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Recommendations for Travel Insurance to Supplement Chase Sapphire Reserve?


Caligirl58
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I apologize for yet another travel insurance question. I did read many of the previous threads, but my head is spinning, and I'm still not sure what to do. My husband and I are planning to book a 10 day Uniworld cruise (Delightful Danube & Prague) for next summer. We will use our Chase Sapphire Reserve VISA, which offers good travel insurance benefits. But I'm wondering what type of policy(ies) we might need to supplement the Chase coverage?

--Chase offers up to $10k reimbursement for trip cancellation. But I can't tell if this is 'cancel for any reason'. Does anyone know? Even if it is, on a more expensive trip for two, this might not be enough to reimburse for canceling cruise/airfare/tours/other fees. (We have elderly parents, so we may need to cancel for emergencies.) So do we need an additional policy that would cover all costs?

--And since the Chase medical coverage is light, and we need a policy that covers pre-existing conditions (husband recently completed treatment for prostate cancer), we know we need to purchase a policy that gives us better medical coverage. But should we also purchase (from MedJetAssist) a policy to supplement the up-to-$100k med-evac coverage that our Chase card provides?

We are willing to spend what we have to spend to cover the eventualities. Just trying not to spend way more than necessary. Would welcome any advice or recommendations. Thank you.

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I have the same card and have used that for my trips, combined with a supplemental medical policy (GeoBlue Voyager Choice). Chase's cancellation coverage does have some limitations so worth reading through the policy to see how it would apply to your situation. Personally, it meets my needs adequately. As for amount, some costs may be reimbursable, so consider that in your calculations.

 

I do not add on additional evacuation insurance because covered through both Chase and GeoBlue. The GeoBlue Voyager Choice plan does cover pre-existing conditions, which is a huge perk for such a low price.

 

This is my first year with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and it's proven economical despite the high annual fee based on the money I've saved on insurance premiums. I've done quite a bit of research and feel confident with the coverage provided with the medical supplement.

 

Hope this helps,

Carrie

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Double check the coverage for pre-existing conditions, and also coverage if something happens to non-traveling family members (and whether *their* pre-existing conditions are a factor or not).

 

If you need outside coverage (including the CFAR coverage) there might be deadlines for starting the insurance that starts from the time of first deposit/payment.

(A company that does offer pre-existing condition coverage even if purchased as late a final payment may still have CFAR available, but it might cost a lot more than if purchased right around first payment.)

 

You might want to call www.TripInsuranceStore.com and discuss with them what might be needed in addition to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. (I'm assuming they'd be familiar with this question, but I could be wrong...)

 

Good luck!

 

GC

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  • 10 months later...

@Caligirl58 I came here with this exact question in mind ! 

 

Thank you for starting this topic.

 

Did you have any new thoughts after talking to TripsInsuranceStore? 

 

I was wondering if anyone in same position as ours has put together a table with 

features needed (rows)

Chase Sapphire Reserve provides... (column 1)

Policy X also provides (column 2) 

etc

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On ‎5‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 12:11 AM, SempreMare said:

 

 

I was wondering if anyone in same position as ours has put together a table with 

features needed (rows)

Chase Sapphire Reserve provides... (column 1)

Policy X also provides (column 2) 

etc

 Go for it 

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13 hours ago, J2ThBa2cz said:

Interesting recent article about unusual limit to the Chase Sapphire coverage.  Link:  https://4wornpassports.com/beware-chase-card-travel-insurance/  Apparently their insurance doesn't cover alternative arrangements to continue your trip.  Hope this helps.

The blog link link is actually more than a year old, but I just saw it the other day when "SempreMare" posted it on another thread.  After reading the blog, I checked my Chase Sapphire benefits and it looks like the Trip Interruption benefits are indeed limited compared to most of the travel insurance policies I have seen.  Chase will cover "the forfeited, non-refundable pre-paid land, air and/or sea transportation arrangements that were missed".  But they make no mention of the transportation costs to get you home or to the next location. Most of the purchased plans have cover more for Trip Interruption than Trip Cancellation, because of the potential high cost of last minute air arrangements.  

 

Does anyone have experience with a Trip Interruption claim through one of the Chase Sapphire cards?  Did they pay any transportation costs?

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On 5/14/2019 at 5:47 AM, Jersey42 said:

 Does anyone have experience with a Trip Interruption claim through one of the Chase Sapphire cards?  Did they pay any transportation costs?

Don't have experience with Trip Interruption thru Chase, but it was a royal pain for a very small cancellation claim.  Took over 3 months of haggling back and forth for documents that had already been sent that needed to be sent again for no obvious reason. 

 

After reading this article, we may need to revisit that part of our "insurance" strategy.  

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On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 5:43 PM, twincheryl said:

Don't have experience with Trip Interruption thru Chase, but it was a royal pain for a very small cancellation claim.  Took over 3 months of haggling back and forth for documents that had already been sent that needed to be sent again for no obvious reason. 

 

After reading this article, we may need to revisit that part of our "insurance" strategy.  

