Insurance through Credit Card

[Hamburg Avon Lady]

Was wondering if my credit card's travel insurance would be sufficient -- my husband has "pre-existing conditions" which we have purchased from Alliance insurance in the past.  Can I just insure him with Alliance and go with the credit card insurance for me ? (no health concerns for me, as yet).  Anyone's experience with credit card insurance claims would be appreciated. Thanks.

[hallasm]

I'm using Credit Card travel insurance only and with good experiences - no problems with claims - however might be different from Europe to US. 

I do have the terms and conditions for my Credit Card insurance where terms are spelled out very clearly - check the terms and conditions for your card.

[klfrodo]

It would be much better if you actually read the terms and conditions of what your credit card provides.

I have 2 credit cards and each one of them has different coverages.

[SPacificbound]

For me it would depend on how much the credit card insurance would pay if needed. The ones I have looked at did not seem sufficient for a "just in case" medical. But then I am probably a lot older than the OP.  🙂 

[Underwatr]

Read the terms carefully. You might be lucky and the only pre-existing condition language may be that all passengers are medically able to travel on the day travel is booked. Also note the cash limits of the coverage.

 

My wife and I have three cards (three separate accounts) from the same issuer (Citi). One (the Costco Anywhere Visa) has a coverage limit of $3000 per passenger, so it may be a good card for insuring cancellation/interruption on a cruise. The others (Citi Double Cash Mastercard) only cover $1800 total across all passengers, so while it might be useful for a vacation rental its limit is probably too low to charge an entire cruise. There is a clause that says the coverage is to how much is charged on the cards, so if one were to charge below the coverage limit on two or three cards (see where I'm going?) your total coverage might be higher. The unknown in my personal case is whether Citi stacks benefits across different accounts issued to the same individual. There's no language in the terms aside about multiple cards other than the fractional coverage based on how much of the trip was applied to a card.

 

Accidents could happen to anyone, though, and you seem willing to go without coverage for yourself. Does your medical insurance provide coverage outside the US? It probably is on a reimbursement basis, but that's true of most travel insurance I've bought. Are you willing to deal with the cat of your own medical evacuation? Its a low probability but it can get very expensive.

 

Personally, I'd rely on credit card cancellation/interruption coverage only if I had other insurance covering medical expenses and evacuation, but my opinion may be affected by our ages (we're noth retired) and prior experience. When we were in our 40s we would head off to Europe for two weeks without even a consideration.

 

Do note that travel insurance costs are based on the travelers' ages, so if you're still young (and presumably healthy) the cost is lower than if you're older (and presumably more creaky).

[Grandma Dazzles]

Major thing to consider is evacuation insurance.  Nice to have trip interruption, lost baggage, etc. but medical care and evacuation are what can cost thousands of dollars. 

[Port Power]

20 hours ago, Hamburg Avon Lady said:

Was wondering if my credit card's travel insurance would be sufficient -- my husband has "pre-existing conditions" which we have purchased from Alliance insurance in the past.  Can I just insure him with Alliance and go with the credit card insurance for me ? (no health concerns for me, as yet).  Anyone's experience with credit card insurance claims would be appreciated. Thanks.

You definitely need to read the terms and conditions of your particular card. For mine (no pre-existing), it covers medical expenses anywhere in the world, hospitalisation, repatriation, funeral expenses up to $25,000 and accommodation, etc, as well as lost luggage and flight delays.  There is an age limit of 80.

[FlyerTalker]

Also, note that coverage is different for varying cards, even from the same issuer.

 

I have significantly different coverages on my various American Express cards - for some situations, one is better than the other, while other times it is the reverse.

 

READ THE FINE PRINT.....because the insurers definitely will.

[MicCanberra]

Definitely read the PDS and make sure you are covered for what you want and need. No use having insurance that doesn't.

