U.S. travelers who suffer from pre-existing conditions now have a new travel insurance coverage option. Pre-existing conditions are medical conditions that a traveler has experienced the symptoms of or had had diagnosed and treated prior to their trip. A pre-existing condition is not covered by travel insurance medical benefits unless a waiver to the exclusion is purchased and there are restrictions to the coverage.

Offered by Seven Corners, an international health insurance provider, the Liaison Majestic travel insurance plan now waives pre-existing conditions exclusions and it provides increased coverage for unexpected recurrences of a pre-existing condition.

The plan is designed for and available only to U.S. citizens traveling outside the U.S. and Canada and it provides medical coverage up to the maximum defined in the plan for medical expenses.

• If the insured has a primary health plan, the benefit covers to the medical maximum (for persons 65 and over, the amount is limited)
• If the insured does not have a primary health plan, the benefit covers the first $20,000 in eligible medical expenses (again, for persons over 65, the amount is limited)

Read the full story on this important travel insurance plan change.

Read how pre-existing coverage works in travel insurance plans.

A number of global travel destinations have become embroiled in political chaos or suffered natural disasters lately. As you look toward scheduling your future trips, it’s important to have the right travel insurance coverage – especially if you are considering spending a holiday in an area that has recently experienced trouble.

Some travel insurance plans will not provide coverage for certain regions of the world. Many travel insurance companies won’t sell you coverage if the destination is the subject of recent U.S. State Department travel warnings.

Options for Travelers

So, what are your options as a traveler?

Depending on the circumstances, you and your travel supplier may be looking at the situation differently.

1. If your  travel supplier plans to continue travel, but you are unwilling to travel due to the situation – your travel insurance plan should include ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage. In this situation, the travel supplier isn’t expected to provide a refund because they are holding up their part of the agreement.
2. If your travel supplier is not going to travel, but you are still willing to go – then the travel supplier should offer a refund. In some cases, however, travel suppliers refuse to refund or want you to reschedule as an alternative. In these situations, trip cancellation coverage that includes covered reasons such as political unrest or terrorism can help you cancel your trip with a refund.

Some travel insurance plans provide coverage for non medical evacuations as well. A non medical evacuation, sometimes called a political evacuation, is arranged by the travel insurance provider and used to extract insured individuals from places of political unrest or increased violence.

As always, it’s important for travelers to understand the dangers and keep informed of happenings at their destination. Understanding the risks and understanding the specifics of your travel insurance policy can go a long way toward ensuring you enjoy your trip.

Many travelers prefer to stay in a home rather than a hotel and it has a number of advantages, including the reduced costs of cooking at home, multiple bedrooms in a single area,  a central place for larger groups to meet, and more. One of the most popular reasons for renting a home rather than a hotel is the ease of ‘living like a local’.

This type of travel comes in a couple of forms:

• Renting someone’s second or vacation home
• Home swapping or home exchange

Travel insurance plans provide coverage for the risks associated with destinations, including hotels, inns, and even homes and apartments. The key for the traveler is providing assurance to the travel insurance company that there is a rental agreement. With a hotel reservation, you have a printed document (usually sent to you via e-mail) that proves you made and paid for the reservation. It’s the same with any home or apartment reservation.

Coverage (depending on the travel insurance plan) can include pre-trip cancellation in the event the rented property is destroyed through natural disaster, for example. Coverage may also provided benefits for post-departure trip interruptions in the event you have to evacuate the rented property ahead of a natural disaster or following a natural disaster event.

Tips for safe home or apartment rental

1. Ensure there is a rental agreement – this is your agreement with the rental agency or property owner, and you should review the terms and conditions carefully so you understand your rights and responsibilities.
2. Ensure there is a local contact – this is a person who is nearby who can answer questions about maintenance issues, how to operate appliances, and help if you get locked out of the property.
3. Evaluate past reviews – if the property has been rented before, review the past guest comments for clues about the property and how renters were treated.
4. Ensure there is a secure reservation system – the property owner should have a way to make standardized, secure reservations over the Internet with a major credit card. You should expect to pay a security deposit, but do not wire money or pay with cash or check.

A number of vacation rental sites, like Vacation Rental By Owner and Home Away, are available to help travelers find suitable homes, flats, and apartments in their desired destination. Most properties are professionally managed and the sites have secure methods to make reservations and payments.

As one traveler recently discovered, failing to read the travel insurance policy certificate can spell trouble later. This traveler admitted to not reviewing their travel insurance policy, and when they had to cancel their trip for a decidedly unhappy reason, their original claim was denied.

Travel Insurance Should Not be an Afterthought

Buying your travel insurance as an afterthought without taking the time to review and understand what is covered and what’s not is not good. All travel insurance package plans come with a free review period that gives you the time to read and understand the plan certificate.