We do have experience :).  We had recently changed from AMEX Platinum (which we downgraded to Gold) to Chase Sapphire Reserve for several reasons including the Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance and the Primary rental car insurance.  Within a year after obtaining the card we had a major trip interruption issue while on a cruise in Asia (we had posted the tale on this blog).  Chase eventually paid us $10,000 which was mostly for the pro-rated unused portion of our cruise.  But the process was somewhat difficult (it took several months of back and forth) and at times I had the feeling the insurance claims processing folks were trying to wear us down :(.  Having spent a lifetime working in the medical insurance/government industry I knew enough to keep my cool and patience and keep plugging away.   We also had an issue with some "lost" documents (we could never ascertain whether it was my fault of the insurance carriers) and I had to send (or resend) more documents.  But in the end they did pay our claim.  

 

Despite the hassles we think our insurance strategy is very sound.  We do a lot of travel (sometimes 6 months a year) and keep our trips to no longer then 10 weeks at a time to comply with our health insurance terms.  For health insurance we purchase the annual GeoBlue Global Trek policy which gives us $250,000 ($100,000 for age 70+) of medical and $500,000 of trip evacuation.  That medical policy covers the first 70 days of every trip we take throughout the policy year.  For cancellation/interruption we rely on the Chase card.  Although our trips often exceed the Chase limits we are willing to self-insure any overage.  Meanwhile we save thousands of dollars per year in what we DON'T pay for typical trip insurance which often has lousy medical limits.

 

Hank

 

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2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We do have experience :).  We had recently changed from AMEX Platinum (which we downgraded to Gold) to Chase Sapphire Reserve for several reasons including the Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance and the Primary rental car insurance.  Within a year after obtaining the card we had a major trip interruption issue while on a cruise in Asia (we had posted the tale on this blog).  Chase eventually paid us $10,000 which was mostly for the pro-rated unused portion of our cruise.  But the process was somewhat difficult (it took several months of back and forth) and at times I had the feeling the insurance claims processing folks were trying to wear us down :(.  Having spent a lifetime working in the medical insurance/government industry I knew enough to keep my cool and patience and keep plugging away.   We also had an issue with some "lost" documents (we could never ascertain whether it was my fault of the insurance carriers) and I had to send (or resend) more documents.  But in the end they did pay our claim.  

 

Despite the hassles we think our insurance strategy is very sound.  We do a lot of travel (sometimes 6 months a year) and keep our trips to no longer then 10 weeks at a time to comply with our health insurance terms.  For health insurance we purchase the annual GeoBlue Global Trek policy which gives us $250,000 ($100,000 for age 70+) of medical and $500,000 of trip evacuation.  That medical policy covers the first 70 days of every trip we take throughout the policy year.  For cancellation/interruption we rely on the Chase card.  Although our trips often exceed the Chase limits we are willing to self-insure any overage.  Meanwhile we save thousands of dollars per year in what we DON'T pay for typical trip insurance which often has lousy medical limits.

 

Hank

 

Totally agree... I also felt that the Chase insurance people were trying to see how long I would wait before letting it go... or were, at the least, trying to buy time.  All of the people I spoke with were extremely polite and professional and always said they were sorry things had gone awry... lol... and they DID pay in the end, so I guess that's the most important part.  We also have GeoBlue and MedJet and are willing to self insure for some of the interruption expense.  

 

On the trip that had to be cancelled last year, every business we had to cancel with refunded our money in full without even having to claim it on Chase.  We rarely book things that have to be paid in advance and even Hawaiian Airlines gave us a refund minus $100 each (which was what I claimed on Chase).  We definitely have saved many thousands of dollars by doing things this way.

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5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We do have experience :).  We had recently changed from AMEX Platinum (which we downgraded to Gold) to Chase Sapphire Reserve for several reasons including the Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance and the Primary rental car insurance.  Within a year after obtaining the card we had a major trip interruption issue while on a cruise in Asia (we had posted the tale on this blog).  Chase eventually paid us $10,000 which was mostly for the pro-rated unused portion of our cruise.   . . .

Hank:  Thanks for your always excellent insights. I remember reading your long saga, but I forgot it was Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR).  Can I assume you never found out if CSR would cover transportation/hotel/incidentals because you already hit the $10K limit with the pro-rated unused portion of your trip?

 

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Despite the hassles we think our insurance strategy is very sound.  . . . For health insurance we purchase the annual GeoBlue Global Trek policy which gives us $250,000 ($100,000 for age 70+) of medical and $500,000 of trip evacuation.  . . .  Although our trips often exceed the Chase limits we are willing to self-insure any overage.  Meanwhile we save thousands of dollars per year in what we DON'T pay for typical trip insurance which often has lousy medical limits.

 

2 hours ago, twincheryl said:

 We also have GeoBlue and MedJet and are willing to self insure for some of the interruption expense.  . . . We definitely have saved many thousands of dollars by doing things this way.

 

Hank and Cheryl: Even with the hassles you both went through, I am still believing that your approach is indeed very sound and I think you have both proven you have saved a lot of money overall going this way.  This approach is new for us and we will keep doing it unless something changes.  By the way, the only time in recent memory where we have filed a claim using one of the "comprehensive travel insurance" policies it was also a "royal pain".  It took over three months to pay a few hundred dollars for visits to the ship's medical center.  But it was eventually paid in full.

 

 

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