that.

[AF-1]

This seems to be the way to go for insurance companies.  They stop selling CFAR because of the expense involved with payouts.  Look at how many insurance companies stop selling insurance in Florida after the last hurricane.  Seems this pandemic has done the same thing to travel insurance companies.  I hope Steve chimes in on this.  Cheers

[iamtrustworthy]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Let me understand exactly what you are saying. Are you saying there are no others, or you have not found any others which does not rule out there being one or more other states?

 

I remember you saying you were having trouble getting the information from the insurance companies. I suggested travel agents. I know that is how I found out about NY from ours. I wish I could give you his name as he would know, but the rules of cruisecritic forbid that.

Hi ontheweb,

 

What I meant was I asked all my companies plus looked in their certificates of coverage and I haven't found any other States that require refunds past the Free Look Period.

 

Steve

[iamtrustworthy]

5 hours ago, AF-1 said:

This seems to be the way to go for insurance companies.  They stop selling CFAR because of the expense involved with payouts.  Look at how many insurance companies stop selling insurance in Florida after the last hurricane.  Seems this pandemic has done the same thing to travel insurance companies.  I hope Steve chimes in on this.  Cheers

Hi AF-1,

 

You probably already read what I said about the pandemic, but if not, look at this thread:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2751331-future-pandemics/

 

Steve

 

[ontheweb]

On 6/2/2020 at 1:01 PM, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi ontheweb,

 

What I meant was I asked all my companies plus looked in their certificates of coverage and I haven't found any other States that require refunds past the Free Look Period.

 

Steve

I checked with my TA, and he is not aware of any state other than NY that would have allowed what we were refunded.

[Daniel A]

On a related topic, if a customer were to book a cruise to a specific desired destination (such as Hawaii ) but due to Hawaiian ports being closed before the sailing date the cruise line substitutes several ports in Mexico (which completely changes the itinerary) would non CFAR insurance cover a pre-sailing cancellation of this trip by the customer?

[iamtrustworthy]

4 hours ago, Daniel A said:

On a related topic, if a customer were to book a cruise to a specific desired destination (such as Hawaii ) but due to Hawaiian ports being closed before the sailing date the cruise line substitutes several ports in Mexico (which completely changes the itinerary) would non CFAR insurance cover a pre-sailing cancellation of this trip by the customer?

Hi Daniel A.,

 

CFAR covers any reason you cancel your trip.

 

Steve

[Daniel A]

4 hours ago, Daniel A said:

On a related topic, if a customer were to book a cruise to a specific desired destination (such as Hawaii ) but due to Hawaiian ports being closed before the sailing date the cruise line substitutes several ports in Mexico (which completely changes the itinerary) would non CFAR insurance cover a pre-sailing cancellation of this trip by the customer?

 

6 minutes ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Daniel A.,

 

CFAR covers any reason you cancel your trip.

 

Steve

Hi Steve,

I was asking if there was any insurance other than CFAR.  Thanks.

[iamtrustworthy]

3 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

On a related topic, if a customer were to book a cruise to a specific desired destination (such as Hawaii ) but due to Hawaiian ports being closed before the sailing date the cruise line substitutes several ports in Mexico (which completely changes the itinerary) would non CFAR insurance cover a pre-sailing cancellation of this trip by the customer?

 

Hi Dan,

 

Opps. I didn't read your question carefully enough. Thanks for letting me know.

 

You will have to check the Terms & Conditions of the cruise contract to see if they have to give a full refund when they completely change the itinerary.

 

At most, a trip cancellation policy will pay airline change fees if this happens.

 

Steve Dasseos

 

[AF-1]

Steve,  thanks for the great info.  Lots of info in your articles

[Host Jazzbeau]

My wife and I (both 72) take 2-3 trips (averaging 3 weeks each) outside the US per year.  We would like to buy an Annual policy, but haven't found any that can sell to NY residents.  Do you have any such policies?

[Daniel A]

On 6/3/2020 at 1:14 PM, ontheweb said:

I checked with my TA, and he is not aware of any state other than NY that would have allowed what we were refunded.

Are you saying that NYS is requiring the insurance companies to refund for cancelled cruises?  If so, can you find out for me where that requirement is written?  My brother (who is a NY resident) says his insurance company is refusing to refund the premium and I'd like to refer him to that source.  Thanks.

