Insurance Claim Process

[Opalmoon]

Sadly, my family had to cancel our June 18th Hawaiian cruise due to sudden, serious illness of my mother, who was to travel with us. She required emergency hospitalization and ultimately surgery, but is going to be okay, and we are very thankful for that.

 

I am in the process of filing my claim for the cancellation and thought I would post my experience as I go through it. As this was a family trip, there are four individual policies and four claims.

 

The insurance company told me copies of the medical information would suffice for all four claims.

 

I've finally got all the forms filled out, documentation gathered, required signatures and am heading to the post office.

 

I read the instructions very carefully, we'll see how well I did putting the claim together!

 

I'll update as soon as I hear back.

 

Since this was a 2010 Christmas present/graduation present for my two sons, we went ahead and rescheduled..it's only money, right!?!?

[cruiseco]

Sadly, my family had to cancel our June 18th Hawaiian cruise due to sudden, serious illness of my mother, who was to travel with us. She required emergency hospitalization and ultimately surgery, but is going to be okay, and we are very thankful for that.

 

I am in the process of filing my claim for the cancellation and thought I would post my experience as I go through it. As this was a family trip, there are four individual policies and four claims.

 

The insurance company told me copies of the medical information would suffice for all four claims.

 

I've finally got all the forms filled out, documentation gathered, required signatures and am heading to the post office.

 

I read the instructions very carefully, we'll see how well I did putting the claim together!

 

I'll update as soon as I hear back.

 

Since this was a 2010 Christmas present/graduation present for my two sons, we went ahead and rescheduled..it's only money, right!?!?

 

I'm probably too late for this but I always recommend that you send it registered or some other method that requires a recipient's signature. One of the most common complaints seen around here is someone who hasn't heard back from the insurer for 5 or 6 weeks and when checking on the status is told they have no record of the claim info ever being received. Back to square one.

[Opalmoon]

cruiseco,

 

Oh, yes, sent certified with return receipt requested!

 

Also, the claims agent I spoke with to get claim numbers told me from the very beginning it would take at least 4-6 weeks to process the claim, and possibly longer because they will most likely verify the medical information even though the Dr provided all the info requested.

 

I'm ready for this to take a while.

[sirwired]

For any future documentation that is requested, I always use good old-fashioned Fax. Most fax machines can print a confirmation sheet showing the information was transmitted, and this is much cheaper and faster than mailing the information, in addition to being easier on the insurance company. (The "fax machine" on the remote end is simply a computer; a human looks at the first page to figure out what claim it belongs to, and the information is instantly routed to the correct person. No tedious sorting and scanning of material necessary.)

 

If you still want to use the mails, you can save a little bit by omitting the Return Receipt. The USPS keeps a delivery record for Certified mail for a year after delivery (which you can view online.) If there is some dispute, you can ask the USPS for a certified copy of the delivery record any time within that year.

 

P.S: Cruisco, Registered mail is only needed for items you wish to ship requiring extreme security, or if you wish to insure mail that cannot be insured through regular postal insurance (very valuable items, negotiable monetary instruments, bullion, etc.) If all you need is a legal delivery record, Certified mail is a far cheaper alternative.

[Opalmoon]

Progress! Good news and bad.

 

Good news: The insurance company I consciously purchased from is paying most of the claim, except the airfare.

 

Bad news: In my excitement to get great airfare on Priceline, I didn't notice that travel insurance was included in the fares. (Yea, I know, tres stupide).

 

So, now I'm starting the new claim for airfare reimbursement with a company I've never heard of that issues Priceline policies. So far, all I've been able to do is request a claim form.

 

To be continued......

 

-Opalmoon

[cruiseco]

 

So, now I'm starting the new claim for airfare reimbursement with a company I've never heard of that issues Priceline policies.

 

-Opalmoon

 

Priceline uses Stonebridge for their insurance policies. Stonebridge also underwrites plans for some major insurers you probably have heard of such as CSA and some of the Travelex plans. They're reputable.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We (DH and I) had a cruise booked for June 30 and insured through CSA. We were driving 3 hours to the port so had no airfare expense.

 

DS was admitted to the hospital the day before we were to sail and scheduled for open heart surgery the next morning.

 

Early evening of admission day I called my TA to tell him we were cancelling and he kindly said he would take care of it and emailed me the claim forms. I filled them out (one set was all I needed since DH and I were on the same reservation) and had the doctor's signature the second post-op day. I made a nice little packet - complete with index of what was enclosed and faxed it to CSA along with a note that the hard copy was in the mail. Two days later I got a very nice email giving me the agent's name who was assigned to the case. About a week after that she calle me, said the claim would be paid in full and the date the check was to be mailed (the next day). Sure enough, it was in the mail in a few days. Also, was a nice note saying she hoped our son was doing well.

 

Bravo for terrific service, CSA!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I hope you have no problems

[Opalmoon]

I have now received full reimbursement for the cruise and hotel costs that could not be refunded. Travel Guard was the company. Happy to say this was a good experience.

 

Just got the paperwork back from the Dr. for the Priceline claim, glad to hear that it will probably not be a problem.

 

Oh, and we got to take our trip last week! We had a wonderful time!