Holland America and Insurance for pre-existing conditions

[Fblack]

For a number of reasons, I have not sailed HAL for a number of years. And for all my other cruises, I always bought Trip Insurance, but never for a pre-existing illness. Now I feel I will need pre-existing insurance for a potential HAL cruise. Is anyone familiar with HAL's own trip/cancellation insurance? Has anyone had to use it? Can someone highlight the requirements? Thanks.

[4friends]

DH has a pre existing condition so we have purchased HAL insurance as it is "cancel fo any reason". There are standard and platinum levels, the details between you would have to look up, but with the platinum, you wou get back 90% of your cost if you had to cancel. Luckily we have not had to cancel but others have posted having no problem doing this. We booked our air with HAL as well for this reason, as they told us it is also covered.

[mudscraper]

DH has a pre existing condition so we have purchased HAL insurance as it is "cancel fo any reason". There are standard and platinum levels, the details between you would have to look up, but with the platinum, you wou get back 90% of your cost if you had to cancel. Luckily we have not had to cancel but others have posted having no problem doing this. We booked our air with HAL as well for this reason, as they told us it is also covered.

 

Of course you know that once your ship sails, HAL only provides $10,000.00 of medical coverage per person. Cancellation coverage good. Medical coverage inadequate.

[4friends]

Of course you know that once your ship sails, HAL only provides $10,000.00 of medical coverage per person. Cancellation coverage good. Medical coverage inadequate.

 

Yes, they do have terrible medical coverage. Our work insurace, between us, gives us 15 million for medical. He has had his pre existing condition for several years, and it has never impacted travel, but unfortunately his treatments have changed in the past few months. Our medical insurance would probably not cover if related to the pre existing but that is a risk one must be prepared for.

[sail7seas]

Verify that whatever your employer provided insurance is that they will pay out of country. I see you are in Canada and know nothing about your medical system but I have read many people from Canada purchase medical and evacuation coverage for their cruises. HAL's policy is cancellation, it is not medical seeing they have such a low limit they will pay. Many people are surprised to learn their insurance does not pay out of their home country.

 

I never pay for cancellation coverage but always purchase medical and evacuation coverage when traveling out of the country. The premiums are quite reasonable when not including the cost of the trip.

Edited February 1, 2015 by sail7seas

[RMLincoln]

.....

I never pay for cancellation coverage but always purchase medical and evacuation coverage when traveling out of the country. The premiums are quite reasonable when not including the cost of the trip.

 

I'm more interested in medical and especially evacuation coverage than for cancellation etc. Where do you find this more limited type of coverage?

 

For many years we have relied on our retiree medical programs which still cover 80% out of country urgent or emergency care (as out-of-network) and we've backed that up with an annual plan for medical evacuation coverage and other travel assistance through the Good Sam program. But I'd really like to have an integrated plan.

Thanks for any suggestions you can offer. m--

[sail7seas]

I use TravelEx Travel Max policy and only insure for medical and evacuation. I also carry annual MedjetAssist with AARP discount.

 

I am willing to lose the price of the cruise as that is a known amount I can afford or I would not have booked the cruise. I am not willing to risk high medical bills or evacuation costs from a foreign/distant hospital to my home or other hospital of my choice.

 

 

I by no means endorse or even recommend the policy I choose but am simply providing an answer to your question. I have never had to file a claim and cannot speak for how well or promptly such would be handled. They are a major company with years of history.

 

[RMLincoln]

Thank you so much for the info. Copied, saved and filed! This sounds like what I want to have. We too accept the risk of losing what we plan to spend anyway, but not so for what could be way more in emergency costs. And I hope none of us ever need it! m--

Edited February 1, 2015 by RMLincoln

[sail7seas]

We stopped insuring our cruises about 60+ cruises ago and have saved so much in premiums we didn't pay that even were I to lose the cost of a cruise now, I'd be so hugely far ahead. The risk of loss disappears at about cruise number 4 or 5 that is uninsured. You start to break even about then depending upon cost of your cruise vs cost of premiums.

 

[take us away]

We always get extra insurance, especially for medical and evacuation insurance. Have seen too many ambulances at piers to disregard this issue as we are getting older and a few too many evacuations. DH's Medicare covers nothing out of the country so that is an issue. You also need to check if the insurance will cover pre-existing conditions, i.e. history of heart problems and a possible heart attack while cruising (heaven forbid)! There is a website where you can shop various insurances - insuremytrip dot com - so you can get a feel for what is offered.

[drgrinch]

We buy travel insurance if only to cover the cost of a helicopter evacuation if, God forbid, it were ever needed. Helicopter evacuations tend to run to five figures for a short domestic pickup; I shudder to think what it might cost to pluck you off a cruise ship somewhere remote.

