Rethinking Travel Insurance Strategy

Prior to this upcoming cruise, my travel insurance strategy was coverage for pre-existing conditions up to final payment. Only one policy provided that. Now that both of our pre-existing conditions have been stable for the max 6 month lookback some policies use, its time for me to re-evaluate the strategy, and look for some feedback.

So - what's the top three priorities:

1 - Primary Medical Coverage: This policy pays first, not waiting until it argues with our health insurance provider. Now this is not from personal experience, but in reading the legal language and reading some horror stories on line, it seems a secondary insurance carrier can avoid reimbursing you for a long time. This also brings up a good point. Most medical expenses incurred on travel have to paid up front by me! Credit card to the rescue. And then we request reimbursement of only 'reasonable and fair' expenses. This legal mumbo jumbo sets off all kinds of warning alarms and visions of $30k in credit card debt being carried for months! (Sort of makes #2 really important!)

2 - Transportation Home: Getting us home in case of medical emergency. Most policies only 'transport to the nearest qualified medical facility' and with the approval of the insurance company. (This is probably NOT going to get either of us home.)

3 - Trip Interruption/Cancellation: Usual suspects - late flights, lost baggage, etc.

Given this priority line up (any other suggestions from experience?) I am seriously considering purchasing MedJet Assist regardless. That then gives me the freedom to look at Medical Only polices (requiring me to eat any trip interruption or cancellation costs), or lower cost package policies that have primary medical insurance coverage.

Medical only policies are 75% less than full package policies.

So, is anyone using a similar strategy and have any suggestions or recommendations?

I always use a policy that has all three features included. I always make sure that my trip interruption insurance covers the time it takes to drive to the airport the day before.

 

 

2 - Transportation Home: Getting us home in case of medical emergency. Most policies only 'transport to the nearest qualified medical facility' and with the approval of the insurance company. (This is probably NOT going to get either of us home.)

I can't think of any major travel insurer that does not also include medically-necessary transportation home. Some examples:

From Travel Guard:

"Emergency Evacuation means:

(a) the Insured's medical condition warrants immediate Transportation from the place where the Insured is injured or sick to the nearest adequate licensed medical facility where appropriate treatment can be obtained;

(b) after being treated at a local licensed medical facility, the Insured's medical condition warrants Transportation to the Insured’s home, or adequate licensed medical facility nearest the Insured’s home to obtain further medical treatment or to recover; or

© both (a) and (b) above."

From Travelex:

"Covered Expenses:

1) expenses incurred by you for Physician-ordered emergency medical evacuation, including medically appropriate transportation and necessary medical care en route, to the nearest suitable Hospital, when you are critically ill or injured and no suitable local care is available, subject to the Program Medical Advisors prior approval;

2) expenses incurred for non-emergency medical evacuation, including medically appropriate transportation and medical care en route, to a Hospital or to your place of residence, when deemed medically necessary by the attending Physician, subject to the Program Medical Advisors prior approval;"

From TravelSafe:

"2. Non-Emergency Medical Evacuation: If the local attending Legally Qualified Physician and the Program Medical Advisor determine that it is Medically Necessary for You to return to Your place of permanent residence because of an unforeseen Sickness or Injury which is acute or life-threatening, the Transportation Expense incurred will be paid for Your return to Your permanent residence or to a Hospital or medical facility closest to Your permanent place of residence capable of providing that treatment via one of the following methods of transportation, as approved, in writing, by the Program Medical Advisor: i) one-way Economy Transportation; ii) commercial air upgrade (to Business or First Class), based on Your condition as recommended by the local attending Legally Qualified Physician and verified in writing; or iii) other covered land or air transportation including, but not limited to, commercial stretcher, medical escort, or the Usual and Customary Charges for air ambulance, provided such transportation has been pre-approved and arranged by the Program Medical Advisor."

and they are primary on their medical payments.

I did not see the part you are quoting, I was just reading the "nearest medical facility" part. I will have to re-read the fine print more carefully.

I'm curious if anyone has ever had to go through the "Program Medical Adviser's" approval process.

Thanks!

The OP has done a great job framing the issues. So now, it is simply a matter of risk-benefit analysis......and the outcome will vary depending on the OP's ability and desire to assume some of the risk and thus save money on insurance premiums. IMHO having good medical insurance is paramount since one's risk for medical bills is unlimited. On the other hand, the risk for trip cancellation is a fixed amount (and arguably affordable since you already paid for the trip).