[ontheweb]

19 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

Are you saying that NYS is requiring the insurance companies to refund for cancelled cruises?  If so, can you find out for me where that requirement is written?  My brother (who is a NY resident) says his insurance company is refusing to refund the premium and I'd like to refer him to that source.  Thanks.

My situation was the following. When I booked it was only with a refundable deposit. I bought the insurance early to get the prior conditions waiver, but with only a refundable deposit, I had nothing at risk. My TA said with nothing at risk it also meant the insurance was refundable according to NY State law. And I did get it refunded. I am assuming if your brother is not being refunded his situation is probably different than ours. Did he have some money at risk, either a non-refundable deposit or his final fare?

 

BTW, though the cruise line did eventually cancel the cruise, we cancelled about a month before they actually cancelled it.

[Daniel A]

13 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

My situation was the following. When I booked it was only with a refundable deposit. I bought the insurance early to get the prior conditions waiver, but with only a refundable deposit, I had nothing at risk. My TA said with nothing at risk it also meant the insurance was refundable according to NY State law. And I did get it refunded. I am assuming if your brother is not being refunded his situation is probably different than ours. Did he have some money at risk, either a non-refundable deposit or his final fare?

 

BTW, though the cruise line did eventually cancel the cruise, we cancelled about a month before they actually cancelled it.

As an aside, I did find this bill which seems to be stuck in committee in the NYS Senate:

 

 https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s8124

 

It's a bill requiring refunds of insurance for cruises that are cancelled due to corona virus.

[ontheweb]

14 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

As an aside, I did find this bill which seems to be stuck in committee in the NYS Senate:

 

 https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s8124

 

It's a bill requiring refunds of insurance for cruises that are cancelled due to corona virus.

It would seem to me that that would be an ex post facto law. I don't know if you can legally do that for something that timewise has passed.

[Host Jazzbeau]

My wife and I (both 72) take 2-3 trips (averaging 3 weeks each) outside the US per year.  We would like to buy an Annual policy, but haven't found any that can sell to NY residents.  Do you have any such policies?

[iamtrustworthy]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

My wife and I (both 72) take 2-3 trips (averaging 3 weeks each) outside the US per year.  We would like to buy an Annual policy, but haven't found any that can sell to NY residents.  Do you have any such policies?

Hi Jazzbeau,

 

I'm sorry that I missed your post. I haven't found a good annual medical plan for NY residents yet.

 

Are you mainly looking for medical coverage?

Do you need pre-existing conditions coverage?

When is your earliest trip?

 

Steve Dasseos

[Host Jazzbeau]

16 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Jazzbeau,

 

I'm sorry that I missed your post. I haven't found a good annual medical plan for NY residents yet.

 

Are you mainly looking for medical coverage?

Do you need pre-existing conditions coverage?

When is your earliest trip?

 

Steve Dasseos

 

We have good medical coverage (Medicare plus retiree) but it is only good in the US.  We also have MedJet Assist to get us home if we get sick abroad.  So we are looking for medical coverage that would cover some expenses abroad until MedJet would kick in.  We would use credit card coverage for the trip costs (including some self insurance).

We already have comprehensive travel insurance purchased for trips in Oct of this year and January of next year [both of which may have to be rescheduled if we aren't able to fly in and out of those countries].  So at the moment the next travel window is May 2021.

[iamtrustworthy]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

We have good medical coverage (Medicare plus retiree) but it is only good in the US.  We also have MedJet Assist to get us home if we get sick abroad.  So we are looking for medical coverage that would cover some expenses abroad until MedJet would kick in.  We would use credit card coverage for the trip costs (including some self insurance).

We already have comprehensive travel insurance purchased for trips in Oct of this year and January of next year [both of which may have to be rescheduled if we aren't able to fly in and out of those countries].  So at the moment the next travel window is May 2021.

Do you mean you already have a trip booked for May 2021?

 

If so, when did you make the1st payment on this trip?

[Host Jazzbeau]

37 minutes ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Do you mean you already have a trip booked for May 2021?

 

If so, when did you make the1st payment on this trip?

 

The May 2021 trip is not booked yet (although the vendors are taking bookings).  I have booked a cruise in Sep-Oct 2021 with insurance (Allianz Journey Policy) for deposit only at this time, will increase with each payment [forgot to mention that one].

 

So I probably don't need to get an annual policy until 2022 [at which point DW and I will both be 74].  Maybe the solution is to move out of NY before 2022!

[AF-1]

That's funny;  move out of the state before 2022.  I'm glad you have a sense of humor