 

Also, the insurance sold by the cruise line purportedly only covers what you have purchased through the cruise line - you could end up on the hook for air fare, hotels, etc. if you did not buy it all as a package.

 

Lastly, insurance purchased from a 3rd party is (a great deal) cheaper than that offered by cruise lines.

[Fblack]

Thanks for the comments. On most of my other cruises, I was more worried about getting some serious injury or illness while out of the country that required a medical evac back to the U.S. I have a friend who had just such an event on a Danube River cruise. They had to evac him back to New York for a serious heart procedure. The costs were staggering. Luckily he had the insurance.

 

 

And while some might not care if they lose the price of the cruise if a pre-existing illness prevents them from even starting the cruise, I am not sure I want to walk away from a very expensive and previously paid for Suite for 2 plus airfare to and back from Europe.

 

One issue for me in the past was that you had to purchase pre-existing illness/cancellation reinsurance very soon after booking the cruise or it was unavailable. I need to look around for someone who will sell pre-existing illness insurance closer to the cruise date. Say 90 days out or so. If such a policy exists.

[NMLady]

We stopped insuring our cruises about 60+ cruises ago and have saved so much in premiums we didn't pay that even were I to lose the cost of a cruise now, I'd be so hugely far ahead. The risk of loss disappears at about cruise number 4 or 5 that is uninsured. You start to break even about then depending upon cost of your cruise vs cost of premiums.

 

 

What do you do for medical and evacuation insurance?

[sail7seas]

Thanks for the comments. On most of my other cruises, I was more worried about getting some serious injury or illness while out of the country that required a medical evac back to the U.S. I have a friend who had just such an event on a Danube River cruise. They had to evac him back to New York for a serious heart procedure. The costs were staggering. Luckily he had the insurance.

 

 

And while some might not care if they lose the price of the cruise if a pre-existing illness prevents them from even starting the cruise, I am not sure I want to walk away from a very expensive and previously paid for Suite for 2 plus airfare to and back from Europe.

 

One issue for me in the past was that you had to purchase pre-existing illness/cancellation reinsurance very soon after booking the cruise or it was unavailable. I need to look around for someone who will sell pre-existing illness insurance closer to the cruise date. Say 90 days out or so. If such a policy exists.

 

 

 

There are some insurers that let you purchase a policy the day before final payment is due and I have read they cover pre-existing condition. I would guess the premiums must be higher but it could be worth it to some people.

 

I have never booked or researched but you might want to look at CSA and perhaps HTH.

Edited February 2, 2015 by sail7seas

[sail7seas]

What do you do for medical and evacuation insurance?

 

You may wish to look at my post #7 in this thread. :)

 

[4friends]

This thread has been good food for thought. We purchased the HAL insurance for the cancel for any reason because we aren't prepared to walk away from the total cruise and airfare cost. Luckily we don't have to purchase extra medical yet as we both have travel insurance through work. Reading this thread prompted me to call them today to verify our coverage. Both our plans cover out of country, and include air ambulance return. Mine does not have any pre existing illness exclusions which was great news. DH's insurance only requires stable medical condition the 3 months prior to departure. (We are also covered under each other's). When we retire, we will have to re-evaluate

[Lizzie68]

There are many reasons why people may choose to use HAL's Cancel for Any Reason insurance, and they are personal and sometimes complex. Just as families are complex.;) I have recently purchased it in addition to my usual insurance which is good coverage, but I have a specific reason why we need the additional assurance/insurance. As I said, for many people it is ideal depending on your personal situation. You may feel you do not need it for every cruise. It doesn't matter if you can afford to lose the cruise fare, or how many cruises you have under your belt - it is a very personal decision and only you can decide if it is worth it or not.

[Cuizer2]

For a number of reasons, I have not sailed HAL for a number of years. And for all my other cruises, I always bought Trip Insurance, but never for a pre-existing illness. Now I feel I will need pre-existing insurance for a potential HAL cruise. Is anyone familiar with HAL's own trip/cancellation insurance? Has anyone had to use it? Can someone highlight the requirements? Thanks.

 

Check out "InsureMyTrip.Com" Typically, if you need pre-existing coverage, you need to purchase your insurance within a week or two of putting a deposit down for your cruise.

[Fblack]

Suddenly this has gotten even more complicated than I thought. For years I always used CSA for my Travel insurance/trip cancellation needs. One reason I use them is that their home office is about 20 minutes from my home. So if I ever had issues, I know exactly where to find them. I did once file a very small claim and they paid off in 10 days. We used to have an excellent medical plan through by wife's school district and I really wanted the extra medical evacuation coverage when we cruised far form home.