As to Medical Evacuation..this is an interesting topic. If you are really risk adverse you could invest in a Medjetassist Policy (some would say its the Rolls Royce of Med Evac policies) at even more cost. Or, you could settle for the Med Evac restrictions in most other policies. Again, its just a matter of risk-benefit analysis. Personally, I love the concept of "Sleep Quotient" which is simply how much do you need to spend on insurance so that you do not stay awake worrying about your insurance (or lack thereof).

Hank

I buy regular travel insurance and on many itineraries I also add on Med Jet.

Keith

The OP has done a great job framing the issues. So now, it is simply a matter of risk-benefit analysis......and the outcome will vary depending on the OP's ability and desire to assume some of the risk and thus save money on insurance premiums. IMHO having good medical insurance is paramount since one's risk for medical bills is unlimited. On the other hand, the risk for trip cancellation is a fixed amount (and arguably affordable since you already paid for the trip).

 

As to Medical Evacuation..this is an interesting topic. If you are really risk adverse you could invest in a Medjetassist Policy (some would say its the Rolls Royce of Med Evac policies) at even more cost. Or, you could settle for the Med Evac restrictions in most other policies. Again, its just a matter of risk-benefit analysis. Personally, I love the concept of "Sleep Quotient" which is simply how much do you need to spend on insurance so that you do not stay awake worrying about your insurance (or lack thereof).

 

Hank

So now with all this new information I set out a couple of hours to do some serious research. (Exercise for the brain...) So basically I went to insuremytrip so compare stuff. The site goes a good job of summarizing coverages, but it can be deceiving, not deliberately, but with a lot of significant information gaps - so much so that you need to go to the actual insurance website and download the actual policy, not just a summary.

For example, one company had a mid-point policy and a premium policy for 50% more, but there was no difference in the summary coverage limits. The policies looked identical except for price. I still haven't found the difference even in reading the actual policy documents. So that eliminated that company right off the bat.

A couple of policies caught my eye that included cancel for work reasons. One was pretty straightforward in that a letter from your supervisor or HR denying your previously approved vacation time was all that was required to get a full refund. HOWEVER, the other policy, which in the summary had a cancel for work reason line only had a layoff or job change provision in the actual policy document. A significant difference.

Ahhh, but the story gets even better....

So I find a mid-range policy that runs about 10% of trip cost, as opposed to the 15% I normally pay to cover pre-existing conditions, has cancel for work, primary medical, evacuation, 60 day look back, high ratings, all the good stuff. So now the real research begins....

So I look at the ratings and most of them are high ratings by people who never used the insurance, just purchased it. Hmmmm. I want to know about problems people had with their claims. Google to the rescue. Sure enough problems start to pop up from various websites. Now negative reviews are actually quite easy to evaluate. I immediately dismiss the ubiquitous ' they suck' reviews and concentrate on the more interesting ones, like 'they denied my claim because my actual losses were more than the maximum insurance value'. And when I read the response to the complaint from the company, and my head starts to explode or spin from the legal mumbo jumbo, alarm bells go off...

Now to even complicate the matter I find out that my credit card will help with trip cancellation. BUT I can't find the legal details on-line. (I had to email for a copy of the T's & C's.) Other information on line indicates that they will reimburse for up to $5k for cancellation on tickets charged to the card.

This can get as confusing and complicated as all get out sometimes...

Suffice it to say I am still searching for an optimal policy, from a company that responds intelligently to customer complaints - I did find one such company that really looked like they cared on one website, but they don't have quite the product I am looking for.

Bottom Line - I am going to get MedJet Assist yearly regardless. It is peace of mind and very reasonably priced. We have a lot of cruising coming up in the next year and just knowing that you are going to get home is worth it.

Medical - Definitely and Primary at a minimum. Being primary eliminates a lot of policies right off the bat. (But of course there are a lot of on-line reviews of secondary policies in which people had no problem collecting...it just took a month or two longer)

Cancellation - With the credit card picking up to $5k, this now moves to tertiary importance as a decision input.

So back to the internet, research and brain drain...

We never fail to keep our MedJetAssist policy renewed.

If you are an AARP member you can get an 18% discount on Medjet Assist.

If you are an AARP member you can get an 18% discount on Medjet Assist.

...but eventually to cash in on all the goodies I may just have to. Oh well...

The good news is that several hours of sustained research has resulted in a successful search:

A midprice policy that included primary medical, a substantial amount of evacuation coverage, a cancel for work reasons, only a 60 day look back for pre-existing and from a reputable firm that appears to address consumer issues posted on various websites satisfactorily.

