Question on Preexisting Coverage on Annual Travel Insurance Policy

[donaldsc]

I have a question on annual travel insurance policies.  I am going to check with InsureMyTrip and Trip Insurance Store but I wonder if anyone has encountered this problem personally.

 

We always take an Allianz Annual Travel insurance policy when we travel and never take coverage for individual trips.  This has always worked for us and it saves us money.  We don't keep a policy active when we are not traveling but when we are in a non-coverage period and we book a trip, we purchase a new annual policy to start just before we leave on the trip.  That way we don't pay for coverage when we don't need it.

 

My question is this.  I know that if you purchase a single trip policy and you have a preexisting illness, you have to purchase your policy within a short time of when you purchase your cruise.  I am not sure if this rule applies for annual policies.  My problem is that the cruise we are going to take starts in August of 2021 which is almost 2 years from now.  Final payment is March 2021.

 

I was diagnosed with cancer this year so I definitely have a preexisting illness.  The medical folk feel that that they have gotten it all out but with cancer you are never 100% certain.  My plan is to purchase my annual policy right before the final payment date so I am covered for the time between final payment and departure unless I am already covered from another earlier trip.  That way if the cancer returns between final payment date and departure date, I will not suffer any losses.  My worry is Allianz will say that I had a preexisting illness when I purchased the annual policy so I will not be covered if the cancer returns.

 

As I said, I am going to call the pros at InsureMyTrip and the TripInsuranceStore and also Allianz but I wonder if anyone else out there who has dealt with this problem.

 

DON

[klfrodo]

https://tripinsurancestore.com/geo-blue-voyager-travel-medical-plans/

 

According to Trip Insurance Store FAQ's section,,,,, Yes Geo Blue Voyager Choice plan covers PEC while Geo Blue Voyager Essential has a 180 exclusion.

[Jersey42]

25 minutes ago, klfrodo said:

According to Trip Insurance Store FAQ's section,,,,, Yes Geo Blue Voyager Choice plan covers PEC while Geo Blue Voyager Essential has a 180 exclusion.

You are correct, but these are medical/evacuation only plans. The OP asked about an Allianz Annual Travel insurance policy which is a comprehensive annual plan that includes other things such as trip cancellation and interruption.

 

I don't know the answer for the Allianz plan, but Trip Insurance Store offers an an Annual Travel insurance policy from Roam Right that covers preexisting medical conditions. Here is the link to Trip Insurance Store:

http://www.annualtravelinsurance.ws/roamright-multi-trip-annual-trip-cancellation-insurance/

 

Here is an excerpt from that link:

"Pre-existing Medical Conditions are covered for Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption and Medical Treatment. The exclusion for the Pre-Existing Condition will be waived provided: You or the individual with the Pre-Existing Condition, are not disabled from travel at the time Your premium is paid."

 

@donaldsc If you call one of the brokers, please let us know what you find out.

[GeezerCouple]

24 minutes ago, Jersey42 said:

You are correct, but these are medical/evacuation only plans. The OP asked about an Allianz Annual Travel insurance policy which is a comprehensive annual plan that includes other things such as trip cancellation and interruption.

 

I don't know the answer for the Allianz plan, but Trip Insurance Store offers an an Annual Travel insurance policy from Roam Right that covers preexisting medical conditions. Here is the link to Trip Insurance Store:

http://www.annualtravelinsurance.ws/roamright-multi-trip-annual-trip-cancellation-insurance/

 

Here is an excerpt from that link:

"Pre-existing Medical Conditions are covered for Trip Cancellation, Trip Interruption and Medical Treatment. The exclusion for the Pre-Existing Condition will be waived provided: You or the individual with the Pre-Existing Condition, are not disabled from travel at the time Your premium is paid."

 

@donaldsc If you call one of the brokers, please let us know what you find out.

 

We would love to be able to ge an annual policy that included cancellation (and also interruption??), but the limits don't work.

 

IF we used up the max coverage ($10k) early in the policy year, it might be too late to get the coverage with a different policy, while also getting coverage for pre-existing conditions.

 

GC

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

We would love to be able to ge an annual policy that included cancellation (and also interruption??), but the limits don't work.

 

IF we used up the max coverage ($10k) early in the policy year, it might be too late to get the coverage with a different policy, while also getting coverage for pre-existing conditions.

 

GC

 

I realize that I am taking a chance with the total yearly limits but I am willing to take it.  I got a policy with 15K total yearly limits the past year because I was going to take 2 expensive trips.  I got to take the first trip and was diagnosed with cancer before the 2nd trip.  The 15 K covered almost all of my losses on the 2nd trip so it did work out for me.  We will probably go to 15K for the year that includes the 2021 trip again.

 

I would remind people who do not know about annual policies that the year is not a Jan 1 to D ec 31 year but 365 days from the date you start the policy.  Many people do not realize that.

 

I looked at the RoamRight policy that GeezerCouple suggested.  The problem w this policy is that you must be less than 74 years old.  I am older.  My age may be a problem for me continuing to get an annual policy.  I hope not.

 

DON

Edited September 4, 2019 by donaldsc

[GeezerCouple]

12 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

I realize that I am taking a chance with the total yearly limits but I am willing to take it.  I got a policy with 15K total yearly limits the past year because I was going to take 2 expensive trips.  I got to take the first trip and was diagnosed with cancer before the 2nd trip.  The 15 K covered almost all of my losses on the 2nd trip so it did work out for me.  We will probably go to 15K for the year that includes the 2021 trip again.

 

I would remind people who do not know about annual policies that the year is not a Jan 1 to D ec 31 year but 365 days from the date you start the policy.  Many people do not realize that.

 

I looked at the RoamRight policy that GeezerCouple suggested.  The problem w this policy is that you must be less than 74 years old.  I am older.  My age may be a problem for me continuing to get an annual policy.  I hope not.

 

DON

 

Ah... I hadn't even noticed the age limit... that wouldn't work for DH (and soon enough, for me).

 

But it showed a $10k limit, so that's out, and even $15k might be, depending upon the specific cruises planned.

And then, IF we got a 10k max policy, had a couple of lesser cost trips, and *then* planned one of the occasional "biggies", we'd need to get the separate per-trip coverage in addition to the remaining year long coverage.

 

For someone with several less expensive trips, as long as they wouldn't "run out" and then be "too late" to get a "per trip" policy with pre-existing coverage, the annual policy sounds really ideal.

 

The closest we come is with the annual MedJetAssist policy.  IF we ever needed to use that, I suspect we'd have t least a short hiatus to our travels anyway.

 

Thanks again, as I hadn't really studied this annual coverage.

 

GC

[iamtrustworthy]

On 9/3/2019 at 4:37 PM, donaldsc said:

My question is this.  I know that if you purchase a single trip policy and you have a preexisting illness, you have to purchase your policy within a short time of when you purchase your cruise.  I am not sure if this rule applies for annual policies.  My problem is that the cruise we are going to take starts in August of 2021 which is almost 2 years from now.  Final payment is March 2021.

 

Hi Don,

 

As you likely know, the deadline to get the waiver of the pre-existing medical condition exclusion varies from one Annual Trip Cancellation policy to another Annual Trip Cancellation policy.

 

Allianz states this about their deadline:

This plan waives the exclusion for pre-existing medical conditions if at least one of the following conditions are met: A) The trip was purchased during the coverage period; B) Your policy was purchased within 14 days of the date of the first trip payment or deposit; or C) You have continuous coverage. You have “continuous coverage” when the Coverage Effective Date of this policy is no later than seven days after the Coverage End Date of a previous annual policy issued to you by us.

 

If you have and are going to continue to buy an Allianz plan, you would qualify under letter "C". If not, "A" or "B" will govern you. No matter which you use, you still have to buy at least two consecutive Allianz plans.

 

RoamRight's Multi-Trip policy says:

"The exclusion for the Pre-Existing Condition will be waived provided:
You or the individual with the Pre-Existing Condition, are not disabled from travel at the time Your premium is paid."

 

In addition, these are the purchase deadlines:

"Any required premium payment must be made on the earlier/earliest of the following:
(a) any date within 30 days after final payment is paid for the first Trip to be covered by this policy; and
(b) the day before the Scheduled Departure Date for the first trip to be covered by this policy."

 

Roamright allows you to wait to buy its policy.

 

There are others out there but I know nothing about them. I hope this helps you.

 

This next explanation may sound odd, but I don't know how to explain it better:

 

I have found that the Annual Trip Cancellation plan works best for someone who has a low probability of having to cancel their trip.

 

This is because if you have a policy and use up all or most of its trip cancellation benefit early in the plan year, you could end up in the situation that GeezerCouple gave: " IF we used up the max coverage ($10k) early in the policy year, it might be too late to get the coverage with a different policy, while also getting coverage for pre-existing conditions."

 

If someone has a higher probability of having to cancel their trip, and they want to insure expensive trips, I have found they are better off with per trip plans.

 

Steve

 

[bohaiboy]

So pondering a question here, if one were to have an annual policy and use it for a single trip and was refunded say $10,000 (annual max) what would prohibit one from getting another policy from a different company with a new $10,000 limit?  It is still cheaper than an individual per trip plan.

[iamtrustworthy]

6 hours ago, bohaiboy said:

So pondering a question here, if one were to have an annual policy and use it for a single trip and was refunded say $10,000 (annual max) what would prohibit one from getting another policy from a different company with a new $10,000 limit?  It is still cheaper than an individual per trip plan.

Hi bohaiboy,

 

Nothing prevents you from doing this. I would make sure the new company has a differnt underwriter.

 

Steve Dasseos