Family Member Life Threatening Clause

[SirTomster]

So my father-in-law has Prostate Cancer which has spread to his bones. So the doctor has said it is inoperable. He is on medication to reduce the spread and it will work for awhile.

 

Eventually the medication will stop being effective and he will get worse and worse as it will start spreading again. Currently he is fine and mobile and living life as he has been. People in similar circumstances can pass away in months (already been longer than that) to many years. The doctor will not give a time frame as everyone is unique but he did say that the average is around 3 years.

 

So my question is how the insurance providers handle this.

 

This is taken from TravelGuard Gold on this scenario.

 

If the Insured must cancel or interrupt his/her Trip 
due to Injury or Sickness of a Family Member not 
traveling with the Insured, it must be because their 
condition is life-threatening, as certified by a Physician, 
or because they require the Insured’s care.

Does anyone know how stringent they are on that? If my Father In Law takes a turn for the worse and the doctors give him weeks left. Somehow I do not think we will want to go on a cruise and would want to cancel.

 

I do see cancel for any reason policies but the TravelGuard ones are for 50% (at least for Gold) So I would rather not depend on that if possible since we are looking at a 15 or 16 day Cruise to Hawaii in either January or April of 2015.

 

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

[Happy2cruise]

Very sorry to hear about your Father-in-Law. My husband has just been diagnosed with Prostrate Cancer and fortunately will be treating it with radiation.

 

Back to your question, I would strongly suggest you call the insurance you want or an agency who offers multiple companies to explain your situation and concerns to see what they say and what plans they have to offer.

 

For our trips, we purchase travel insurance thru tripinsurancestore.com and have always received excellent advise from Steve, the owner, or one of his reps on what policy would be best for our particular situation and needs. You could give them a call to see what they say....it would be someplace to start.

[GeezerCouple]

I agree with the suggestion to call TripInsuranceStore.com, and speak with Steve (owner, I think) or anyone else there.

 

They'll take the time to figure out what policy will be best for you.

 

We had a policy that provided 75% CFAR (Cancel For Any Reason), for a surcharge over the policy cost without that extra coverage.

 

[i thought that IF we needed to cancel our trip (also to Hawaii), it would be due to unexpected and critical consulting business. However, what actually happened was that he got very sick with less than 2 weeks to go. I sure didn't see *that* coming, but were we ever glad that we had the coverage. It's still scary to think if he had become ill several days later - we'd have already left home. I guess that's what MedJetAssist would be for, and hope we NEVER need to use them.]

 

GeezerCouple

[SirTomster]

So to update this so if anyone else runs across a similar situation.

 

tripinsurancestore recommended CFAR (cancel for any reason)coverage. Which comes in at 50% to 75% refund of your prepaid expenses.

 

Which for me would be around $900 I would lose if this situation were to occur. Since my wife is so skittish. We will be waiting until the last minute likely before booking to be sure it is ok to go.

[RJ2002]

Thank you for your update.

 

Another source for travel insurance is insuremytrip dot com. They offer a broader array of products from more companies, in case tripinsurancestore did not have a product that meets you expectations, or if you just want to shop around.

[sirwired]

I'd think that a medical cancellation in this case would be simply a doctor stating in a note that the condition was life-threatening and/or that he requires your care.

 

When we had to cancel a cruise because my Dad went in for an urgent cardiac bypass, TravelGuard didn't bat an eye when paying out, even though I suppose technically my Mom could have taken care of him on her own.

[Ontario cruise duo]

I have a similar situation happening right now with my father-in-law (who is not travelling with my DH and myself) on a cruise to Alaska in June. I phoned insuremytrip.com last night to get a quote and specifically ask if we would be covered if we had to cancel as my father-in-law has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing chemotheraphy treatments. I mentioned to the insurance agent that my f-I-l is currently doing fine, but that should his situation change before we cruise in three month, would we be covered for a full refund of our cruise, flight, excursions and hotels booked before and after. The agent mentioned that if he was to have a "worsening of condition" before our scheduled departure or worse yet, while we are on our cruise, that we would be covered and would be refunded accordingly, or arrangements would be made to get us back home early. So, my suggestion to you is to call insuremytrip.com and speak to an agent to have your concerns answered in regard to your situation.

[cherylandtk]

We have found the CFAR credit offered by the cruiseline policy to be the most flexible coverage in these cases. But we can use the credit up with a year, not everyone can.