Pre-Existing Condition And Look Back...???

[Bo1953]

Quick question which came up on another forum...

 

Someone who had to cancel a cruise because of an 'unplanned' heart surgery, when is the earliest time one can purchase travel insurance with a pre-existing waiver???

 

Thank you and bon voyage

[iamtrustworthy]

On 7/25/2023 at 12:42 PM, Bo1953 said:

Quick question which came up on another forum...

 

Someone who had to cancel a cruise because of an 'unplanned' heart surgery, when is the earliest time one can purchase travel insurance with a pre-existing waiver???

 

Thank you and bon voyage

Hi Bo,

 

The soonest they can buy is when their doctor says they can travel.

 

The insured travelers must be able to take the trip on the date they purchase the travel insurance. If you are one of the travelers, you must be “medically able to travel when you pay your premium (get your travel insurance)”. In other words, your doctor says you can travel today. If your doctor says you can’t travel today, but instead says you will be able to travel in the future, don’t buy the plan today. The insurance company always sides with your doctor. Something else that can affect you is are you having surgery or other medical procedure(s) scheduled just before you leave.

 

Steve Dasseos

[GeezerCouple]

59 minutes ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Bo,

 

The soonest they can buy is when their doctor says they can travel.

 

The insured travelers must be able to take the trip on the date they purchase the travel insurance. If you are one of the travelers, you must be “medically able to travel when you pay your premium (get your travel insurance)”. In other words, your doctor says you can travel today. If your doctor says you can’t travel today, but instead says you will be able to travel in the future, don’t buy the plan today. The insurance company always sides with your doctor. Something else that can affect you is are you having surgery or other medical procedure(s) scheduled just before you leave.

 

Steve Dasseos

 

Steve had helped us with this issue way back after our first travel insurance purchase.  DH had a last minute medical emergency, so thank goodness for that insurance (and thanks again to the CC members who were writing about it, shortly after we joined here!).

 

Anyway, I was very eager to reschedule another trip for several months later, so something like 2-3 weeks later, I called Steve immediately after making a deposit.

Thank goodness we had already been working with him!  He asked about DH's condition, and whether he could take that trip "today"?  My answer was, "No, not today, but by June, yes, he'll be able to go!"  Steve pointed out that we should NOT spend any money on travel plans until DH *could* travel again ON the day we start the insurance.

I immediately canceled our reservation that same day and got the deposit refunded.

So about 2 months later, when we were expecting his physician to give him the "A-OK" for travel, I was all ready.  As soon as he said, "Sure, you can travel now; hope you have a great time!"  I then said, "Would you please write down that he is cleared medically to travel today?"

And the physician wrote a note to that effect right then and there, on something with his professional credentials (it might have been his script pad; that was 10 years ago).

And as soon as we got home, I called to make a deposit on another trip in a couple of months, and then called Steve back to start the insurance coverage. 😉 

 

I would NOT have realized that restriction back then, when we were first learning about travel insurance, so we remain very grateful to Steve for being pro-active.  (It would have been our *own* fault if we had "goofed" on that due to ignorance, but it was certainly nice to work with someone who does ask some important extra questions.)

 

And we had a wonderful and uneventful trip, thank goodness! 🙂 

 

GC

[Indiansbaseball]

On 7/26/2023 at 2:04 PM, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Bo,

 

The soonest they can buy is when their doctor says they can travel.

 

The insured travelers must be able to take the trip on the date they purchase the travel insurance. If you are one of the travelers, you must be “medically able to travel when you pay your premium (get your travel insurance)”. In other words, your doctor says you can travel today. If your doctor says you can’t travel today, but instead says you will be able to travel in the future, don’t buy the plan today. The insurance company always sides with your doctor. Something else that can affect you is are you having surgery or other medical procedure(s) scheduled just before you leave.

 

Steve Dasseos

So what should one do if they are having a medical procedure a month before sailing ? 
Thanks 😊 

[Babr]

1 hour ago, Indiansbaseball said:

So what should one do if they are having a medical procedure a month before sailing ? 
Thanks 😊 

A scheduled procedure is considered a foreseen event thus it is ineligible for coverage. It is too late to buy insurance at that point.

[GeezerCouple]

7 hours ago, Indiansbaseball said:

So what should one do if they are having a medical procedure a month before sailing ? 
Thanks 😊 

 

Is this a procedure that was planned far in advance, before you purchased the insurance, or the need for it was known then?

 

Or are you thinking of a procedure for some condition that appeared after insurance was started, and then the procedure was necessary on a time frame before the trip?

 

Those are likely to be two very different situations, including whether the procedure is one that is expected to leave you "fit to travel" in a time frame suitable for the trip, etc.

 

GC

[iamtrustworthy]

9 hours ago, Indiansbaseball said:

So what should one do if they are having a medical procedure a month before sailing ? 
Thanks 😊 

Hi Indiansbaseball,

 

When did / will you pay the first payment toward any travel arrangements on your trip?

 

Steve Dasseos

[Indiansbaseball]

10 hours ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Indiansbaseball,

 

When did / will you pay the first payment toward any travel arrangements on your trip?

 

Steve Dasseos

We booked our cruise back in October 2022. It sails November 23.

[Babr]

20 hours ago, Indiansbaseball said:

We booked our cruise back in October 2022. It sails November 23.

I was hoping Steve would have been back by now. I expect he is going to say that unless you bought insurance back in October, it is too late now to cover the anticipated procedure because it is a foreseen event.