There is enough budget remaining to cover our Med Jet Assist policy which will be in effect on the next cruise as well, so that saves money there also.

So know for the next question:

I found the Squaremouth site to book travel insurance through and am still reasonably impressed with their followup policies in case of payment problems. I usually go through insuremytrip, but they do not specifically give you a "guarantee" on their policies. Squaremouth does specifically state such a guarantee policy, but then, this is the internet after all....\

Any one have any experience with squaremouth?

I buy regular travel insurance and on many itineraries I also add on Med Jet.

 

Keith

I carry an annual policy for Med Jet Assist (I travel frequently) and follow Keith on regular travel insurance.

My Medicare traditional policy does not cover expenses outside of the US past a few miles.

Make sure that trip interruption coverage takes care of weather delays!

Check your credit cards to see what automatic coverage you have when using a particular card to book air tickets. My major credit card has a lot of bonus features.

I tend to over insure as that is my comfort level.

We also will be purchasing both a traditional comprehensive trip policy for our big world cruise and already own Medjet Assist.

I wonder if there would be bickering in the unfortunate situation of needing to use the insurance. Would one company be arguing for primary vs secondary coverage. Are we shooting ourselves in the foot here? It sounds like we are not alone in this.

For our travels having medjet insurances makes sense. We do a lot of non-cruise travel to places without good medical care. We will be "up-ing" our medjet policy plan to cover our long trip when the time comes.

Bottom line question to the insurance wise:

how do all one's policies work together? medjet, trip insurance and home US based health insurance (our Kaiser coverage does work overseas).

 

Bottom line question to the insurance wise:

how do all one's policies work together? medjet, trip insurance and home US based health insurance (our Kaiser coverage does work overseas).

Since MedJet is not insurance there's no possible conflict with any insurance coverages you may have in place.

We also will be purchasing both a traditional comprehensive trip policy for our big world cruise and already own Medjet Assist.

 

I wonder if there would be bickering in the unfortunate situation of needing to use the insurance. Would one company be arguing for primary vs secondary coverage. Are we shooting ourselves in the foot here? It sounds like we are not alone in this.

 

For our travels having medjet insurances makes sense. We do a lot of non-cruise travel to places without good medical care. We will be "up-ing" our medjet policy plan to cover our long trip when the time comes.

 

Bottom line question to the insurance wise:

how do all one's policies work together? medjet, trip insurance and home US based health insurance (our Kaiser coverage does work overseas).

Basically, while the various insurance companies are arguing over who pays what, I can be home on MedJet. That's very comforting...

I carry an annual policy for Med Jet Assist (I travel frequently) and follow Keith on regular travel insurance.

 

My Medicare traditional policy does not cover expenses outside of the US past a few miles.

 

Make sure that trip interruption coverage takes care of weather delays!

 

Check your credit cards to see what automatic coverage you have when using a particular card to book air tickets. My major credit card has a lot of bonus features.

 

I tend to over insure as that is my comfort level.

Even though my credit card is supposed to cover up to $5k in cancellation I will probably insure the total amount.

This particular insurance covers trip interruption when weather delays are 12+ hours, but delays due to weather up until then are covered under weather delays...

The good news is that I have a few days to get the ship and can even catch up to the ship easily each day afterwards...

You bring up a good point about credit card included insurance that I should have detailed.

I consider the credit card insurance to be a bonus and carry the full value of travel insurance.

My credit card insurance gives me up to $1500.00 of 'delay' coverage for expenses which would be a hotel, meals, taxi fares etc.

It's really a stop loss situation.

The Med Jet Assist (or similar policy) is something that can save you a ton of money in a very rare circumstance. I get mine via AARP and enjoy a discount for doing so.

...but eventually to cash in on all the goodies I may just have to. Oh well...

 

The good news is that several hours of sustained research has resulted in a successful search:

 

A midprice policy that included primary medical, a substantial amount of evacuation coverage, a cancel for work reasons, only a 60 day look back for pre-existing and from a reputable firm that appears to address consumer issues posted on various websites satisfactorily.

 

There is enough budget remaining to cover our Med Jet Assist policy which will be in effect on the next cruise as well, so that saves money there also.