 

But now we just hit Medicare age. And we pay for an additional excellent Supplemental Plan. But if you read up on whether Medicare provides coverage while on a cruise far from the U.S., or a foreign country, you will see why extra private coverage is probably needed. And CSA does allow for coverage of pre-existing conditions, but with a number of special requirements. So I guess more research is needed. And the price of the Insurance starts to get pretty expensive. What do others on Medicare do?

[lazey1]

We just buy the HAL Platinum insurance as anything else would be far to expensive with all of our preexisting conditions. The older you get the more restrictive the private insurance is, the amount of coverage for medical goes down and the price goes up and up and up.:(

[Nanner]

We aren't on Medicare yet, but our health insurance out of the country is lacking, so we purchase additional. As we tend to book longer cruises, I really don't want to lose the amount paid if we have to cancel later. We tend to book early, though we are rethinking that given HAL's tendency to reward those who wait.

 

Most often we go to insuremytrip and use TravelGuard. I've had some smaller claims for the shipboard doctor. Yes, you do have to pay out of pocket to disembark, but TG has been very quick to reimburse us.

 

I like that they will cover if something happens when we are not on a cruiseline sponsored excursion, since we tend to book mostly independent shore trips. HAL insurance only covers those offered through the line.

 

HAL also doesn't cover independent air, which is our preferred mode to get to the port from Michigan. We really like nonstops.

 

We did purchase the HAL platinum plan one time when I forgot to buy early (to get the preexisting condition waiver). On that cruise, I injured my knee, and the ship's doctor not only treated me, the insurance paid (at the doctor's request) to bump my return flight home to first class.

 

The bottom line is that I consider insurance part of the cost of our travels and would not go without. It has paid for itself more than once. If not in total money returned, in the peace of mind of knowing that we can get the money back if we cancel or need true emergency care. We've seen enough ambulances and helicopter evacuations to realize anything can, and will, happen during a cruise that lasts over 2 weeks. And let's not even talk about repatriation of remains...

Edited February 3, 2015 by Nanner

[Cuizer2]

HAL also doesn't cover independent air, which is our preferred mode to get to the port from Michigan. We really like nonstops.

 

How do you get off the plane if it doesn't stop? :confused:

[mudscraper]

We just buy the HAL Platinum insurance as anything else would be far to expensive with all of our preexisting conditions. The older you get the more restrictive the private insurance is, the amount of coverage for medical goes down and the price goes up and up and up.:(

 

The third party travel insurance that most of us buy does not consider our/your preexisting conditions as far as the cost of the policy is concerned. They basically want to know two things: The cost of your trip and the ages of the travelers. Your preexisting conditions will be covered as long as you purchase the policy within the required time period.

Edited February 3, 2015 by mudscraper

[Cuizer2]

The third party travel insurance that most of us buy does not consider our/your preexisting conditions as far as the cost of the policy is concerned. They basically want to know two things: The cost of your trip and the ages of the travelers. Your preexisting conditions will be covered as long as you purchase the policy within the required time period.

 

I agree, except they also want to know where you live. Some policies cannot be sold in certain states, or are only for US citizens, or only for non-US citizens.

[Fblack]

I more carefully reviewed HAL's on-line information on their Cancellation For Any Reason Plan (CCP: Cancellation Protection Plan) . And it's complicated.

 

Unless I am reading it wrong, their CCP also includes a second part that is a Travel Insurance program that includes Trip delay, Medical, and Evacuation coverage. And unless you live in New York, you must buy it all as a package. ("NOTICE TO NEW YORK RESIDENTS ONLY: The Holland America Cancel For Any Reason Waiver may be purchased separately from the Travel Insurance Program.")

 

But, that additional Travel Medical insurance you get with the CCP excludes pre-existing illnesses. Their "Medical Expense/Emergency Assistance Benefits" section has the exclusion. It says: " 2) benefits will be payable only for Covered Expenses resulting from a Sickness that first manifests itself or an Injury that occurs while on a Covered Cruise Vacation; ...". So if you buy CCP, you can totally cancel the cruise before it leaves (for any reason, even a pre-existing condition) and get back either 80% or 90% of your money. But if you get ill while on the cruise, a pre-existing illness is excluded from medical coverage.

 

And I don't see where HAL will even sell coverage for a pre-existing illness if something happens during a cruise. I can't even tell if they just sell some sort of "Stand Alone" emergency evacuation, trip delay, and basic medical coverage. Without CCP.

 

So I will keep looking at the various private plans for now.

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-planning/PlanningAndAdvice.action?tabName=Cruise+Preparation&contentMenu=Changes+%26+Cancellations&contentSubMenu=Do+You+Offer+A+Cancellation+Protection+Plan%3F&WT.ac=pnav_FBG_CPP