We don’t have USAA insurance of any other kind but I have a membership number through my dad’s service. So I only had to log on with that membership to get to the travel insurance.
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That’s interesting, maybe I still have my membership number? Worth checking, thanks.
We recently purchased a “BCBS Global Solutions Single Trip Platinum excl US” policy through Squaremouth that will cover preexisting conditions as long as you have healthcare, including Medicare, in the US. This is only for major medical and evacuation, not any cancellations, etc. When you do your search, you have to ask not to cover trip expenses. It was the only one like this. The cost for the two of us (in our 70’s) for a one week trip to Mexico was about $160, The great thing was that they promptly refunded my money when I had to cancel the day before the trip due to a medical emergency. You can cancel for any reason up to the day before your trip with just a quick phone call.
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Just asked Claude and he had a number of options up to 21 days but the final option below, but might be very expensive, maybe worth a check.
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I’m confused. You said it doesn’t cover trip expenses, but then you were able to cancel the day before the trip and it also offers cancel for any reason? But that seems in conflict with not covering trip expenses.
I’ll check it out. I think I’m the only one in the world without AI!
Wow, this is getting confusing, here. Looks like I still do have a USAA account (apparently once a member, always a member), and they do give a travel quote that gives you the pre-existing conditions exclusion if you buy the policy within 30 days of the initial deposit, instead of 14-20, which is unusual. And you have to insure for the entire nonrefundable portion of the trip (which I wasn’t planning on), so it is expensive.
But when I look at the travel insurance store, they say if you’re using a travel credit (which we are), that the initial deposit date is when you put the initial payment on the first trip you had booked (months ago). Good grief. Really? Who cares if you’re using a credit! I think I gotta call and ask some questions.
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I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. I cancelled the policy and was refunded for that. We weren’t able to take our trip so it was a relief to have the cost of the policy refunded.
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Gotcha. I didn’t even think one could cancel a policy. Any little bit helps.
Good luck; sounds as complicated as what we went through for me to be able to use a Delta ecredit in husband’s name.
I’ve had a USAA membership number for decades; I think my mom originally arranged for it. I’ve only ever used it in the past to book cruises, which is what she had done. I periodically checked for auto insurance but we could always do better elsewhere. But they did have a very reasonably priced insurance for our four day Sydney extension. We basically only wanted to cover medical since we’re on Medicare. No worries that we’d need to be evacuated!
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Yeah, I don’t have anything with them any more, as we were so disgusted. But that travel insurance may be a reasonable deal, especially since no one else gives you 30 days.
All so dang complicated. I’ve bought travel insurance many a time, never used it, but getting older and going to more exotic places, I’m starting to pay more attention.
I am planning to buy 1 year evacuation & medical coverage from Steve at the online insurance store. We plan to buy just before we fly. It won’t cover the trip costs (most of that is refundable points, etc). We just don’t want to be stuck with huge bill if we have to be flown home or need a lot of medical care.
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Okay, I got it all figured out. Thank you, everyone, for the advice, I investigated all of it.
The big problem is not purchasing the insurance within 14-20 days of the first deposit, for waiver of pre-existing condition, and the other issue was that we are using a travel credit from months ago (hence many companies consider that as the initial deposit).
I contacted the trip insurance store and they said they only had one policy that could work for me, and it is extremely expensive. When she looked up the actual cost, she said even that wasn’t available to me because we’re in Washington state. Well!
I purchased a policy through USAA that seems to be one of its type, though maybe the guidelines are looser because it’s military, or maybe you can get similar deals through policies affiliated with other organizations.
30 days to purchase your policy after the first deposit, and they don’t consider if you’re using travel credits, just whenever you make that first deposit, the clock starts. Cancel for any reason (get 75% back) for not a huge additional charge, good coverage. I couldn’t find this policy anywhere else, good thing that @Marilyn prompted me to realize I was still a member!
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Yay! Glad you found something that works for you. I had not heard or considered a USAA policy. Maybe we will investigate that but we already put down several deposits many months ago. We have pre-existing conditions but that doesn’t count for getting medical care and evacuations per the trip insurance store.
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That’s probably the same policy we might have purchased, IF It was available in our state.
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Fortunately the policy is pretty reasonable for a 1 year policy and does cover people in our state.
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Thanks! Definitely worth checking out the next time, just so you also get reimbursement if you have to cancel the trip. I would have never thought of USAA, but it does make me wonder if other affiliation related policies have similar less stringent guidelines.
Huzzah! So glad it worked out for you. I had looked at AAA policies too, but they were more expensive and the affiliated agency got terrible reviews. I’m lucky my parents set the memberships so very long ago.
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No, would NOT get reimbursed for trip cancelation, just medical and evacuation expenses. Would have to buy trip insurance closer to time of making initial deposit to avoid all the pre-existing condition exclusions for trip cancelation.
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I certainly learned that lesson the hard way this time! From now on if I think I need insurance, book the trip, then book the insurance!
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