Insurance Question

[danyelle]

Hi All,

 

I've never purchased any insurance while cruising or on other vacations. We're now going on a cruise during hurricane season and a possible event at work. Is there an insurance that would allow us to cancel our cruise penalty-free for any reason? Everything I'm seeing has very specific reasons for cancellation.

 

Also, which travel insurance company do you use most/like best?

 

Thanks!

[iamtrustworthy]

Hi All,

 

I've never purchased any insurance while cruising or on other vacations. We're now going on a cruise during hurricane season and a possible event at work. Is there an insurance that would allow us to cancel our cruise penalty-free for any reason? Everything I'm seeing has very specific reasons for cancellation.

 

Also, which travel insurance company do you use most/like best?

 

Thanks!

 

Hi danyelle,

 

Yes, there are just a few companies who offer "cancel for any reason" trip insurance. The maximum you can get refunded to you is 90% of your trip cost, but the 90% is really expensive. The other choice is to take the 75% option. It's more reasonably priced.

 

The rules to get a "cancel for any reason" trip insurance policy are the same as covering pre-existing medical conditions.

 

Go to www.google.com and search for "trip insurance". You'll find some good sites that offer reputable companies.

 

I hope this helps.

[PJBUCHEIT]

Does travel insurance have to be bought within a specific time frame after you have booked your trip?

[cherylandtk]

It can be purchased at any time, BUT (big but here) if you need to cover pre-existing health conditions for you, your co-travellers or your family back home, then there are a variety of rules depending on the policy. Most require purchase within 14 days of putting any money down on the cruise.

[PJBUCHEIT]

It can be purchased at any time, BUT (big but here) if you need to cover pre-existing health conditions for you, your co-travellers or your family back home, then there are a variety of rules depending on the policy. Most require purchase within 14 days of putting any money down on the cruise.

 

So what you are saying is, that if I don't have any pre-existing health conditions or my family does not, then I can purchase my travel insurances at any time. But if there is pre-exisiting conditions then I need to buy the insurance 14 days from yesterday, since that is when I purchased our cruise.

[iamtrustworthy]

So what you are saying is, that if I don't have any pre-existing health conditions or my family does not, then I can purchase my travel insurances at any time. But if there is pre-exisiting conditions then I need to buy the insurance 14 days from yesterday, since that is when I purchased our cruise.

 

Hi Jennifer,

 

You can get travel insurance any time until the day before you leave. To add to what cherylandtk said, some plans give you 7, 14 or 21 days after your initial trip deposit & others give you until you make your final trip payment to cover pre-existing health conditions and financial default.

[PJBUCHEIT]

Hi Jennifer,

 

You can get travel insurance any time until the day before you leave. To add to what cherylandtk said, some plans give you 7, 14 or 21 days after your initial trip deposit & others give you until you make your final trip payment to cover pre-existing health conditions and financial default.

Thank you for your help. :)

[dforeigner]

Try visiting www.insuremytrip.com This site will allow you to compare different insurance policies in order for you to chose the one that meets your needs. Good luck!

[pms4104]

I could be wrong, but ... I think you should keep in mind that if you book your cruise way ahead (like a year) and don't buy insurance when you make deposit, you may be taking a big chance. While you may not have any medical issues when you make deposit, if you buy insurance past that pre-existing waiver period, then develop a condition that requires cancellation, the look-back period could be a problem. Example: book cruise January 2 for December 20 sailing; buy insurance February 15; develop medical problems July 7; recurrance of medical problem on December 10 requires cruise cancel. Your July medical problem likely falls into that look-back period. Hope this makes sense. Happy (and healthy) travels!

[iamtrustworthy]

I could be wrong, but ... I think you should keep in mind that if you book your cruise way ahead (like a year) and don't buy insurance when you make deposit, you may be taking a big chance. While you may not have any medical issues when you make deposit, if you buy insurance past that pre-existing waiver period, then develop a condition that requires cancellation, the look-back period could be a problem. Example: book cruise January 2 for December 20 sailing; buy insurance February 15; develop medical problems July 7; recurrance of medical problem on December 10 requires cruise cancel. Your July medical problem likely falls into that look-back period. Hope this makes sense. Happy (and healthy) travels!