 

There are policies that grant a pre-existing waiver at final payment, but you are likely ineligible for that because the condition has already been identified, and the procedure is scheduled.

[iamtrustworthy]

On 8/23/2023 at 10:23 AM, Indiansbaseball said:

We booked our cruise back in October 2022. It sails November 23.

Hi Indiansbaseball,

 

I don't know any plans that will cover you.

 

Steve Dasseos

[iamtrustworthy]

On 8/23/2023 at 10:23 AM, Indiansbaseball said:

We booked our cruise back in October 2022. It sails November 23.

Hi Indiansbaseball,

 

I forgot to ask you if your trip is paid in full. Do you have any payments to make for prepaid non-refundable trip costs?

 

Steve Dasseos

[Indiansbaseball]

48 minutes ago, iamtrustworthy said:

Hi Indiansbaseball,

 

I forgot to ask you if your trip is paid in full. Do you have any payments to make for prepaid non-refundable trip costs?

 

Steve Dasseos

Hi Steve, 

The cruise is paid for. But I still have hotels to book. Does this make a difference ? 

[iamtrustworthy]

On 8/25/2023 at 10:50 AM, Indiansbaseball said:

Hi Steve, 

The cruise is paid for. But I still have hotels to book. Does this make a difference ? 

WIll your hotels be prepaid prior to leaving and non-refundable on your departure date from home?

[Indiansbaseball]

On 8/26/2023 at 11:57 PM, iamtrustworthy said:

WIll your hotels be prepaid prior to leaving and non-refundable on your departure date from home?

Yes to both.

[GeezerCouple]

On 8/26/2023 at 11:57 PM, iamtrustworthy said:

WIll your hotels be prepaid prior to leaving and non-refundable on your departure date from home?

Hi Steve,

 

Could you please clarify if there is a difference for travel insurance purposes between having hotel reservations:

1) Prepaid and non-refundable;

and

2) Guaranteed and also non-refundable.

In the second case, the hotel WILL charge the credit card when you arrive... or if you fail to arrive.

 

My understanding, and this could obviously vary with specific insurer and policy, is that if the reservation is "guaranteed and NON-refundable", that even though the traveler will forfeit the money, that because it wasn't actually "paid" (even if the charge card had a "hold" that would end up charged on arrival or failure to arrive), then that loss would not be covered.

 

We often try to get hotel reservations that are not paid and are fully refundable (meaning, no obligation, nothing will be charged, etc.) until we are ready to make the actual non-refundable payment.  And when we actually pay the non-refundable hotel charge, then we up the insurance as needed.

That is, because of travel insurance, we've been skipping the "guaranteed but not yet paid" step for our insured trips.

 

Is this correct?

 

Thanks.

 

GC

[iamtrustworthy]

On 8/31/2023 at 11:02 AM, GeezerCouple said:

Hi Steve,

 

Could you please clarify if there is a difference for travel insurance purposes between having hotel reservations:

1) Prepaid and non-refundable;

and

2) Guaranteed and also non-refundable.

In the second case, the hotel WILL charge the credit card when you arrive... or if you fail to arrive.

 

My understanding, and this could obviously vary with specific insurer and policy, is that if the reservation is "guaranteed and NON-refundable", that even though the traveler will forfeit the money, that because it wasn't actually "paid" (even if the charge card had a "hold" that would end up charged on arrival or failure to arrive), then that loss would not be covered.

 

We often try to get hotel reservations that are not paid and are fully refundable (meaning, no obligation, nothing will be charged, etc.) until we are ready to make the actual non-refundable payment.  And when we actually pay the non-refundable hotel charge, then we up the insurance as needed.

 

That is, because of travel insurance, we've been skipping the "guaranteed but not yet paid" step for our insured trips.

 

Is this correct?

 

Thanks.

 

GC

Hi GC,

 

This "non-refundable trip cost" requirement is another of the many complicated parts of a Trip Cancellation plan whether or not someone wants pre-existing conditions coverage.

 

First, most Trip Cancellation plans only let you require you to insure your non-refundable trip costs that are prepaid to have the pre-existing medical conditions and Cancel For Any Reason coverages. Though there are a few plans that don't require the full trip costs to be insured.

 

Next, most Trip Cancellation plans require your non-refundable trip costs be Prepaid prior to leaving home. See these Blog posts:

https://tripinsurancestore.com/blog/do-prepaid-trip-costs-have-to-be-paid-before-you-leave-on-your-trip/
https://tripinsurancestore.com/blog/what-does-prepaid-mean/

 

> My understanding, and this could obviously vary with specific insurer and policy, is that if the reservation is "guaranteed and NON-refundable", that even though the traveler will forfeit the money, that because it wasn't actually "paid" (even if the charge card had a "hold" that would end up charged on arrival or failure to arrive), then that loss would not be covered.

 

The potential ability to insure "Guaranteed and also non-refundable" expenses is a conundrum because prepaid means, well, "prepaid". Yet, just a very few companies tell they don't require the trip costs to be prepaid prior to a covered event occuring as long as the trip costs are subject to penalties that are charged to you if you don't arrive. But I don't see that their policy wording supports that advice.

 

That's why I don't advise people to insure their non-prepaid expenses. I'd make a lot more money if I did.

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

Steve Dasseos

Edited September 3, 2023 by iamtrustworthy
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