<p>Does anyone here have any in-depth knowledge of travel insurance?</p>
<p>I am working with a family (due to HIPAA I cannot give out anymore information) that is trying to make some travel arrangements, and due to circumstances in the family, they are trying to purchase travel insurance in case something happens to one of the elderly parents and they need to cancel the trip.</p>
<p>One of the family members has done some preliminary research and everything she has found excludes coverage if a claim is due to a pre-existing condition. The elderly parents are not traveling, but if something happens to either one and the adult child needs to cancel the trip, there are several other people who would not take the trip, as the adult child is sort of chaperoning.</p>
<p>There are clauses, such as, has the ill person seen a physician for the condition within the previous 120 days, etc. I can’t help but think of all the people who purchase travel insurance policies because they have elderly relatives who might have a crisis, only to find out they’re not covered.</p>
<p>I use travelinsured dot com. You need to purchase the ‘cancel for any reason’ policy which is about 50% higher (I think). My husband has ms and so we have to be able to cancel for that reason even though it’s pre-existing.</p>
<p>ETA: csatravelprotection dot com is also a good site that will let you check multiple companies. They specifically state they have pre-existing condition policies available as well as cancel for any reason.</p>
<p>You can check out insuremytrip.com as well. You can put in your particulars, and it will give many options to choose from. I know there is another similar site but can’t remember the name right now…</p>
<p>Keep looking because my mom has a health condition that can cause periods of vertigo and then she can’t fly and she has had travel insurance pay off three times with a note from her doctor. Sorry I don’t have any details on the company she used but I know the policies are out there.</p>
<p>A few of the companies have policies with clauses that state if the policy is bought within 2 (or sometimes 3) weeks of making the first reservation for a trip, the policy covers pre-existing conditions. If you use the “compare policies” section of some of the online insurance sites you can see this feature for some of the policies.</p>
<p>I would CAREFULLY read any policy BEFORE you make any travel arrangements. Some insurers will only provide the best policies (in terms of cancellation & premiums) if you buy the policy when you make your 1st travel arrangements. We looked into travel insurance but it turned out for us that it was better not to bother since the policies we saw didn’t allow “cancel for any reason,” and like those you saw, excluded pre-existing conditions (which would make it mostly worthless for our purposes).</p>
<p>Once when we did have to cancel our trip because of my doc’s orders, we contacted all the companies with his note & were able to get refunds. My sister had a similar experience when she had to cancel because one of her best friends was expected to die within 24 hours of their trip (tho she had to pay a small penalty). Some credit card companies also offer limited travel insurance if you purchase EVERYTHING on their credit card (but there are often limits, but worth considering in choosing how to pay for your trip).</p>
<p>I second lb5’s comment. If you buy promptly after purchasing the first part of the trip - usually airfare - you can get insurance that covers preexisting conditions - even if it’s cancellation due to a close relative who is not totally healthy and then becomes gravely ill. We had to cancel 2 trips when H’s mother was ill, and they were covered. We found a lot of good information on Rick Steves’ travel website.</p>
<p>^^^^ This. Buy the insurance right after buying the tickets and it will cover preexisting and cancellation for ill family members if you research and buy the correct policy. Just know that there has to be lots of documentation and notes from doctors. But you can get reimbursed for cancelled trips for these reasons. And if one cancels and goes to the bedside of an ill family member, call one of the physicians offices involved in the care and ask for a letter right from the get go. To be honest, this physician has gladly written those letters for family members who dropped everything to “be there.”</p>
<p>I think I’ve had some customers tell me that their credit card provided travel insurance for free. You might want to check into that… I don’t know how much truth there is to it. I’m sure it varies by card. I did just get a 250 dollar refund check on my washer repair thanks to someone on here telling me about credit cards extending warranties.</p>
<p>We got $150 cancellation refund apiece for a total of $600 from insurance provided by our credit card when we had to cancel our flights. I have also gotten total refunds for each of our kids laptops when they died due to free AmEx extended warranties by purchasing their laptops with AmEx. Have gotten a total refund on S’s retainers because of an extended warranty on that (he had them in his pocket when they were in the washer & dryer). Have also gotten a refund on D’s glasses when they fell into the ocean & were never seen again due to the loss protection (<90 days after CC purchase). It is amazing how handy some of these policies turn out to be, if you charge & then later check up on it (Costco has the receipts on their files even if you lost it).</p>
<p>Still, most cc travel policies have pretty low limits on coverage, so check it out to avoid disappointment. It’s handy as a supplement but not the primary.</p>
<p>This is absolutely correct. You generally have to buy the insurance within 7-21 days of making the first travel arrangement (for example, if you buy your airline tickets first). On our last trip I did this but then went back later and increased the amount of coverage as I booked hotels, etc. because I didn’t feel I had enough. As long as you get the initial insurance within the proper time frame, they were okay with adding to it later.</p>
<p>Also, they don’t cover 100% of the trip cost - it’s usually a percentage (like 60-80%).</p>
<p>Just called the family to give them all the suggestions above. They were so incredibly grateful for other options! They were also able to extend the hold on the tickets for another day (I guess it expired last night at midnight), so now they have time to follow up on all the suggestions listed above and not lose the tickets.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. Will let you know when I find out what they did, although it may not be until I see them next in a few weeks.</p>