 

Hi camp637,

 

This brings up a difference you'll find in some insurance policies. An important part of understanding the Lookback Period is what date the Lookback Period counts backward from.

 

Generally, US based trip insurance companies count backward from the purchase date of the insurance. However, many Canadian based insurance companies count backward from the departure date. I know this because I work with a lot of Canadian Snowbirds who get "Snowbird Insurance" for their trips to the USA.

 

In your example, the medical condition that develops after the insurance purchase date wouldn't be a cause for concern with most US based trip insurance companies, but it would be with many Canadian based insurance companies.

 

I hope this helps.

[pms4104]

Thanks, iamtrustworthy, for the clarification ... In the end, it's all in the fine print and, indeed, the terms do vary by company. I generally play it safe and just buy the insurance within the pre-existing condition waiver period because I'm not good at sorting thru all the whereases and wherefors and legal mumbojumo.

[RockerWife]

I have an interesting situation with an insurance company right now. I purchased the trip almost 2 months before the departure date. (I'm going to be vague here in case this goes to arbitration or further). I have never cruised before; the TA asked me if I wanted to purchase Travel Insurance (TI) I asked her when do I have to purchase it? She said you can buy it up to the day before your departure.

 

Fast forward to 3 days before the cruise, my TA says, hey are you going to buy TI? Let me tell you a story....it's really a good idea to have it, you just never know...yada yada.... So I authorize her to purchase the insurance, she gives me a quick run down on what it covers and we are done.

 

2 days before departure, one my my kids tells me he has a headache. I tell him, take 2 tylenol, here is some juice - go back to bed "We are going on this cruise come hell or high water!" :D

 

The next day his fever is sky high and I am not concerned for the cruise as I am for him. He is VERY sick. I call the DR, he says sounds like the flu, I tell him about the cruise, etc. He tells me, no way. (Well, I knew that but HE had to tell me for the insurance to be valid)

 

I call the Cruise Line, they send me a confirmation of cancellation by mail, I call the TI company and a very nice lady tells me EXACTLY what I need to do to make a claim.

 

The next day is a holiday - our departure date - son is SO sick I can't even believe it and I consider the emergency room. Next day we get him into the DR's in the AM and he is put on antibiotics. (Not the flu. Again, I will refrain from giving too many details)

 

I get a phone call finally 2 months later telling me that since I bought the insurance 3 days b4 departure, the effective date was 2 days b4 departure and since son's SYMPTOMS (headache) started on the effective date of coverage (2 days b4 departure) they are denying the claim.

 

Now did you get that? Because I had to ask him twice to repeat himself. Son's first symptoms started on the first day of coverage so his illness was pre-existing and we are not covered.

 

TA tells me that many times TI company will initially deny a claim until you hop up and down and make noise and perhaps submit additional info. <sigh>

 

Any thoughts?

[iamtrustworthy]

I have an interesting situation with an insurance company right now. I purchased the trip almost 2 months before the departure date. (I'm going to be vague here in case this goes to arbitration or further). I have never cruised before; the TA asked me if I wanted to purchase Travel Insurance (TI) I asked her when do I have to purchase it? She said you can buy it up to the day before your departure.

 

Fast forward to 3 days before the cruise, my TA says, hey are you going to buy TI? Let me tell you a story....it's really a good idea to have it, you just never know...yada yada.... So I authorize her to purchase the insurance, she gives me a quick run down on what it covers and we are done.

 

2 days before departure, one my my kids tells me he has a headache. I tell him, take 2 tylenol, here is some juice - go back to bed "We are going on this cruise come hell or high water!" :D

 

The next day his fever is sky high and I am not concerned for the cruise as I am for him. He is VERY sick. I call the DR, he says sounds like the flu, I tell him about the cruise, etc. He tells me, no way. (Well, I knew that but HE had to tell me for the insurance to be valid)

 

I call the Cruise Line, they send me a confirmation of cancellation by mail, I call the TI company and a very nice lady tells me EXACTLY what I need to do to make a claim.

