When to purchase?

[zitsky]

My initial payment was last year so I'm not looking for Pre Existing coverage or anything like that.  Just wondering if there is any benefit to purchasing insurance early or close to trip date?  Usually I buy a few months in advance.  But my partner is encouraging me to wait.  The only problem I could see is if the price changes between now and then.

[cherylandtk]

The price of the policy is unlikely to change much, if at all, in a few weeks or few months.  

 

Much more likely is that one or both of you get sick, have an accident or even just go to the doctor for an annual checkup between now and whenever you purchase the policy.   Having any of the above happen in the 60 days before purchase would create a Pre Existing Condition and would exclude those events from coverage during your trip.  For most healthy people, it is not a huge risk, but it is a risk.  

 

The best time to purchase is when there has been no medical event in the 60 days (or whatever the lookback is in your policy-some go up to 180) prior to policy purchase.  For some people that is carefully timed, others ignore the lookback period and just purchase at final payment.  The answer for you is probably the same as the answer to ‘How lucky do you feel?’

[zitsky]

Those are very good points.  I was aware of the look back period.  You're right.  Better to buy now before anything happens.

[sara mom]

It won’t work for your situation, but I usually buy the week after we book the cruise.   I guess at airfare costs initially.   After we purchase airfare, I call to make sure we had enough coverage.

[GeezerCouple]

30 minutes ago, sara mom said:

It won’t work for your situation, but I usually buy the week after we book the cruise.   I guess at airfare costs initially.   After we purchase airfare, I call to make sure we had enough coverage.

 

The type of coverage we get doesn't require any guessing about "additional costs", airfare or otherwise.

 

We just call within the requisite time (20 days in our case) to update the coverage.  However, we usually call the "same day" as purchasing any non-refundable add-ons, because we must be "able to travel" on the day we start/add coverage, so we don't want to wait for the last day, in case one of us is suddenly ill or such.

 

sara mom, if you can "call to make sure" you've got enough coverage, can't you just increase the total of anything new, and not "guess" initially?  Why pay extra up front if not necessary?  (Or if, by a long shot, one might need to cancel the trip?)

 

GC