Rising Insurance Costs

I am currently 68 and hubby is 72. For all of our previous cruises we purchased a comprehensive plan which includes medical and cancellation through insuremytrip dot com. When I price out insurance for an upcoming cruise, equivalent to what we have been getting (usually John Hancock Gold), the prices have almost doubled. I assume it all has to do with age???

I have seen many, many posts where cruisers state that they pay anywhere from $50-100 for annual medical coverage and/or $100-200 for cancellation insurance. What are these policies and what company offers them?

Thanks for you help.

I'd suggest you call Steve at

TripInsuranceStore.com

TALK with them, don't just look at the plan summaries on their website.

I know that the plan we've used had an ~50% increase last summer, and it also does increase by age, but we haven't hit a threshold for a jump yet.

(We are similar ages as you both.)

But don't purchase based just on price, and perhaps not even "mostly" on price.

First, the coverages may differ, and they may differ in ways that do - or do not - matter to you.

Just make sure the policy, including all "fine print", matches YOUR needs.

Second, it seems that some insurers don't pay promptly, or through up lots of barriers (or keep losing the claim forms?), according to some experiences that have been posted here.

Steve has vetted about 6 companies, each with several different policy types.

Our first claim was paid promptly and with no funny business or stalling.

That was TravelInsured.

Given our ages, and assorted medical backgrounds as one ages, we only want policies that do not exclude pre-existing conditions.

Ask Steve about what you want covered, and he/they will help you find the best policy.

GeezerCouple

We pay 6.5 % times the amount we want to cover ..

I'd suggest you call Steve at

TripInsuranceStore.com

 

TALK with them, don't just look at the plan summaries on their website.

 

I know that the plan we've used had an ~50% increase last summer, and it also does increase by age, but we haven't hit a threshold for a jump yet.

(We are similar ages as you both.)

 

But don't purchase based just on price, and perhaps not even "mostly" on price.

 

First, the coverages may differ, and they may differ in ways that do - or do not - matter to you.

Just make sure the policy, including all "fine print", matches YOUR needs.

 

Second, it seems that some insurers don't pay promptly, or through up lots of barriers (or keep losing the claim forms?), according to some experiences that have been posted here.

 

Steve has vetted about 6 companies, each with several different policy types.

 

Our first claim was paid promptly and with no funny business or stalling.

That was TravelInsured.

 

Given our ages, and assorted medical backgrounds as one ages, we only want policies that do not exclude pre-existing conditions.

 

Ask Steve about what you want covered, and he/they will help you find the best policy.

 

GeezerCouple

Will do, thanks.

We pay 6.5 % times the amount we want to cover ..

From whom????? For what type of coverage???????

Let me go back to my pet peeve (posted in the past) about Medical Coverage. Having spent over thirty years in the Medical Insurance industry we are surprised that some folks will travel with either no medical coverage or very limited coverage. Most cruise line cancellation policies offer lousy medical coverage (often as low as $10,000) and yet folks worry about covering any cancellation costs (often only a few thousand dollars) while risking personal bankruptcy with inadequate medical coverage. We do not think anyone should travel (or even live) without at least $100,000 of medical coverage and personally prefer to have a lot more ($250,000 is good). In addition, one is well advised to have decent medical evacuation coverage (at least $50,000).

As to annual medical policies, the cost has increased like everything these days. But there are policies such as the one offered by GeoBlue (part of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield network) that generally costs about $350 per year. That $350 covers both partners and provided $250,000 of secondary medical coverage and $500,000 of medical evacuation insurance. This policy covers the first 70 days of every trip you take during the policy year! So for folks like me who travel year round, this single policy covers all of my trips.

As to Trip Cancellation, while we personally are content to self-insure that limited risk there are certainly many cancellation policies on the market.

Hank

Let me go back to my pet peeve (posted in the past) about Medical Coverage. Having spent over thirty years in the Medical Insurance industry we are surprised that some folks will travel with either no medical coverage or very limited coverage. Most cruise line cancellation policies offer lousy medical coverage (often as low as $10,000) and yet folks worry about covering any cancellation costs (often only a few thousand dollars) while risking personal bankruptcy with inadequate medical coverage. We do not think anyone should travel (or even live) without at least $100,000 of medical coverage and personally prefer to have a lot more ($250,000 is good). In addition, one is well advised to have decent medical evacuation coverage (at least $50,000).

 

As to annual medical policies, the cost has increased like everything these days. But there are policies such as the one offered by GeoBlue (part of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield network) that generally costs about $350 per year. That $350 covers both partners and provided $250,000 of secondary medical coverage and $500,000 of medical evacuation insurance. This policy covers the first 70 days of every trip you take during the policy year! So for folks like me who travel year round, this single policy covers all of my trips.

 

As to Trip Cancellation, while we personally are content to self-insure that limited risk there are certainly many cancellation policies on the market.

 

Hank

Thanks, Hank

I agree with you about medical insurance--would not travel without it. GeoBlue (wasn't it previously HTH??) has the coverage I like. I have looked and can't seem to find a policy which would only cover trip cancellation (only want cancellation due illness, not for any reason). I don't want to self insure for a $5000-7000 trip if I can find a decent policy. The issue is where can I find it.

Thanks, Hank

I agree with you about medical insurance--would not travel without it. GeoBlue (wasn't it previously HTH??) has the coverage I like. I have looked and can't seem to find a policy which would only cover trip cancellation (only want cancellation due illness, not for any reason). I don't want to self insure for a $5000-7000 trip if I can find a decent policy. The issue is where can I find it.

You are right about HTH, in fact we started with HTH when we were no longer happy with some of the provisions of the AMEX annual policy (I think it has recently been discontinued). When it came time to renew our HTH policy they told us it was now GeoBlue (which we thought was somewhat of an improvement since it has access to the Blue's network).

We do not have much personal knowledge of cancellation policies because it is not something we use except in very rare cases.

Hank