Best annual policy. TravelGuard VS Allianz.

[Cruise5life]

Best annual policy.   TravelGuard VS Allianz.   Or???
 

I have 2 big trips coming up and would like an annual policy.   
 

 60+ airily good healthy with a few existing conditions.     

[GeezerCouple]

13 hours ago, Cruise5life said:

Best annual policy.   TravelGuard VS Allianz.   Or???
 

I have 2 big trips coming up and would like an annual policy.   
 

 60+ airily good healthy with a few existing conditions.     

 

This doesn't directly answer your question, but are you sure you want an annual policy?  Have you checked the various restrictions and limitations, in terms of total $$ limits and also how pre-existing conditions are handled (or not)?

As long as you fully understand the complete Terms and Conditions, then you should also be able to compare the policies.

 

Or is your question about the two insurers more generally, and not regarding the specific type of policy?

 

GC

[jclinard]

Avoid TravelGuard like the plague.  

 

Don't take my word for it.  Look up people who tried to collect on Israel trips with TravelGuard compared to other insurance companies.

 

Do you own research.  Don't listen to anybody who wants to tell you great things about how quickly the company deposited the premiums but has no experience making a claim.  Don't take the word of random people on the internet without checking their claims (that includes everything I've said).

 

 

[Jersey42]

On 4/26/2024 at 10:08 PM, Cruise5life said:

Best annual policy.   TravelGuard VS Allianz.   Or???
 

I have 2 big trips coming up and would like an annual policy.   
 

 60+ airily good healthy with a few existing conditions.     

Have you read the policies from these companies, and does either company offer what YOU are looking for?  What are you trying to cover? How many people? How expensive are your trips? What does your current medical insurance cover outside of the USA? .  . .

 

Neither company offers an annual policy that would work for me.

 

Allianz

• Offers four different policies with a variety of options for cancelation/interruption coverage.
• The maximum cancelation/interruption coverage for three of the policies is $15K per POLICY per year (not per person)
• The business (executive policy) lets you purchase up to $10K in cancelation/interruption coverage per PERSON per year.
• Pre-existing condition lookback period of 120 days, but a pre-existing conditions waiver is available.
• The most medical (secondary) coverage you can get is $50K per person per trip.  IMHO, it is too low if you don't have other medical coverage.

 

Travel Guard

• NO trip cancelation coverage and just $2,500 trip interruption per person per year.
• Pre-existing condition lookback period of 60 days, and NO pre-existing conditions waiver is available.
• Medical (primary) coverage is $50K per person per YEAR.  Way too low if you don't have other medical coverage.

 

In any of these policies, if you use up a benefit early in the year, you can't add on more coverage.  And, it may be too late to buy another plan especially if pre-existing conditions could come into play.

 

All other annual plans I have seen offer no more than $10K cancelation coverage per year.

 

If you care primarily about medical and evacuation coverage, look at one of the GeoBlue Trekker plans. Much better medical coverage than any other annual plan I have seen. But, it has no trip cancelation or interruption coverage.

 

If you care primarily about coverage other than medical, you might want to look at the insurance benefits of Chase Sapphire and Amex Platinum credit cards. They offer higher cancelation and interruption limits than the annual travel insurance plans. But they don't work for everyone. The biggest problem with these cards is pre-existing conditions for you, your travel companions and non-traveling family members are excluded with a 60 day lookback. So if you need to cancel or interrupt a trip due to a pre-existing condition, you won't be covered. The credit cards offer NO or very limited medical coverage. They also have somewhat fewer covered reasons for cancelation/interruption than most trip insurance policies.

[Cruise5life]

2 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

Have you read the policies from these companies, and does either company offer what YOU are looking for?  What are you trying to cover? How many people? How expensive are your trips? What does your current medical insurance cover outside of the USA? .  . .

 

Neither company offers an annual policy that would work for me.

 

Allianz

• Offers four different policies with a variety of options for cancelation/interruption coverage.
• The maximum cancelation/interruption coverage for three of the policies is $15K per POLICY per year (not per person)
• The business (executive policy) lets you purchase up to $10K in cancelation/interruption coverage per PERSON per year.
• Pre-existing condition lookback period of 120 days, but a pre-existing conditions waiver is available.
• The most medical (secondary) coverage you can get is $50K per person per trip.  IMHO, it is too low if you don't have other medical coverage.

 

Travel Guard

• NO trip cancelation coverage and just $2,500 trip interruption per person per year.
• Pre-existing condition lookback period of 60 days, and NO pre-existing conditions waiver is available.
• Medical (primary) coverage is $50K per person per YEAR.  Way too low if you don't have other medical coverage.

 

In any of these policies, if you use up a benefit early in the year, you can't add on more coverage.  And, it may be too late to buy another plan especially if pre-existing conditions could come into play.

 

All other annual plans I have seen offer no more than $10K cancelation coverage per year.

 

If you care primarily about medical and evacuation coverage, look at one of the GeoBlue Trekker plans. Much better medical coverage than any other annual plan I have seen. But, it has no trip cancelation or interruption coverage.