 

The next day is a holiday - our departure date - son is SO sick I can't even believe it and I consider the emergency room. Next day we get him into the DR's in the AM and he is put on antibiotics. (Not the flu. Again, I will refrain from giving too many details)

 

I get a phone call finally 2 months later telling me that since I bought the insurance 3 days b4 departure, the effective date was 2 days b4 departure and since son's SYMPTOMS (headache) started on the effective date of coverage (2 days b4 departure) they are denying the claim.

 

Now did you get that? Because I had to ask him twice to repeat himself. Son's first symptoms started on the first day of coverage so his illness was pre-existing and we are not covered.

 

TA tells me that many times TI company will initially deny a claim until you hop up and down and make noise and perhaps submit additional info. <sigh>

 

Any thoughts?

 

Hi RockerWife,

 

I suspect that you will have trouble with the claim not because of what your TA said, "many times TI company will initially deny a claim until you hop up and down and make noise and perhaps submit additional info."

 

It's probably because your child didn't meet the policy's medically stable rule. If you want to know more about "medically stable", go to www.google.com and search for " travel insurance medically stable ". You'll find some good information.

 

I hope this helps.

 

PS - If you don't have your TA working for you on your side, you need to get them involved in the claim. They sold you the policy & collected a commission on it, so imho, they are ethically bound to fight for you.

[RockerWife]

Hi RockerWife,

 

PS - If you don't have your TA working for you on your side, you need to get them involved in the claim. They sold you the policy & collected a commission on it, so imho, they are ethically bound to fight for you.

 

Thanks for the info - I 'll look into it. Yes, my TA is helping me out on this but I'm not sure how much help they can be.

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed!:rolleyes:

[cruiseco]

 

TA tells me that many times TI company will initially deny a claim until you hop up and down and make noise and perhaps submit additional info. <sigh>

 

Any thoughts?

 

There are certainly times where two reasonable people can look at the same claim information and come to different conclusions. Someone posted a couple of weeks ago about a claim that was paid that I would have rejected after reading his description of the situation. So you never know. And, yes, many denied claims are subsequently approved after additional documentation is submitted.

 

This is why travel insurance policies have some built-in safeguards, the most important of which is your state's department of insurance. Even if you're dealing with a company out of state (for example Travel Guard is in WI, CSA is in CA, Travelex is in NE) the actual insurance company is registered to do business in your state and comes under their oversight and enforcement responsibilities. So you should never hesitate to appeal a decision you don't think is fair to the state -- that's what they're there for, to protect you.

 

Your problem is that, from the standpoint of a cold-hearted claims adjuster, the whole scenario stinks. He's thinking "OK, these folks don't buy any insurance until the very last minute and what do you know, 24 hours later the kid is sick and they have to cancel. There's no way to prove one way or the other when the symptoms actually started, and the kid wasn't taken to the doctor until several days later." It just looks bad. And they get paid to sniff out situations that look bad.

 

Anyway, be prepared to appeal it.

[RockerWife]

Your problem is that, from the standpoint of a cold-hearted claims adjuster, the whole scenario stinks. He's thinking "OK, these folks don't buy any insurance until the very last minute and what do you know, 24 hours later the kid is sick and they have to cancel. There's no way to prove one way or the other when the symptoms actually started, and the kid wasn't taken to the doctor until several days later." It just looks bad. And they get paid to sniff out situations that look bad. Anyway, be prepared to appeal it.

 

You are absolutely right - it does look bad. It actually makes me physically ill to think they think I'm trying to rip them off but I realize this isn't personal.

 

I wish I could give you the whole detailed scenario, but you might work for this particular company! :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for sharing your perspective from someone on the inside.