 

So know for the next question:

 

I found the Squaremouth site to book travel insurance through and am still reasonably impressed with their followup policies in case of payment problems. I usually go through insuremytrip, but they do not specifically give you a "guarantee" on their policies. Squaremouth does specifically state such a guarantee policy, but then, this is the internet after all....\

 

Any one have any experience with squaremouth?

We buy our travel insurance through The Trip Insurance Store. Check out their website.

***Trip Insurance Store***

We buy our travel insurance through The Trip Insurance Store. Check out their website.

 

***Trip Insurance Store***

Agree check the website or call, they are very, very helpful and will get you the correct coverage you need for your situation.

...but eventually to cash in on all the goodies I may just have to. Oh well...

 

The good news is that several hours of sustained research has resulted in a successful search:

 

A midprice policy that included primary medical, a substantial amount of evacuation coverage, a cancel for work reasons, only a 60 day look back for pre-existing and from a reputable firm that appears to address consumer issues posted on various websites satisfactorily.

 

Whose policy is this? Sounds good!

Whose policy is this? Sounds good!

MH Ross. Not the more expensive one, but the bridge policy.

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I have seen a lot of discussion of the MedJet annual plans, but not about the Insureassist multi-trip medical plan. While I do realize the coverage is secondary, the low cost ($496) and high coverage of that plan that includes medical coverage up to $500,000 makes me wonder if I might be better off buying this plan together with a basic travel policy for cancellation and interruption.

Has anyone looked into this?

I have seen a lot of discussion of the MedJet annual plans, but not about the Insureassist multi-trip medical plan. While I do realize the coverage is secondary, the low cost ($496) and high coverage of that plan that includes medical coverage up to $500,000 makes me wonder if I might be better off buying this plan together with a basic travel policy for cancellation and interruption.

 

Has anyone looked into this?

Their medical is secondary, as is their evacuation and they have a 12 month pre-existing lookback and a $10k limit on any pre-existing. I think even a basic package policy for medical and cancellation would cover these items as well for just a bit more.

Since I cruise a lot on Princess, their policy actually covers just as much, secondary, and with a full "credit" refund on cancel for any reason. I will use the Princess policy for the CA coastal cruises coming up, since we won't be in some far off land and my basic medical policy will come into play, along with the annual med-jet policy, and since I will be cruising with them in the future the full refund "credit" is attractive in case of non-refundable type emergencies.

Now if my credit card covered the entire cancellation costs, this might be an inviting option and one I considered, but I still wanted the comfort of being able to get medically evacuated to home no matter what...

Actually I was talking about using the insureassist annual medical plan in conjunction with the Medjet annual evacuation plan. The total cost for both the medical and evacuation plans would be under $1,000.

My logic was that medical and evacuation are your two high dollar and unknown risks, while cancellation and interruption are known risks. Then you could decide whether or not it was worth taking the risk for the cancellation/interruption while knowing that your two bigger risks were covered on an annual basis. At least that was my thought process.

I was putting it out there because I haven't seen any discussion of insureassist and to get feedback on my logic.:confused:

Actually I was talking about using the insureassist annual medical plan in conjunction with the Medjet annual evacuation plan. The total cost for both the medical and evacuation plans would be under $1,000.

 

My logic was that medical and evacuation are your two high dollar and unknown risks, while cancellation and interruption are known risks. Then you could decide whether or not it was worth taking the risk for the cancellation/interruption while knowing that your two bigger risks were covered on an annual basis. At least that was my thought process.

 

I was putting it out there because I haven't seen any discussion of insureassist and to get feedback on my logic.:confused:

I just checked insuremytrip and most medical only plans were all secondary. Most multi-trip policies are all in the same price range as well - and cover most of the same things. For multiple trips/cruises in one year, that's a pretty cheap option, especially if you have a major credit card that covers some of the cancellation costs.

But I am not specifically familiar with insureassist. Someone might pop in with some recent experience.

We have used CSA several times. They and HTH offer pre-existing coverage within 24 hours of final payment. We have also noted that insuring for only the canceling amount prior to the last increment date, two or four weeks prior to cruise sailing saves money. Thus you are insuring for the total canceling times until two or four weeks prior to the sailing. All other benefits remain the same. If you can afford the probability of having to cancel during the last cancellation interval, you will save money.

Aside from that, Holland America offers "Cancel for any reason" with a payback of 90% of cruise cost. This includes a minimal on-board insurance for problems incurred there.

I also must look into airline ticket insurance, as I recall at a lessor price than general insurance.

Thank you all for your inputs. We are getting old and thus looking at higher prices.

Bob :cool: