Has anyone tried UHC (United Health Care) Safe Trip coverage?

[styme123]

I was speaking to my health ins rep about medical benefits covered on our upcoming BI cruise and they mentioned Safe Trip plans. Has anyone tried them or needed to get reimbursement? I did just purchase a plan with IMG  through TIS with 500,000 medical/1,000,000evac. But Safe Trip had what looked like the same coverage for about half the price? I didn't look through all their fine print but a lot seemed the same. In a plan, I'm mostly concerned about medical not trip cancellation. 

[Jersey42]

7 hours ago, styme123 said:

I was speaking to my health ins rep about medical benefits covered on our upcoming BI cruise and they mentioned Safe Trip plans. Has anyone tried them or needed to get reimbursement? I did just purchase a plan with IMG  through TIS with 500,000 medical/1,000,000evac. But Safe Trip had what looked like the same coverage for about half the price? I didn't look through all their fine print but a lot seemed the same. In a plan, I'm mostly concerned about medical not trip cancellation. 

I have never purchased a UHC SafeTrip plan so I have no direct or even second hand knowledge. But, I was curious and decided to take a look.  I was able to look at the UHC website. Unfortunately they do not post a sample detailed policy document online.  Instead they give you an 800 number to call. I was able to find a sample policy on another site that covers 38 states.  There is no date on that sample, but while the coverage amounts are the same, the current policy looks like it adds a few more minor things.

 

My initial conclusion:  This is a single trip plan that is more of a competitor to GeoBlue (with a few extras), than comprehensive travel insurance.  It offers no trip cancellation, trip interruption or trip delay coverage.  I priced a two week trip for us.  UHC offers various coverage amounts and deductibles, but the premium for most of those combinations was slightly higher than an annual GeoBlue Trekker Essential policy.

 

 Here are some comments in no particular order based on what I see:

 

•  “I'm mostly concerned about medical not trip cancellation” – does that mean you don’t care about or don’t want to pay for trip cancellation, trip interruption or trip delay coverage?  If so, did you tell TIS? Most of the premium you are paying is for those coverages
• Medical coverage for UHC is $100K $500K or $1M up to age 69. It is $50K age 70+. GeoBlue is a minimum of $500K, and $100K age 70+.
• UHC has no mention of pre-existing conditions on their website.  The (old) sample plan I found excludes pre-existing conditions and offers no waiver. If UHC covered pre-existing conditions, they would probably advertise it. Seeing a current policy document is important.
• UHC offers some minor benefits such as service animal return, baggage return, lost baggage and baggage delay.
• UHC advertises “depending on the circumstances, we may issue a Guarantee of Payment or make a wire transfer to the facility at the time of service”.  I am learning that others may do that as well.
• I have seen mentions of a UHC SafeTrip annual plan in a web search and even a link to a quote page that will not work.  I find no mention of the annual plan on the UHC site.  I wonder if they still offer it?  If they do, I would like to compare it with GeoBlue.

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by Jersey42

[styme123]

@Jersey42 - Thank you so much for your response and taking the time to look it over. I might give them a call and ask them to send me their actual policy so I can read the details. I'm not apposed to hving the trip cancellation coverage from TIS, Just way more concerned about an overwhelming medical bill if something major would to happen.    

[Jersey42]

27 minutes ago, styme123 said:

@Jersey42 - Thank you so much for your response and taking the time to look it over. I might give them a call and ask them to send me their actual policy so I can read the details. I'm not apposed to hving the trip cancellation coverage from TIS, Just way more concerned about an overwhelming medical bill if something major would to happen.    

Reading and understanding is always a good idea. Many people wait to do this after something happens.

 

Based on what you say, I bet you have purchased the IMG iTravelInsured LX plan.  Assuming you purchased it within 20 days of your initial trip deposit date you have an excellent plan that covers pre-existing conditions and pays medical as primary. You have plenty of medical coverage and the UHC plan will not offer any real additional benefits for your upcoming trip.  

 

If you like what you see from UHC for future trips, compare with GeoBlue (TIS can help) before purchasing.  Even if you only take one or two trips per year, always look at the annual GeoBlue plans as well as the single trip plans.  Sometimes the single trip plan for a longer trip is more expensive than an annual plan.

 

Edit - I just noticed you are from NY, so ignore what I said about purchasing IMG within 20 days of initial trip deposit.  I believe you could have purchased up until final payment date and get the pre-existing conditions waiver.  Insurance in NY state can be a pain, but sometimes it can be an advantage.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Jersey42

[styme123]

@Jersey42 Unfortunately we are cruising in a few weeks and all deposits were paid awhile back. So no waiver. We also have 2 more cruises coming up in Feb and June that I need to insure but I already paid them off as well.

[cwayne]

We are checking into the United Health Care Global for our upcoming cruise. Quote for the 2 of us was $243 which seems very reasonable given the coverage. Our primary insurance will actually cover some of our medical outside the US but the million dollar evactuation was very interesting for us.  You always hope you don't need even a tylenol, but things happen. 

[Jersey42]

2 hours ago, cwayne said:

We are checking into the United Health Care Global for our upcoming cruise. Quote for the 2 of us was $243 which seems very reasonable given the coverage. Our primary insurance will actually cover some of our medical outside the US but the million dollar evactuation was very interesting for us.  You always hope you don't need even a tylenol, but things happen. 

Can you tell us more about what you found?

• Is the quote for a single trip or an annual plan? If it was not an annual plan, how long is the trip?
• If it is an annual policy, did you compare to GeoBlue Trekker?  If so, what did you like better about UHC?
• Would you mind sharing your ages?  Premiums are dependent on age.
• What intrigues you about $1M for evacuation? **
• Do you have a copy of the policy?  If so, can you post a PDF copy here or provide a link.

 

If you can't post a copy of the policy, can you at least post the terms related to:

• Pre-existing conditions 
• Does it pay claims as primary or secondary?
• Exclusions

 

The reason I ask the detailed questions is I am always looking for something better than GeoBlue Trekker. So far I have not found anything.

 

** The reason I asked about the $1M evacuation is because I doubt any cruise passengers will approach this number.  In 2020, Steve at TripInsuranceStore said that the largest cost he has ever seen was $126K from South Africa to Minnesota.  He had never seen even $50K from Central or South America.  I bet there have been higher cost evacuations, but I doubt any insurance company has ever paid a medevac claim anywhere close to $1M.  I also assume you realize that in the unlikely situation where someone is evacuated from the ship to land, that would normally be free to the passenger. The insurance would (hopefully) take care of the rest of the evacuation and repatriation costs.

Edited September 22, 2022 by Jersey42

[ineedmore1337sauce]

SafeTrip_NoSports_42_States_DC_Ed_11_11_21(1).PDF