RoamRight Trip Insurance

My wife and I have been on over 32 cruises and always buy trip insurance. In reviewing what other people say about their trip insurance I notice that they usually say it was good or they got a good price. What they forget to say is that they never had to file a claim.

The true test of how good your trip insurance was is if you had to file a claim and it was handled in a professional manner. Trip insurance companies make large amounts of money because of what they charge for a 2 week cruise or trip is extremely high considering how few claims are made.

In 32 trips we have made 2 claims. One a number of years ago for some luggage damage which was handled perfectly by TravelGuard.

On our last cruise on Celebrity's Holy Land Cruise in Oct. 2014, we used Roamright Trip Insurance which was recommended by a friend who never had to submit a claim but thought the premium was fair.

I have to recommend you avoid this company. We had prepaid for 3 days of tours in Israel. On the second day my wife and I had eaten at a restaurant and as we were returning to the ship we both felt kind of sick. It turns out we just had some minor food poisoning that caused mild diarrhea.

We had to cancel the third tour day because it was a private tour with 6 people in a minivan and with no toilet facilities available we had to stay in our cabin on the ship. We were not sick enough to have to visit the ship Doctor and we had brought over-the- counter medicine which was sufficient to handle our problem.

We submitted a claim to RoamRight for the $250 cost of our lost tour. I even included a letter from the tour company stating the cost and saying in writing that we had to miss the tour because of illness. The tour company could not refund us the money because the driver and tour guide had been promised a minimum amount of pay.

RoamRight refused to pay because we did not go to the ship Doctor which would have probably cost them an additional $150. That was their excuse not to pay. We would have gone to see the ship doctor even if it wasn't necessary if I knew they wanted that receipt. Then they would have probably come up with a different excuse.

Did you know that medicare will not pay for doctor visits out of the US. Trip insurance companies know this but if you have a ship doctor bill the trip insurance company forces you to submit it to medicare and then wait for a rejection letter to send to them. The trip insurance company knows a lot of people won't go to the effort to do this and then they never have to pay. If you do go thru the process then they have the use of the claim money for at least 2 months which is the time it takes to submit a medicare claim that will be rejected.

So I learned the hard way about this RoamRight company and will never do business with them again!

My wife and I have been on over 32 cruises and always buy trip insurance. In reviewing what other people say about their trip insurance I notice that they usually say it was good or they got a good price. What they forget to say is that they never had to file a claim.

 

The true test of how good your trip insurance was is if you had to file a claim and it was handled in a professional manner. Trip insurance companies make large amounts of money because of what they charge for a 2 week cruise or trip is extremely high considering how few claims are made.

 

In 32 trips we have made 2 claims. One a number of years ago for some luggage damage which was handled perfectly by TravelGuard.

 

On our last cruise on Celebrity's Holy Land Cruise in Oct. 2014, we used Roamright Trip Insurance which was recommended by a friend who never had to submit a claim but thought the premium was fair.

 

I have to recommend you avoid this company. We had prepaid for 3 days of tours in Israel. On the second day my wife and I had eaten at a restaurant and as we were returning to the ship we both felt kind of sick. It turns out we just had some minor food poisoning that caused mild diarrhea.

We had to cancel the third tour day because it was a private tour with 6 people in a minivan and with no toilet facilities available we had to stay in our cabin on the ship. We were not sick enough to have to visit the ship Doctor and we had brought over-the- counter medicine which was sufficient to handle our problem.

 

We submitted a claim to RoamRight for the $250 cost of our lost tour. I even included a letter from the tour company stating the cost and saying in writing that we had to miss the tour because of illness. The tour company could not refund us the money because the driver and tour guide had been promised a minimum amount of pay.

 

RoamRight refused to pay because we did not go to the ship Doctor which would have probably cost them an additional $150. That was their excuse not to pay. We would have gone to see the ship doctor even if it wasn't necessary if I knew they wanted that receipt. Then they would have probably come up with a different excuse.

 

Did you know that medicare will not pay for doctor visits out of the US. Trip insurance companies know this but if you have a ship doctor bill the trip insurance company forces you to submit it to medicare and then wait for a rejection letter to send to them. The trip insurance company knows a lot of people won't go to the effort to do this and then they never have to pay. If you do go thru the process then they have the use of the claim money for at least 2 months which is the time it takes to submit a medicare claim that will be rejected.

 

So I learned the hard way about this RoamRight company and will never do business with them again!

We agree that it is not particularly helpful when someone posts what a good "price" they got for some coverage, because what matters is whether any claim would be paid. (I guess if someone is purchasing coverage from an insurer that already DID pay them for a claim.)

As for the "must submit FIRST to Medicare or to one's own health insurer first, if one gets travel insurance where the medical coverage is "primary" and not "secondary", then one simply submits the bills to the travel insurance. No need to go through any hoops of submitting the claim first to Medicare or another insurer when one already *knows* it will be rejected. That also makes it take longer for one to end up with any payment.

For the types of policies we get, it costs $25 extra to change the "secondary" medical coverage to "primary".

Getting "primary" coverage for other policies might have a different cost, or other policies might only have primary coverage (or perhaps only secondary that one cannot "upgrade").

By the way, we had a hefty claim on our very first trip that we ever insured, and TravelInsured paid promptly. Given the problems we've heard about various other insurers, we will think very seriously before selecting a different insurer in the future.

Now we better understand the importance of TripInsuranceStore.com's "vetting" of insurers!

GeezerCouple

If you have Medicare, it is common practice to have to submit the claim to Medicare first, even tho you know that generally they will not pay until Medicare turns it down. Adds a few weeks to final processing of your claim. May be worth asking what the additional cost would be to get the Primary coverage and not have to fiddle with Medicare; however, would assume the extra cost might be dependent on the amount of your total insurance. Rather than pay more to get the Primary coverage, I'm cheap so I'm willing to accept the added hassle.

I am not in the insurance business but we have had three claims through Travel Insured and each has been resolved to our total satisfaction (2 cruise claims in 25 years and one for a trip to Branson in November). Will certainly stick with them until I have reason to change. I don't know if they're the cheapest or the most expensive, we just go to them every time based on past experience.

Have heard good things about other companies too, so research using Insuremytrip.com would be a good idea.

Just adding this in case it will benefit anyone else.

...RoamRight refused to pay because we did not go to the ship Doctor which would have probably cost them an additional $150. That was their excuse not to pay. We would have gone to see the ship doctor even if it wasn't necessary if I knew they wanted that receipt. Then they would have probably come up with a different excuse....

Travel guard would cover your loss (under trip interruption) if caused by sickness. But their definitions page says: "Sickness" is an illness or disease as diagnosed or treated by a physician.

I am sorry you felt poorly treated by Roam Right, but in this instance you would have found the same result with any travel policy. This is just another example of why it is critical for purchasers to read the DOC to understand exactly what coverages are in place and under what definitions.

I don't know of ANY travel policy, including TravelGuard that would have paid off in this self-diagnosed situation. Every policy defines what situations they cover, and all of them specify that any sickness or illness must be treated by or certified by a physician.

 

Travel guard would cover your loss (under trip interruption) if caused by sickness. But their definitions page says: "Sickness" is an illness or disease as diagnosed or treated by a physician.

 

I am sorry you felt poorly treated by Roam Right, but in this instance you would have found the same result with any travel policy. This is just another example of why it is critical for purchasers to read the DOC to understand exactly what coverages are in place and under what definitions.

Good point. In order to claim illness, you have to see a Dr. Even tho very inconvenient during our trip to Branson, we were required to see a Dr. and have him fill out the papers Travel Insured faxed to us in advance at the hotel.