 

If you care primarily about coverage other than medical, you might want to look at the insurance benefits of Chase Sapphire and Amex Platinum credit cards. They offer higher cancelation and interruption limits than the annual travel insurance plans. But they don't work for everyone. The biggest problem with these cards is pre-existing conditions for you, your travel companions and non-traveling family members are excluded with a 60 day lookback. So if you need to cancel or interrupt a trip due to a pre-existing condition, you won't be covered. The credit cards offer NO or very limited medical coverage. They also have somewhat fewer covered reasons for cancelation/interruption than most trip insurance policies.

So what travel insurance do you suggest.   
solo traveler.   61 with Medicare so no outside coverage.   
insuring 2 trips right now 1-5K and the second trip about 4K.   
no credit cards with coverage.  

 

 

 

 

[Jersey42]

17 hours ago, Cruise5life said:

So what travel insurance do you suggest.   
solo traveler.   61 with Medicare so no outside coverage.   
insuring 2 trips right now 1-5K and the second trip about 4K.   
no credit cards with coverage.  

If those are your only trips, take a look at a policy for each trip.  I would CALL tripinsurancestore.com and see what they can offer you.  

• Make sure you discuss your pre-existing conditions to see if the trip insurance would consider them a pre-existing condition.  Better yet see, if you qualify for a pre-existing conditions waiver so you do not need to worry about them.
• Primary medical coverage (instead of secondary) would simplify the claims process.  With secondary you would probably have to file first with Medicare and get a denial before the trip insurance would process a medical claim.

 

You have provided some information here, but there are still too many variables for me or anyone else to recommend a specific plan on this forum.

[Coral]

As a company overall - I won't buy TravelGuard anymore. I find Allianz easy to work with and have successful claims with them (with out issues). I have never bought an annual plan.

[torpeedo]

On 4/29/2024 at 11:41 AM, Jersey42 said:

Have you read the policies from these companies, and does either company offer what YOU are looking for?  What are you trying to cover? How many people? How expensive are your trips? What does your current medical insurance cover outside of the USA? .  . .

 

Neither company offers an annual policy that would work for me.

 

Allianz

• Offers four different policies with a variety of options for cancelation/interruption coverage.
• The maximum cancelation/interruption coverage for three of the policies is $15K per POLICY per year (not per person)
• The business (executive policy) lets you purchase up to $10K in cancelation/interruption coverage per PERSON per year.
• Pre-existing condition lookback period of 120 days, but a pre-existing conditions waiver is available.
• The most medical (secondary) coverage you can get is $50K per person per trip.  IMHO, it is too low if you don't have other medical coverage.

 

 

Looking at Allianze annual policy and I see it does have Pre X conditions and I would think this

would be waived with an annual policy?  How can I get the waiver.?  I have other insurance but want to just add more as my age is pretty advanced but I'm in good enough health to travel.

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, torpeedo said:

Looking at Allianze annual policy and I see it does have Pre X conditions and I would think this

would be waived with an annual policy?  How can I get the waiver.?  I have other insurance but want to just add more as my age is pretty advanced but I'm in good enough health to travel.

 

I am speaking about Canadian products now that can be very different, but we have opted for the next 12 months to use an annual plan as it will significantly reduce our spend on insurance, but I spent probably without exaggeration 8 hours on the phone with insurance companies before I got all the answers to the questions I had.

 

Regarding your pre-existing conditions that you "think" would be waived?  No, why would they waive pre-existing conditions just because it is an annual policy?  Pre-existing conditions can be a money pit for insurance companies which is why most don't cover them, or they have very specific stability periods and requirements.  Some even limit the amount of coverage while travelling for pre-existing conditions.  You may have a $10 Million policy for medical but the pre-existing may only be covered to $300K or there abouts.

 

Regarding pre-existing conditions for my Canadian annual policy:

 

• Know and understand what "stability" is for any pre-existing condition.  For my policy, this means no medication change, no new meds, no reduction or stoppage of meds.  No tests pending or booked or recommended in the future - for the pre-existing condition.
• For my annual policy stability for medical is the above for 180 days.
• For my annual policy stability for cancelation is the above for 90 days.

 

In the 12 months ahead of me, we have 3 cruises booked.

 

I must be 180 days stable before each departure date for medical and 90 days stable before each departure date for cancelation / interruption.

 

My policy only pays a max of $5K per person, but we can top this up if we want to.

 

We have $2.5K coverage on a credit card as well, so we essentially have $7.5K per person and we hedge our bets on any amount on top of that.

 

Just know your policy inside and out, and don't rely on the policy language as it can be confusing.  Read the policy word for word, then call with questions.

 

Because calls are recorded now - in most cases - when I get the answers that I want I ask for the reference number to that call so that if needed the insurance company can easily get the call recording to hear what I asked and what I was told.

 

Edited May 13 by CDNPolar

[Jersey42]

13 hours ago, torpeedo said:

Looking at Allianze annual policy and I see it does have Pre X conditions and I would think this

would be waived with an annual policy?  How can I get the waiver.?  I have other insurance but want to just add more as my age is pretty advanced but I'm in good enough health to travel.