• If you don’t understand the details of your plan coverage, you can call for more information and even make changes to your coverage when necessary.
• If the plan is simply not what you need, you can also cancel the coverage you’ve purchased for a refund (minus a small fee).

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Travel Medical

As many travelers are discovering, even travel inside the U.S. can mean a big bill if an injury or illness occurs outside your health insurance network. As with all types of insurance plans, you don’t know the specific coverage you’ll need until you need it. Then, of course, it’s too late. So understanding your trip insurance policy is key.

 

While it’s reported that the U.S. employment market is slowly improving, those who’ve been able to retain their jobs or find new jobs still feel rather tenuous. Employees who are making plans to enjoy what precious vacation time they have this year are finding the travel insurance is a small price to pay to protect their travel dollars in a shaky economy and a weak job market.

Many travel insurance package plans provide trip cancellation coverage, which allows a traveler to cancel their trip before their departure date for a covered reason. Here’s how travel insurance covers job loss.

In addition, a number of plans provide ‘cancel for any reason’ and ‘cancel for work reasons’ coverage as well. Each of these upgrades has their place in travel protection.

Travel Insurance Upgrades for Work Reasons

‘Cancel for work reasons’ coverage allows a traveler to cancel their trip when work conflicts occur. Covered reasons for cancellation typically include being required to work as a result of changing business needs, direct involvement in a merger or bankruptcy, and more.

‘Cancel for any reason’ coverage allows a traveler to cancel their trip for any reason that is not specifically covered by trip cancellation coverage.

Each of these coverages provide reimbursement up to a covered amount for non refundable trip payments and pre-paid trip costs.  Many travel protection plans provide coverage for kids without extra charge as well.

Use the Free Look Period to Understand your Policy

As summer vacation bargains begin to arrive on the scene, those hardest hit by the recession may find they feel comfortable pre-paying for their trips and backing their travel investment with a travel insurance plan. As always, it’s important to understand what’s covered and what is not in the policy you purchase, so spend a little time reviewing the plan details during the free look period.

One traveler recently found her Vail, Colorado trip with family significantly derailed due to a scratched cornea. A trip to the emergency room and she was required to lie quietly and rest with a patch over her injured eye. Luckily, she purchased travel insurance and her trip to the ER didn’t cost her a bundle.

A growing number of families are looking at travel differently these days. Given the recent economy, many families have had to eliminate travel in favor of ‘staycations’ at home. Sharply rising gas prices have done little to ease the pain or allow people to substitute road trips for vacations involving air travel.

Even if you are traveling in the U.S. and have a health plan, you’re likely traveling out of your health insurance network area. So even a minor injury or illness can run a small fortune in costs you weren’t planning to spend on your vacation.

According to the U.S. Travel Insurance Association (USTIA), more than 120 million people insured themselves against travel-related losses last year. This number is up a whopping 35% over past years. It’s easy to see why as family budgets get tighter, jobs are scarce, and the cost of just about everything is rising. Travel insurance isn’t free, but it’s helped a number of travelers defray what would otherwise be very high and unexpected expenses resulting from a wide variety of sticky and uncomfortable situations.

 

Travel suppliers don’t always have their passengers’ best interests at heart. They are, after all, trying to make a business work in a time when travel can sometimes be problematic. One case in point: this recent story of a senior couple who booked travel into Egypt before the latest unrest began. While their travel supplier canceled some tours and refunded guests, later tours were deemed safe by their contacts in Egypt.

The news reports, however, were providing a different story and the U.S. State Department was warning citizens to defer all non essential travel to Egypt.

What’s a nervous traveler to do when their travel supplier leaves them high and dry by refusing to cancel and refund the travel costs? Purchasing travel insurance coverage that included trip cancellation coverage that included terrorism or mandatory evacuations as a covered reason for canceling a trip would have helped this couple.

In all likelihood, having ‘cancel for any reason’ coverage would have been the best coverage because they could cancel their trip for a refund even if the travel supplier wants to go forward with the trip.  This coverage must be purchased soon after making your initial trip deposit and in some situations (like this one), it can be worth every penny.

A recent post on the TripAdvisor Punta Cana forum, ‘Trip Insurance saved us last week!‘, points out where travel insurance can make a big difference.

The short version of their story is that their flight back home from a Punta Cana resort was delayed over 4 hours, causing them to miss their connection even if the flight left at the new departure time. They called their travel agent who worked with the travel insurance assistance services and were quickly re-booked on the same flight the next day. The trip insurance covered travel delays up to $200 per person, per night, nearly covering the entire cost of an extra day basking in paradise.

For the Chicago traveler, the trip insurance was well worth the extra money.

Luckily, this couple had an extra day to spare before they had to return to their lives at home. They later found that their original flight was delayed even further and then the flight was canceled entirely, so all those who went to the airport wasted a day waiting and were still out of luck.