[donaldsc]

On 11/11/2018 at 11:04 AM, Hamburg Avon Lady said:

Was wondering if my credit card's travel insurance would be sufficient -- my husband has "pre-existing conditions" which we have purchased from Alliance insurance in the past.  Can I just insure him with Alliance and go with the credit card insurance for me ? (no health concerns for me, as yet).  Anyone's experience with credit card insurance claims would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

How would we know.  We and probably also you have not read the policy details.  Remember, the policy summary does not tell you what is really covered.  That is in the 25 or more pages attached to the policy summary.

 

DON

[Shmoo here]

10 hours ago, Port Power said:

You definitely need to read the terms and conditions of your particular card. For mine (no pre-existing), it covers medical expenses anywhere in the world, hospitalisation, repatriation, funeral expenses up to $25,000 and accommodation, etc, as well as lost luggage and flight delays.  There is an age limit of 80.

You'll need to look into actual costs for those things.  I found this, indicating that it can cost much more than that:

What does a typical evacuation cost?

Travelex Travel Insurance recently released information about the average costs of a medical evacuation. According to their statistics, the average medical evacuation within North America costs $25,000. From Europe, the cost can reach $50,000. The average cost of a nurse escort is $11,000 within North America and $24,000 from Europe.

 

That's just for the evacuation, not a nurse, if required, or any hospital costs prior to the evacuation.

 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Shmoo here

[jlp20]

The two major factors to check; does policy cover medical OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES and will EVACUATIONS be covered. Chances of being removed from the ship after even a minor injury are high. Will policy cover costs getting home.

[MicCanberra]

Good points, make sure you are covered for all the major out of pocket expenses.

[LDVinNC]

A number of credit cards have reduced their coverage amounts in the last 6 months or so - mine went from $3000 per person (if I recall correctly)  to $1500 PER TRIP  - so be sure to check carefully what the current coverage is for your card.

[iancal]

Our cards have different coverage but they all seem to say the same for medical.  If you are over 65 they either do not cover you or cover you for a few days, not a few weeks.

 

Coverage is different and we had no trouble finding the conditions on our card web sites.   Medical can be a huge financial risk.  It pays to understand what coverage you have and what coverage you require.

 

We did recently place a claim on credit card insurance for a cancelled trip due to medical. Small claim.  $1300.   Paid within 10 business days.

Edited November 13, 2018 by iancal

[Nebr.cruiser]

We have always bought medical insurance that included evacuation until this year.  Our credit card covers about $3000 pp and we bought an annual policy that covers all the really expensive things, such as evacuation and with a high medical allowance.

 

For a longer, more complicated trip we would buy additional cancellation insurance, but for 12 days in the Caribbean, the pp coverage is more than enough.

[Hlitner]

I have yet to see a credit card, issued in the USA, that provides decent Medical coverage.  If it exists I wish somebody would post the card info here.  There are credit cards that offer trip cancellation/interruption coverage although there is usually a lot of restrictive qualifying language.  Chase Sapphire Preferred and there Reserve cards have some of this coverage.  Some credit cards also give some medical evacuation insurance, but it is often watered down by many specific provisions.

 

Everyone has their own needs, wants and risk tolerance.  This is a situation where a wise traveler does some homework, reads the fine print, and acts in their own best interests.   Personally we use a combination of an Annual Travel Medical Policy (it covers all of our many trips throughout an entire year) supplemented with Credit card coverage for cancellation/interruption.   Both our medical policy and credit card provide emergency trip evacuation coverage.  In our recent medical emergency, our medical policy covered the foreign medical expenses and the more then $10,000 of evacuation cost.  Our credit card kicked in another $10,000 which covered most of our lost money due to interrupting our cruise.  For us, the end result justified our planning but it was not a perfect solution in that we still lost some money and went through a lot of hassles dealing with the credit card company.   There are certainly better insurance policies, but these also would cost us a lot more money.  In the final analysis its a trade-off between risk versus cost.   What gets lost here in many CC posts is the actual cost of insurance.   CC does have a blog on cruise insurance and it can be an interesting place to read about differing opinions.

