Extension of coverage

[SusieQft]

This is a question that I have worried about for some time, and COVID-19 makes it even more important.  For example, what if I get COVID-19 while on my trip (or hit by a cement truck, or any other calamity), and have been taken to a hospital in another country very close to the scheduled end of my trip.  I am required to stay in that foreign hospital for (just for the sake of the example) 15 days past the scheduled end of my trip.  I know that is an extreme example, but not beyond the imagination.  This will require an extension, but that may not be allowed for long enough.

 

My Travel Insured policy says, "The extension will end on the earlier of the date You reach Your originally scheduled return destination or 7 days after the Scheduled Return Date."  This sounds like all travel insurance coverage will stop 7 days after I was scheduled to end the trip, and I will be completely on my own after 7 days.

 

My Travelex Select policy is more vague.  It says, "the extension of coverage will end on:  (a) the date the insured reaches his/her Return Destination: or (b) 7 days after the date the Trip was scheduled to be completed."  I would like to interpret that to mean the later of those two dates, but I have a suspicion that, even though it does not say so, this also means whichever happens first.  Do you know if that is the case?

 

In view of this potential loss of coverage, would it be advisable to insure the trip for a return date later than actually planned?  Would there be any problem with doing this?

[iamtrustworthy]

15 hours ago, SusieQft said:

This is a question that I have worried about for some time, and COVID-19 makes it even more important.  For example, what if I get COVID-19 while on my trip (or hit by a cement truck, or any other calamity), and have been taken to a hospital in another country very close to the scheduled end of my trip.  I am required to stay in that foreign hospital for (just for the sake of the example) 15 days past the scheduled end of my trip.  I know that is an extreme example, but not beyond the imagination.  This will require an extension, but that may not be allowed for long enough.

 

My Travel Insured policy says, "The extension will end on the earlier of the date You reach Your originally scheduled return destination or 7 days after the Scheduled Return Date."  This sounds like all travel insurance coverage will stop 7 days after I was scheduled to end the trip, and I will be completely on my own after 7 days.

 

My Travelex Select policy is more vague.  It says, "the extension of coverage will end on:  (a) the date the insured reaches his/her Return Destination: or (b) 7 days after the date the Trip was scheduled to be completed."  I would like to interpret that to mean the later of those two dates, but I have a suspicion that, even though it does not say so, this also means whichever happens first.  Do you know if that is the case?

 

In view of this potential loss of coverage, would it be advisable to insure the trip for a return date later than actually planned?  Would there be any problem with doing this?

You cannot add extra days to the departure or return date. The policy dates have to match you itinerary including airline tickets, if any.

 

> This sounds like all travel insurance coverage will stop 7 days after I was scheduled to end the trip, and I will be completely on my own after 7 days.

 

Yes, the covered ends after the 7 day extension.

 

Prior to the Coronavirus chaos, I had customers stranded in Europe for up to 5 days due to the 2010 eruptions of the Iceland volcano Eyjafjallajökull. They all their extra days paid by the Trip Delay and the coverage continued in force until they got home.

 

I've had other customers who were hospitalized but they didn't need the full extra 7 days because the illness or injury happened earlier in their trip.

 

What's different now is the Medical Quarantine coverage is part of the Trip Interruption benefit. If someone is forced to be Medicallly Quarantined for more that 7 days at the end of their trip, their coverage will end after 7 days. Some companies give up to 10 days. 7 days is common.

 

I've asked, but so far I haven't been able to get any company to be willing to tell me they would make exceptions past their extension coverage.

 

Steve Dasseos