Travel Insurance

[Syracusefan44]

Since all passengers from New York State will be prohibited from purchasing Princess Vacation Protection after 7/20/21 I would greatly appreciate any information on travel insurance providers that offer coverage similar to Princess Platinum.

 

My Federal Employee health insurance from Blue Cross covers my medical expenses overseas so main concern is trip cancellation for any reason and medical evacuation coverage. 

 

Below is a portion of the email that I received from Princess today:

[pms4104]

You might want to post this on the Insurance forum ... lots of knowledgeable people there.

[franktown]

36 minutes ago, Syracusefan44 said:

Since all passengers from New York State will be prohibited from purchasing Princess Vacation Protection after 7/20/21 I would greatly appreciate any information on travel insurance providers that offer coverage similar to Princess Platinum.

 

My Federal Employee health insurance from Blue Cross covers my medical expenses overseas so main concern is trip cancellation for any reason and medical evacuation coverage. 

 

Below is a portion of the email that I received from Princess today:

Wow.  Did it give the reason it isn't available to residents of New York?  Wish I could answer your question but I always you PVP when cruising.

[Syracusefan44]

34 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

You might want to post this on the Insurance forum ... lots of knowledgeable people there.

Thank you.  I did not realize there was an insurance forum.  

[LACruiser88]

What!  Why is this affecting New York residents???

[mjmalino]

31 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

What!  Why is this affecting New York residents???

My thought is that NY has specific requirements that Princess does not offer. PVP is not the only travel insurance that is not offered to NY residents.

[Renmar]

1 hour ago, Syracusefan44 said:

 

This is one of the most confusing statements I have seen in a long time. If PVP is not available in your state why would they urge you to pay for it before that date. If you pay for it it seems kind of useless because you wont be covered.

Do I miss something here?

 

Theo

[memoak]

7 minutes ago, Renmar said:

This is one of the most confusing statements I have seen in a long time. If PVP is not available in your state why would they urge you to pay for it before that date. If you pay for it it seems kind of useless because you wont be covered.

Do I miss something here?

 

Theo

Because the 21st is the date the New York law goes into effect. That is the explanation I saw on a different board

[Renmar]

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

Because the 21st is the date the New York law goes into effect. That is the explanation I saw on a different board

OK,  now it makes a little more sense why the date is in there. Thanks for the explanation.

 

Theo

[capriccio]

You will see Steve Dasseos from the Trip Insurance Store (TripInsuranceStore.com) recommended on the Cruise/Travel Insurance board (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/).  I too recommend him and his staff.

[NavyVeteran]

3 hours ago, Renmar said:

This is one of the most confusing statements I have seen in a long time. If PVP is not available in your state why would they urge you to pay for it before that date. If you pay for it it seems kind of useless because you wont be covered.

Do I miss something here?

 

Theo

 

3 hours ago, memoak said:

Because the 21st is the date the New York law goes into effect. That is the explanation I saw on a different board

Princess will not "sell" PVP to New York residents after that date. However, if you have purchased PVP before that date (and "purchased" means "paid for it"), then coverage will continue after that date.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

What!  Why is this affecting New York residents???

 

Per the new rules:

The DFS guidance notes that CFAR policies are “separate and distinct from standard travel insurance, and should not be sold together per New York State Insurance Law.”

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/irenelevine/2020/03/08/governor-announces-change-in-new-york-state-travel-insurance-policy/?sh=4758ca051281   

 

Since the Princess policy with CFAR is not a separate policy, this could be the reason.

 

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

What!  Why is this affecting New York residents???

Every state has different laws.

 

We had a Princess cruise booked last summer which of course did not sail. We had a refundable deposit. We wanted to buy private travel insurance early to cover pre-existing conditions. Our TA said even the insurance would be refundable if we cancelled according to NY state law because we only had a refundable deposit and hence no money at the time at risk. We cancelled before Princess as we saw that the cruise could not possibly sail and were not going to wait and tie up a final payment before Princess sailed.

 

We had our insurance payment refunded. I posted about that in the insurance forum. And Steve DeOssos said he had never heard of Travel Guard refunding the premium. I confirmed that they had both after I received an e-mail from them acknowledging that the would and when the credit actually showed up on my credit card statement. I asked him what other states had a similar law. He tried to find out, but said he was not getting that information when he tried to contact state insurance commissioners.

[nini]

What I think is worse, is that GeoBlue is NOT available in Washington State! It is the pits!

[nini]

BTW- the OP may find the Insurance forum more helpful.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, nini said:

What I think is worse, is that GeoBlue is NOT available in Washington State! It is the pits!

True and I think New York has a similar problem.  The reason is quite interesting (for those of us who were in the business) and it is entirely the fault of your own State Government.   It is not about Geoblue but about your State protecting its own plans and making it nearly impossible for an outside arm of Blue Cross/Blue Shield to do business in your State.   You might want to send a letter of protest to your Washington State Insurance Commissioner....Mike Kreidler.

 

Hank

[Babr]

The cancel for any reason provision could be a problem since you have to buy the policy within a certain window of making your deposit. While the reimbursement is in cash rather than a FCC like Princess, it is usually something like 75%, which means you are still leaving a fair amount of money on the table plus the cost of the policy itself.

 

I think you’ll have to buy a comprehensive plan to get both CFAR and evacuation even if you don’t want the other coverage. Since you have just a few days to make a decision, I’d recommend talking to Steve or just pay off the Princess policy by the 20th. 

[nini]

20 hours ago, Hlitner said:

True and I think New York has a similar problem.  The reason is quite interesting (for those of us who were in the business) and it is entirely the fault of your own State Government.   It is not about Geoblue but about your State protecting its own plans and making it nearly impossible for an outside arm of Blue Cross/Blue Shield to do business in your State.   You might want to send a letter of protest to your Washington State Insurance Commissioner....Mike Kreidler.

 

Hank

Exactly! What is odd, is that Blue Cross/ Blue Shield Medical Plans are available in WA State... odd

[Hlitner]

6 minutes ago, nini said:

Exactly! What is odd, is that Blue Cross/ Blue Shield Medical Plans are available in WA State... odd

I am speculating but think the problem is that GeoBlue (although part of the BC/BS network) is not part of your States BC/BS system.  Some States are very protective of their own home based companies and make it very difficult for out-of-State companies to get licensed.  The US is very unique (when compared to other countries) in that our insurance industry is regulated by each of the States.  I recall seeing one study (decades ago) that put some kind of huge extra cost (passed on to consumers) incurred by insurance companies having to deal with licensure in 50 different States (each with their own rules and regulations).  It is a big windfall for the legal industry (dealing with regulatory requirements in each State) and just one of many reason why our Medical Insurance costs are through the roof.

 

Hank