 

Hank

[iancal]

Agree.  Every credit card with some sort of medical insurance that we have has so many 'get out of jail' and limitation clauses that we no longer bother referring to it.  Especially for people like us who are over 65.   I suspect that they provide the absolute minimum so that they can hail it on their respective advertising bumph.  Same with some cruise line medical insurance.

 

We view out of country medical and evac. as a serious financial risk.  Not because we are ill or expect to be ill but because of the potential cost exposure..  Especially if we are travelling in the US.

 

Insurance is all about managing risk.

[Hlitner]

Speaking about managing risk, it is interesting to talk to cruisers about insurance.  Many cruisers will spend hundreds of dollars to insure the risk of losing what they paid for a cruise which is always a limited number.  But those same folks pay s scant attention to the Medical and Evacuation risk which can be nearly unlimited.  Even if you were to lose the entire cost of a cruise you would be no worse off (financially) then if you had taken the trip.  But if you get hit with major medical bills you might find yourself in bankruptcy court!  

 

The priority should be to insure your biggest risk (which is always medical).  We have often self-insured the cost of our cruise (which means buying no cancellation insurance) but never travel without adequate medical/evacuation coverage.  My personal standard (based on a lot of years in the medical insurance world) is to have, at a minimum, $100,000 of medical and $50,000 of evacuation.  What is interesting to me is that very few cruise line insurance policies have anything close to $100,000 medical.   This is why we never recommend cruise line policies except for those that cannot get any other reasonably insurance.

 

Hank 

[buggins0402]

On 11/11/2018 at 2:04 PM, Hamburg Avon Lady said:

Was wondering if my credit card's travel insurance would be sufficient -- my husband has "pre-existing conditions" which we have purchased from Alliance insurance in the past.  Can I just insure him with Alliance and go with the credit card insurance for me ? (no health concerns for me, as yet).  Anyone's experience with credit card insurance claims would be appreciated. Thanks.

I did something similar to this to get some cancellation insurance for our next cruise.  I have no pre existing conditions, but bought the policy for me, because the medical coverage was only $50K and I have a regular health policy that will cover me unlimited overseas anyway (but it has a very high out of network deductible).  

 

For DH (who has pre existings) I will buy a separate medical/evac only. If we need to cancel due to a health issue relating to me, we are covered under the Reserve Card and the insurance I purchased.  In other words, both trip costs covered. If we need to cancel due to a DH pre existing, we get cancellation benefit under my policy (just my non refundable costs) because the traveling partner was unable to travel.  And, we both will have adequate medical. The medical of only $50K on the purchased policy was just too light for my husband, who only has Medicare supplemental coverage, but fine for me.  

 

Note, we were limited in insurance choices because I did not buy insurance at initial payment. In the past, we had always just gone with medical and whatever the credit card might pay for cancellation benefits. But, this particular trip was higher cost and we did have to cancel a land trip last year, so I thought it might be time to at least start mitigating some cancellation risk.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Speaking about managing risk, it is interesting to talk to cruisers about insurance.  Many cruisers will spend hundreds of dollars to insure the risk of losing what they paid for a cruise which is always a limited number.  But those same folks pay s scant attention to the Medical and Evacuation risk which can be nearly unlimited.  Even if you were to lose the entire cost of a cruise you would be no worse off (financially) then if you had taken the trip.  But if you get hit with major medical bills you might find yourself in bankruptcy court!  

 

The priority should be to insure your biggest risk (which is always medical).  We have often self-insured the cost of our cruise (which means buying no cancellation insurance) but never travel without adequate medical/evacuation coverage.  My personal standard (based on a lot of years in the medical insurance world) is to have, at a minimum, $100,000 of medical and $50,000 of evacuation.  What is interesting to me is that very few cruise line insurance policies have anything close to $100,000 medical.   This is why we never recommend cruise line policies except for those that cannot get any other reasonably insurance.

 

Hank 

Totally agree, only difference is we use significantly higher numbers.

