No Pre-Existing - Get Waiver Anyway?

[killineybay]

I am confused about the pre-existing waiver. We booked a cruise for Feb 2011 in the past week and wonder if we should purchase ins. now. We do not have pre-existing conditions but wonder how this plays out if we wait until final payment to get ins. and one of us gets ill before then. Do you need to state you have a pre-existing to get the waiver or is it a good idea to get it as a safety precaution? I think if we buy ins. now it will not be refundable if we had to cancel the trip. However, we will both be on Medicare this summer and want to cover all bases. Thanks for any enlightenment!

[cruiseco]

I am confused about the pre-existing waiver. We booked a cruise for Feb 2011 in the past week and wonder if we should purchase ins. now. We do not have pre-existing conditions but wonder how this plays out if we wait until final payment to get ins. and one of us gets ill before then. Do you need to state you have a pre-existing to get the waiver or is it a good idea to get it as a safety precaution? I think if we buy ins. now it will not be refundable if we had to cancel the trip. However, we will both be on Medicare this summer and want to cover all bases. Thanks for any enlightenment!

 

You have a few choices:

 

1) Buy now. The policy will be non-refundable but if you change your mind about going on this cruise most of the insurers will let you roll the premium over to a replacement trip. Before you buy, ask the insurer what their policies are about this.

 

2) wait until the final payment date and buy a policy from CSA and still be covered for pre-existing conditions. If you do this I recommend not using the version found at insuremytrip.com as with that plan you have to step up to the more expensive Luxe version to get the pre-ex coverage. Try the Freestyle version at http://www.travelinsurancecenter.com or the Comfort version at http://www.travelprotect.com

 

3) Wait until the final payment date and if you still have no pre-ex conditions pick just about any plan that suits your needs. If you do, back to option 2.

[sirwired]

Keep in mind that the pre-ex waiver is not just for you, it is also for waiving pre-ex for any family members that may cause you to cancel your cruise.

 

If you are going to insure anyway, I can't think of a reason not to go ahead and get the policy now.

 

SirWired

[killineybay]

Thanks for your help. (BTW I changed my name from ann99bray). Just to follow up, I purchased a Gold plan from Travel Guard as I think it does make sense to buy it now as we will be going barring an emergency. I have been busy reading all the fine print. The policy looks good and covers preexisting conditions and also financial default if buying from a TA if purchased in 15 days from trip deposit. I have one question about Travel Guard - they are not a member of BBB. Are they still pretty reputable? I have read good things here on cruisecritic but not so good elewhere on the web.

[cruiseco]

I have one question about Travel Guard - they are not a member of BBB. Are they still pretty reputable? I have read good things here on cruisecritic but not so good elewhere on the web.

 

Any insurer is going to have unhappy clients if a claim decision doesn't go their way. Your safety net is that you can take any unfavorable claim decision to an impartial arbitrator and/or appeal it to your state's Department of Insurance. If they all agree your claim has no merit then it's a pretty good bet that the insurer made the correct decision. If they feel that the claim should be paid it will be or the Department of Insurance can fine them and/or bar them from selling policies to residents of your state.

 

However, there are some gray areas built into your plan and about every other plan out there. For example, this is from your plan's definition of a pre-existing medical condition:

 

"PRE-EXISTING MEDICAL condition exclusion:

The Insurer will not pay for any Loss or expense incurred as the result of an Injury, Sickness or other condition of an Insured, Traveling Companion, Business Partner, or Family Member which, within the 60 day period immediately preceding and including the Insured's coverage effective date: (a) first manifested itself, worsened or became acute or had symptoms which would have prompted a reasonable person to seek diagnosis, care or treatment; . . ."

 

What's reasonable to you may not be reasonable to the next guy. And it may not be reasonable to the claims person that's handling your case. So yes, people will have complaints but as long as they follow the procedures for taking that complaint to a neutral third party they will at least know that a decision that goes against them is the correct one.

[killineybay]

Thanks for your help. We always get travel insurance (usually through the cruise line) but I have to admit that I previously have skimmed the policy and did not read it thoroughly. This is the first time I have read the whole thing. I do think a third party ins. is more comprehensive and I imagine claims can be dismissed if the insured does not read all the fine print, follow the guidelines in the policy and of course as you point out there is that grey area. That said, I have learned a lot from researching this on cruisecritic and hope we do not have to use it! I must say that the representatives that I spoke to at Travelguard purchasing the policy were very helpful.:)