 

On 4/29/2024 at 11:41 AM, Jersey42 said:

Neither company offers an annual policy that would work for me.

 

Allianz

• Pre-existing condition lookback period of 120 days, but a pre-existing conditions waiver is available.

To answer your question - The pre-existing conditions waiver is available on all but the basic (least expensive) Allianz policy. To qualify you must purchase the policy within 14 days of the date of the first trip payment or deposit. Subsequent trips booked when the policy is in force also are covered by the waiver. 

 

Allianz is unusual as I am not aware of any other company that offers a pre-existing conditions waiver for an annual travel insurance policy that includes trip cancellation and interruption in the annual premium.

 

I strongly suggest you read the policy.  That is where you will find the details on this and all other aspects of coverage. This could also include state specific language.

 

I am not sure what other insurance you have, but you need to understand how multiple policies would work together when you make a claim.  This is especially true if both policies pay secondary. 

 

I normally would suggest working with a good travel insurance broker who can explain all of the nuances. But the brokers typically mentioned on this forum (TripInsuranceStore, InsureMyTrip and Squaremouth) do not offer these types of annual policies. @iamtrustworthy from TripInsuranceStore has explained why in previous posts.

Edited May 13 by Jersey42

[torpeedo]

3 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

 

To answer your question - The pre-existing conditions waiver is available on all but the basic (least expensive) Allianz policy. To qualify you must purchase the policy within 14 days of the date of the first trip payment or deposit. Subsequent trips booked when the policy is in force also are covered by the waiver. 

 

Allianz is unusual as I am not aware of any other company that offers a pre-existing conditions waiver for an annual travel insurance policy that includes trip cancellation and interruption in the annual premium.

 

I strongly suggest you read the policy.  That is where you will find the details on this and all other aspects of coverage. This could also include state specific language.

 

I am not sure what other insurance you have, but you need to understand how multiple policies would work together when you make a claim.  This is especially true if both policies pay secondary. 

 

I normally would suggest working with a good travel insurance broker who can explain all of the nuances. But the brokers typically mentioned on this forum (TripInsuranceStore, InsureMyTrip and Squaremouth) do not offer these types of annual policies. @iamtrustworthy from TripInsuranceStore has explained why in previous posts.

Thank you.  Good info.  We have GeoBlue Trekker Choice and there is a pre ex waiver on that and we've had it since 2016.  Being as we're older we have $100,000 coverage.  Just wanted to see if I can add more.  The most Allianz gives is $50,000 but it covers a lot of things we don't even need so that's eliminated.  We have primary insurance with Medicare supplemental and that has $50,000.  We do take the Royal Caribbean insurance also for cancelation plus it gives $25,000 medical.  Have an EA policy through AAA for evacuation purposes.  Probably sufficiently insured and will just pass on Allianz.  I know Steve from the Trip Insurance Store and I do think he sells annual policies.  

[Jersey42]

24 minutes ago, torpeedo said:

I know Steve from the Trip Insurance Store and I do think he sells annual policies.  

If you still have any concerns or questions, it is worth calling Steve.  You will get better advice from him than from any poster on Cruise Critic.  I bet he will tell you that your current coverage more than exceeds the largest medical clam he has ever seen.

 

What annual policies do you believe Steve sells? He offers annual medical (like GeoBlue) and evacuation policies, but AFAIK, he and the other brokers I mentioned do not offer comprehensive annual policies that include cancellation and interruption.  He used to offer one from RoamRight, but he eliminated that several years ago.  I'm sure he will tell you his reasons if you ask.   

[torpeedo]

5 minutes ago, Jersey42 said:

If you still have any concerns or questions, it is worth calling Steve.  You will get better advice from him than from any poster on Cruise Critic.  I bet he will tell you that your current coverage more than exceeds the largest medical clam he has ever seen.

 

What annual policies do you believe Steve sells? He offers annual medical (like GeoBlue) and evacuation policies, but AFAIK, he and the other brokers I mentioned do not offer comprehensive annual policies that include cancellation and interruption.  He used to offer one from RoamRight, but he eliminated that several years ago.  I'm sure he will tell you his reasons if you ask.   

I will. I've enjoyed talking with him, he's a wealth of knowledge!  The GeoBlue  was the annual plan he does sell.  I really don't need the cancellation and all the other stuff on the comprehensive plans. I think we're probably just fine also..hopefully. Just overthinking things!

[iamtrustworthy]

On 5/13/2024 at 7:39 AM, Jersey42 said:

 

. @iamtrustworthy from TripInsuranceStore has explained why in previous posts.

Hi Jersey42,

 

Here's the link to where I talked about why I haven't found an Annual Trip Cancellation plan that is good enough for me to sell due to their plan limitations, loopholes and with what's needed to cover the changes in travel since Covid started.

 

Look at this this thread on my CruiseCritic.com TripInsuranceStore.com - Summer 2023 Q&A:

 

Steve Dasseos

Edited May 14 by iamtrustworthy