Annual Travel po;icy premium too good to be true?

[LynnTTT]

My husband and I (ages 74 and 73) will take two big trips this year (Alaska and Europe) and probab;y another ealy next year. I have already priced out single trip insurance and then decided to get a quote for an annual policy.  Used Insuremytrip website.  Turns out that an annual policy woulf be much cheaper for better limits!  I called the insurer and she confirmed the quote, that that plan was available in my state and that the premium didn't use age in the calculation.  Does inc;ude "epidemiccoverage.".   What am I missing? 

[GeezerCouple]

Just now, LynnTTT said:

My husband and I (ages 74 and 73) will take two big trips this year (Alaska and Europe) and probab;y another ealy next year. I have already priced out single trip insurance and then decided to get a quote for an annual policy.  Used Insuremytrip website.  Turns out that an annual policy woulf be much cheaper for better limits!  I called the insurer and she confirmed the quote, that that plan was available in my state and that the premium didn't use age in the calculation.  Does inc;ude "epidemiccoverage.".   What am I missing? 

 

It's impossible to help with an answer without knowing exactly what the policy covers or excludes.

 

One reason for lower costs for those types of policies is that they don't include any expenses such as the need to cancel the trip, to interrupt the trip and return home early, any transportation, or hotel expenses for a traveling companion, etc.

 

It depends on just what you want coverage for.

 

GC

[Babr]

Also check to see if it covers pre-existing conditions. No offense intended, but most people our age have at least one.

[Jersey42]

Unless something has changed recently, the only annual plans offered by insuremytrip are medical and/or medical evac plans such as GeoBlue Trekker and medjet assist. So if it is one of these plans, they offer good. coverage at a reasonable price. And there is no pre-existing conditions clause. Just make sure you understand what is covered and what is excluded.  I.e. no trip cancelation, interruption or  delay for example.

 

Edit- If it is GeoBlue, at your age the medical limit is dropped to $100k. Probably OK, but just be sure you realize it is not the $500k or $1 million for those under age 70.

Edited June 6, 2022 by Jersey42

[LynnTTT]

23 hours ago, LynnTTT said:

My husband and I (ages 74 and 73) will take two big trips this year (Alaska and Europe) and probab;y another ealy next year. I have already priced out single trip insurance and then decided to get a quote for an annual policy.  Used Insuremytrip website.  Turns out that an annual policy woulf be much cheaper for better limits!  I called the insurer and she confirmed the quote, that that plan was available in my state and that the premium didn't use age in the calculation.  Does inc;ude "epidemiccoverage.".   What am I missing? 

   Here's an update.  I have reviewed the full policy and especially the pre-existing conditions coverage. And looked at some other companies policies. Basically, the "waivers" are only given:  1) if you purchase coverage right after booking and paying at least a deposit  The premiums for both these trips were actually paid last year and applied to these trips as future cruise credits. Or 2) you book a new trip after you have the travel policy in effect.  Or 3) continous coverage

At our ages, we naturally have some health issues. My husband has a pacemaker, but has had no issues with it in the past 120 days. Has type 2 diabetes and had a recent regular doctor visit who changed his prescriptions .  If he has a stroke, will they decline coverage ?  Who knows. 

Anywhooo, we will pay about $ 1,000 for an annual policy. Have an Alaska trip, then Europe and TA cruise and will probably book something big for Spring.   That trip would then have the "waiver"

You only have one life and we will travel as long as we can. 

[Jersey42]

@LynnTTT What policy are you purchasing through insuremytrip.com?  Is it something that covers more than medical/evac? Whenever someone asks about annual policies on their website, all I can find is the following standard answer.

 

We do provide annual medical policies for trips that take place outside of your home country. Typically, the trips cannot be longer than 70 days per trip with most plans. To obtain a quote, please fill out the quote form with your very first trip's details and once you arrive on the results page, please click on the button labeled “medical” on the bottom left and view our plans that are labeled “multi trip". Our multi-trip medical plans provide both medical and medical evacuation coverage.

 

https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-plans-coverages/annual-travel-insurance/

Edited June 7, 2022 by Jersey42

[GeezerCouple]

5 hours ago, LynnTTT said:

   Here's an update.  I have reviewed the full policy and especially the pre-existing conditions coverage. And looked at some other companies policies. Basically, the "waivers" are only given:  1) if you purchase coverage right after booking and paying at least a deposit  The premiums for both these trips were actually paid last year and applied to these trips as future cruise credits. Or 2) you book a new trip after you have the travel policy in effect.  Or 3) continous coverage

At our ages, we naturally have some health issues. My husband has a pacemaker, but has had no issues with it in the past 120 days. Has type 2 diabetes and had a recent regular doctor visit who changed his prescriptions .  If he has a stroke, will they decline coverage ?  Who knows. 

Anywhooo, we will pay about $ 1,000 for an annual policy. Have an Alaska trip, then Europe and TA cruise and will probably book something big for Spring.   That trip would then have the "waiver"

You only have one life and we will travel as long as we can. 

 

Have you spoken with a travel insurance broker yet, someone who can discuss your specific plans and concerns, someone who is familiar with a broad array of insurers and plans?

We haven't studied the issue recently, but last we checked, there was at least one policy (valid in our state, anyway; the coverages sometimes vary by state because they are regulated by state insurance commissions) that would cover pre-existing conditions if the policy was started within 24 hours of the final payment (with this defined narrowly for obvious reasons).

 

We don't get this policy only because it doesn't include some other coverage type that is important to us, but otherwise, this would definitely be worth our consideration.

 

We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com

but we strongly recommend CALLING, and not relying entirely on the online summaries.  It's impossible for those summaries to include *everything* in each policy or to point out *all* of the differences in the various policies.

 

(We learned about them here on CC, and bought a policy to cover our first "big trip" other than our honeymoon.  And thank goodness:  DH had a medical emergency less than 2 weeks before our planned departure, and the only travel we did for weeks was among various medical appointments, etc.  During that time, we occasionally mumbled things like, "Well, at least thank goodness we won't have to pay AGAIN to take this trip later...")

 

GC

[Hlitner]

The annual "Travel Medical Policies" do usually have a pretty reasonable premium when compared to "Trip Insurance."  Consider that travel medical policies do not cover things like cancellation, interruption, etc.    We have been buying annual travel medical policies for years and they have always been a terrific value.

 

Hank

[Babr]

The pre-existing conditions waiver at final payment is available from some companies for their comprehensive single-trip policies. I’m not aware of that option being offered by annual medical-only plans, which is the kind being researched by the OP.

 

The situation is further complicated by booking with FCC from previous cruises. Payment method won’t make any difference for an annual medical, only the timing (see #1 in post #5) because cancellation coverage is not involved, but some single-trip comprehensive policies count the original date of the booking that produced the FCC as initial deposit date.  Others count the day the FCC was applied. In either case, it may be too late to get a waiver.
 

It is worth a call to Steve to sort it out if there is further concern about coverage for the upcoming trips.

Edited June 7, 2022 by Babr