 

Before crossing the Line into the US we have a minimum of $5M insurance, which is over and above what our Provincial medical plan pays. We use the same number for evacuation.

[iancal]

It amazes us that some people will agonize over the selection of a cruise, spending hours on itinerary, ship, or cruise line, yet sign up as an afterthought for a medical insurance policy after a 2  minute conversation  or without ever bothering to read any of he detail.  Very strange. 

 

The very first time that I asked a cruise line about medical was on a HAL cruise for my father.  The agent told me the coverage amounts.  I had to ask again because it was so low.....I thought that I misheard her.  When she repeated it I actually started to laugh because the policy dollar limit was indeed laughable.  I think the agent was embarrassed to even discuss the other so called merits of the particular policy.

Edited November 15, 2018 by iancal

[SRF]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Speaking about managing risk, it is interesting to talk to cruisers about insurance.  Many cruisers will spend hundreds of dollars to insure the risk of losing what they paid for a cruise which is always a limited number.  But those same folks pay s scant attention to the Medical and Evacuation risk which can be nearly unlimited.  Even if you were to lose the entire cost of a cruise you would be no worse off (financially) then if you had taken the trip.  But if you get hit with major medical bills you might find yourself in bankruptcy court!  

 

The priority should be to insure your biggest risk (which is always medical).  We have often self-insured the cost of our cruise (which means buying no cancellation insurance) but never travel without adequate medical/evacuation coverage.  My personal standard (based on a lot of years in the medical insurance world) is to have, at a minimum, $100,000 of medical and $50,000 of evacuation.  What is interesting to me is that very few cruise line insurance policies have anything close to $100,000 medical.   This is why we never recommend cruise line policies except for those that cannot get any other reasonably insurance.

 

Hank 

 

AGREED.

 

I have also found out (and posted before) is you can buy trip insurance with $0 trip coverage.  It provides all the other coverage, but just not the actual cost of the trip.  My last cruise (9 nights) and my current land trip 3 weeks) were insured for $32 EACH.

 

I find your minimums to be VERY minimal. 😄   My Mother was med-evaced off a cruise from Halifax to DC.  $29,000 for that alone.  I think my policy limits are $100,000 medical (however my health plan also covers me outside the US), and $1,000,000 evac.  I have heard of evac costs well over $250,000 for long distance with dedicated evac with medical care enroute.

[Hlitner]

7 hours ago, SRF said:

 

AGREED.

 

I have also found out (and posted before) is you can buy trip insurance with $0 trip coverage.  It provides all the other coverage, but just not the actual cost of the trip.  My last cruise (9 nights) and my current land trip 3 weeks) were insured for $32 EACH.

 

I find your minimums to be VERY minimal. 😄   My Mother was med-evaced off a cruise from Halifax to DC.  $29,000 for that alone.  I think my policy limits are $100,000 medical (however my health plan also covers me outside the US), and $1,000,000 evac.  I have heard of evac costs well over $250,000 for long distance with dedicated evac with medical care enroute.

Completely agree :).  When I said "minimum" it truly meant minimum.  Our own policy provides $500,000 of evacuation.  When DW was recently evacuated from Japan to the USA, we were able to do it with commercial business class (lay flat seat).  The cost of her ticket was approximately $10,000 (cost of a last minute Bus Class booking on a near full flight and this did not include an special handling or a nurse.  If the airline (Delta) had refused her passage (this often happens with medical emergency cases) the cost of a Medical aircraft from Japan would have been in excess of $50,000!  

 

We still shake our heads when we meet cruisers who only care about a few thousand dollars of cancellation insurance and have no concern about medical.  Folks will tell us that they have no medical problems and feel its worth the risk.  DW was evacuated as the result of a freak injury that happened on a beach!  On our most recent cruise a relatively young lady had to be evacuated from the ship because she simply slipped on the steps (and fractured vertebrae in her neck and upper back).  

 

Hank

[FlyerTalker]

Penny wise, pound foolish.