Trip insurance

[ReligBookFreak]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

I know that many non-US hospitals require payment upfront, often $$$. I always wonder if having evidence of travel insurance is sufficient in that position. Doesn't insurance always require that we pay for a service and then submit claims for reimbursement?

No. Some travel insurance policies are primary and others are secondary. You would need a policy that pays primary and then verify with the company that they pay the foreign doctor or hospital directly. Some insurance plans do this, including GeoBlue medical plans and other travel insurance plans, but many do not.

Alan

[GeezerCouple]

7 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

I know that many non-US hospitals require payment upfront, often $$$. I always wonder if having evidence of travel insurance is sufficient in that position. Doesn't insurance always require that we pay for a service and then submit claims for reimbursement?

 

This is discussed more on the Travel Insurance section of CC.

 

There are some insurers who will, IF necessary, arrange to guarantee payment or even wire money.  But if that's important, you should verify before getting a policy whether this would be possible if needed.

 

At an ER while DH was being admitted and attended to, I was escorted to the billing office.  There were signs on the wall that indicated things like "We ONLY accept payment guarantees from the following insurers:...." and there were a few of the names many of us have read about, or perhaps even used.  This was obviously in a major tourist area.

We always travel with several charge cards with a total credit limit of... a lot... just in case of something like this.
We do NOT want any medical treatment/evaluation delayed while someone is trying to verify payment with some company on another continent.  Hopefully, if we hand then a few cards, they can ring up an amount that will be satisfactory to get started, and do it quickly!

 

Just "showing evidence" of travel insurance?  I doubt that would be sufficient in some places. (How could the provider know if there was really any coverage, or if they'd actuay get paid, etc.?)

 

Otherwise, yes, we pay and then get reimbursed, which was what happened that day in the ER.

 

And then there are other hospitals overseas, such as one where I was admitted, and they *refused* to accept any payment.  We felt very badly about that, and told them so, and explained that we had insurance that would reimburse us.  But they insisted: They did not have any way for the hospital to "accept money".  Quite a change from most of the USA!

 

GC

[shipgeeks]

GeezerCouple, You have confirmed for me what I always thought.  So many people seem to think that having travel insurance is the perfect solution for anything that could go wrong, whereas we just make sure our credit cards/funds will cover emergencies.

[GeezerCouple]

3 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

GeezerCouple, You have confirmed for me what I always thought.  So many people seem to think that having travel insurance is the perfect solution for anything that could go wrong, whereas we just make sure our credit cards/funds will cover emergencies.

 

 

However, do keep in mind that the travel insurer and, in our case, the travel insurance *broker* did in fact help during the "emergency time", but not in a minute-by-minute life or death situation.

I was in contact, in our case, with the broker, about "if we do <this> would it be covered, or what do you suggest?> or such.

Travel insurers may (always check, check, check, etc. 😉 ) also provide translation help by phone.  (We may have needed that except we were en route to visit dear friends, so instead, they came to the city where we were "stuck".  They helped a LOT with translations in the hospital, and also spent time showing DH around, having dinners with him, etc.)

 

Finally, I should have added something in the part above about how some travel insurers may help with guarantees or even wiring some funds.

NOTE that this does NOT assure that the medical provider would accept such a guarantee, or even work with a "wire", etc.

Again, especially with some "guarantee", how would the provider know with certainty that the insurer would *really* pay... or that the person they are speaking with in another country/continent is *really* an legitimate insurance company in the first place....

 

We've thus far only heard of one (quite unexpected!) situation where even high credit limit charge cards were not at all useful.  It was described here on CC a couple of years ago.  It was a very remote area, and the connections weren't working, or something similar; I've forgotten the details.  In any event, it was truly a hair-raising situation!

 

GC

 

 

[MacMadame]

On 3/6/2024 at 7:15 AM, ReligBookFreak said:

The reason AIG Travel Guard's annual insurance is so cheap is that it does NOT cover Trip Cancellation. If someone in your family gets sick or dies and you have to cancel the trip, your annual insurance plan pays NOTHING; you lose all the money you paid.

Alan

This is definitely an issue for me when I am booking non-refundable travel very far in advance. But most cruises let you cancel with no penalty (except maybe a non-refundable deposit) pretty close to the cruise at least if you book in the US.

 

So cancelation clauses are less useful for cruises IMO. That said, I did get the Princess insurance when I booked because I didn't know any better and wanted to get the "cancel for any reason" insurance as I booked over a year in advance. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have done a lot more research before doing that.

Edited March 11 by MacMadame
clarity

[ReligBookFreak]

2 hours ago, MacMadame said:

This is definitely an issue for me when I am booking non-refundable travel very far in advance. But most cruises let you cancel with no penalty (except maybe a non-refundable deposit) pretty close to the cruise at least if you book in the US.

 

So cancelation clauses are less useful for cruises IMO. That said, I did get the Princess insurance when I booked because I didn't know any better and wanted to get the "cancel for any reason" insurance as I booked over a year in advance. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have done a lot more research before doing that.

Keep in mind that Cancel for Any Reason refunds ONLY 50 to 75% of your money, depending on the policy. I just learned a trick from my broker, Steve, at TripInsuranceStore.com. If you make a cruise deposit well in advance of the cruise (for example, a year in advance), then purchase travel insurance within 14 days of your initial deposit so you can get the pre-existing conditions coverage. However, do NOT purchase enough insurance to cover your whole trip (for example, $40,000), but only enough to cover the deposit (for example $1,000). The cost of insurance to cover your cruise deposit should be minimal. After you make final payment (a year later), you then have 14 days to increase the amount of your insurance to cover the entire trip. (NOTE: If you make multiple payments -- not just the initial and final payment -- then you have to increase your insurance within 14 days of each payment to cover the additional payment.)

 

Doing it this way enables you to get the benefits of pre-existing medical conditions (which is really important as we get older) without requiring us to spend several thousand dollars on insurance a year before we depart. If you cancel the cruise for medical reasons, you get back your refundable deposit from the cruise line, PLUS the insurance company refunds whatever portion of your cruise deposit that was non-refundable.

 

Alan

[MacMadame]

4 hours ago, ReligBookFreak said:

Keep in mind that Cancel for Any Reason refunds ONLY 50 to 75% of your money, depending on the policy.

Princess has two levels. One is 75% and one is 100%. I did only get 75% but 100% was available. 😄

 

Unfortunately, I didn't find CC in time to get CFAR insurance from a 3rd party.

[crystalspin]

4 hours ago, ReligBookFreak said:

Keep in mind that Cancel for Any Reason refunds ONLY 50 to 75% of your money, depending on the policy.

Holland America has two levels, Standard is 80% and Platinum is 90%. They have other differences, but I can report that Standard CCP paid 80% to the dollar to our credit card within one week of last minute cancellation.