Will proof of vaccination be required for holiday Insurance.

[upwarduk]

 We have had 3 reminders that our holiday Insurance expires on 5th January 2021.

I am not prepared to renew, as we don’t have a cruise booked, but I have looked at one that covers for COVID-19 cancellation.

It has struck me, that maybe in the future, Insurance companies make ask in their health questionnaire, if the vaccine has been administered.

Maybe a reduction if you have been vaccinated?

[nomad098]

5 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

 We have had 3 reminders that our holiday Insurance expires on 5th January 2021.

I am not prepared to renew, as we don’t have a cruise booked, but I have looked at one that covers for COVID-19 cancellation.

It has struck me, that maybe in the future, Insurance companies make ask in their health questionnaire, if the vaccine has been administered.

Maybe a reduction if you have been vaccinated?

 

Funny you should mention this, I was reading an article about what holiday insurance companies that sell insurance to holiday in Schengen countries.

 

The consensus was that it will all come down to the EU recommendations, they seemed to think that it may be possible a holiday insurance requirement for a vaccination for non Schengen visitors to the Schengen area but not a legal requirement for entry into the Schengen area, however they were less certain about EU citizens requirement to holiday in the Schengen area as it would go against EU policy. 

 

[emmas gran]

In the UK we don’t tend to travel without insurance and usually buy it annually or are covered by a bank account scheme,  upwarduk is asking from this point of view I assume. Just as a point of reference we were quoted $1000 + for a 1 year policy when we searched for alternative cover so needless to say we are staying with our bank insurance cover.

All the companies we checked appear to have upped premiums or no longer taking on new customers.

 

Liz

[upwarduk]

23 minutes ago, emmas gran said:

needless to say we are staying with our bank insurance cover.

But, I cannot see the point of renewing at the moment when we don’t have a cruise booked. I can put £250 to better use ( we have to pay as we are Seniors, it used to be ‘free’ with our bank account when we were below 70).

[emmas gran]

13 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

But, I cannot see the point of renewing at the moment when we don’t have a cruise booked. I can put £250 to better use ( we have to pay as we are Seniors, it used to be ‘free’ with our bank account when we were below 70).

We have to pay a small fee if over 70 I think £65 yearly and we will be covered to 75. A friend was with a bank (Barclays) and didn't realise they were covered to 80, he asked us about insurance and I looked up the details for their policy he had been buying insurance for 3 years!! 

[royallondon]

My annual policy was due for renewal last week.  The actual basic policy premium had increased just a small amount.  However, the “bolt on” cruise cover had increased by nearly 50%.

 

[chemmo]

10 hours ago, upwarduk said:

 We have had 3 reminders that our holiday Insurance expires on 5th January 2021.

I am not prepared to renew, as we don’t have a cruise booked, but I have looked at one that covers for COVID-19 cancellation.

It has struck me, that maybe in the future, Insurance companies make ask in their health questionnaire, if the vaccine has been administered.

Maybe a reduction if you have been vaccinated?

 

I think we will all be doing lots of on line work to ensure we get good value cover and that we are covered for every eventuality!

 

For years we have had annual cover but it finished more or less as covid came in (good timing!). There was no point renewing as we knew we would be going nowhere this year.

 

One of the main reasons we have our next cruise booked from Southampton is to reduce insurance complications. No need for flights! We are booked on the Silhouette in September. We have no need to book insurance until final payment date. If the cruise doesn’t exist or we don’t feel safe enough to travel we will simply move our deposit on another year.

 

Reading the small print is going to be more necessary than ever this year...

[TeeRick]

Interesting question but perhaps no real answers possible just yet.  Only speculation.  And the answer might eventually depend on individual insurance providers and what country you live in.  I don't expect one size fits all across the insurance industry.

[markeb]

10 hours ago, upwarduk said:

But, I cannot see the point of renewing at the moment when we don’t have a cruise booked. I can put £250 to better use ( we have to pay as we are Seniors, it used to be ‘free’ with our bank account when we were below 70).

 

These policies aren't common in the US, so I don't know the answer to this question. If you renew, do you continue coverage under existing policies? If you don't, are you a new customer subject to whatever policies and practices are in place?  That "could" be a lot more than £250. I just don't know how that works in the UK.

[ECCruise]

No way of telling.  And no assurance that 2 insurance concerns will have the same rules.  Our provider (BC/BS) has apparently made no determination yet.

[wrk2cruise]

For US insurance questions you might want to visit the special event going on hosted by Steve from TripInsuranceStore.   Great advise being discussed.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/2500-qa-cruise-insurance-with-the-tripinsurancestorecom-december-2020/

[ECCruise]

12 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

These policies aren't common in the US, so I don't know the answer to this question. If you renew, do you continue coverage under existing policies? If you don't, are you a new customer subject to whatever policies and practices are in place?  That "could" be a lot more than £250. I just don't know how that works in the UK.

If this coverage is like our annual coverage, it is not that unusual.  We've had our annual coverage for about 10 years now.  Renews every year, may be minor changes in coverage but they delineate any changes before the renewal takes place.

Ours runs  around $250 per year for the 2 of us.

[emmas gran]

4 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

If this coverage is like our annual coverage, it is not that unusual.  We've had our annual coverage for about 10 years now.  Renews every year, may be minor changes in coverage but they delineate any changes before the renewal takes place.

Ours runs  around $250 per year for the 2 of us.

Yes this is like our travel policies, they cover everything from cancellation ,medical evacuation, curtailment , loss of luggage, missed ports every eventuality. COVID has made thing different though.

[markeb]

13 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

If this coverage is like our annual coverage, it is not that unusual.  We've had our annual coverage for about 10 years now.  Renews every year, may be minor changes in coverage but they delineate any changes before the renewal takes place.

Ours runs  around $250 per year for the 2 of us.

i guess we’ve never looked into it. May be time to do some research. We’ve always done trip at a time. 

[Hlitner]

I understand that "Holiday Insurance" is a UK issue.  But on this side of the pond many of us purchase private insurance when we travel/cruise.  These can take the form of policies offered by the cruise lines; private travel insurance which covers medical, cancellation, interruption, etc.; and private travel health insurance.  Until now none of those policies had any kind of  vaccination requirement.  

 

But COVID has changed everything (for now).  Many policies specifically do not cover pandemics and are very specific that they will not cover COVID related issues.  Some policies do cover COVID.   The issue raised by the OP is fascinating because I wonder if some of our health policies here in the USA may require vaccinations as a condition of coverage.  In the USA is gets very complicated because each of our 50 States does their own licensing of insurance companies.  So that kind of policy (requiring vaccinations) would likely need to be approved by each State where the policy is sold.   The idea of insurance companies requiring vaccinations would be a huge change in our insurance practices and I doubt that it would ever happen but it is a very interesting idea.  What might make more sense (on this side of the pond) is for some insurance policies to offer a discount if the client has certain vaccines (such as COVID).  

 

Hank