Travel Georgia » Medical Condition

Pregnancy and Travel Insurance

admin — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:35:59 +0000

Travelling while pregnant can be a bit of a gamble. “When should be your cut off date? What kinds of travel are worse than others for heavily pregnant mothers? Should you risk it if the destination isn’t prepared for or can’t or won’t offer maternity care?” The last worry you would want on top of this is “how much will it cost?” We take a look at the world of travel and pregnancy and see how having travel insurance on holiday is very important when pregnant.

When can and should you travel?

Experts differ as to when you should stop all travel if you are pregnant. To an extent it depends on the type of transport you are taking. Driving isn’t usually a problem, nor is walking unless you are trekking along very strenuous trails (though doing almost anything close to the due date may induce labour). Travelling by ship or train are, similarly, not huge problems. The main type of travel that is unsafe while pregnant is flying. The pressurised environment is arguably bad for the baby the closer to term a woman gets, and may cause complications and possible premature births.

Most airlines, for example British Airways, don’t allow pregnant women past 28 weeks to travel. Others allow you to fly after that with a doctor’s certificate up to 36 weeks and not at all after that, but that can be pushing the limit.

Will my usual travel insurance cover me?

Many companies offer travel insurance up until 28 weeks, depending on the company and the individual case. Most standard travel insurance policies don’t cover pregnancy as a medical condition, and therefore it’s best to check with your holiday insurance provider before you go. Many standard and cheap travel insurance companies will offer top-up pregnancy travel insurance policies, and it’s best to invest in one of those even just for the peace of mind it will bring. It’s also best to check the facilities of the country you are travelling to and what documentation you might need – better to be prepared than be caught short while abroad where there’s little you can do.

Do I only need travel insurance if going by plane?

No. When pregnant you will want to have the extra travel insurance in place even if you are going by train, ship, car or any other transport. This is because the main point of travel insurance whilst you are pregnant is to literally ensure that you can be pregnant and give birth in another country if necessary. Most countries have no national health provision, and health care is paid for on insurance or billed to your account when your procedure is over. Some go as far as not treating you if you are unable to pay for the treatment there and then. The last thing that you want when going into labour is to have someone questioning your financial situation. To make sure that you are covered for any foreign medical expenses, always check that you have travel insurance before booking your holiday.

By: Patrick Chong

Get Cheap Ski Travel Insurance Quotes

admin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:58:43 +0000

Even cheap ski travel insurance has been designed to give individuals the top level of coverage they are looking for at prices they can afford. You can save enough when getting cheap insurance plans and just use that money instead on their trip.

All of the products that are included in cheap ski travel insurance can be purchased in packages that are available for a traveler or a tourist.

First and foremost, check the policies in medical condition. A sign that the insurance provider is of good quality is when the customer service can be reached for 24 hours and 7 days a week.

It means that they are dedicated to providing their clients with the best care possible.

Since a travel insurance denotes the possibility of clients trying to reach them in ungodly hour because who knows where they’ll be, the insurance provider must be reachable at all times.

If you want to screen the medical policies of the plan, you can do so by going to the online booking system.

This not only lets you purchase the plan as soon as you’ve decided to do so, you can also check your eligibility for the plan, as well as the restrictions if ever there are.

Generally, it include medical expenses, personal liability cover, 24/7 emergency assistance, coverage of personal belongings and baggage just in case of loss and theft, curtailment and cancellation cover, money back guarantee. There are plans that also include children who are below the age of 18.

Some travelers want to make sure and check whether the cheap ski travel insurance are credible with the Financial Services Authority or the FSA. Sometimes they can’t believe that such insurance is available at a very low rate.

So they check the documents that are available for them to see. As soon as they figured out that the plans are credible and legal then they make the most out of the price and strike a deal with the provider.

There are cheap ski travel insurance plans that are only available for individuals residing within the area. Make sure that you are covered by the package that you are eyeing despite of your residence.

The services that are to be provided by you from the cheap ski travel insurance provider must be worth it despite the cheaper rate when compared to the regularly priced insurance plans.

By: Ricky Lim

Trip Cancellation Travel Insurance

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:10:25 +0000

Looking for a trip cancellation only plan?

Stop looking. Trip cancellation only plans are not available. Neither are trip interruption only plans. All trip cancellation / interruption travel insurance plans are package plans that include some (or a lot more) medical, emergency evacuation, luggage, travel delay and other common coverages.

Here are the 2 parts of a trip cancellation travel insurance plan:

Trip cancellation coverage (before you leave on your trip): you, a close family member or a traveling companion gets hurt or sick before you leave (and your doctor advises you against traveling). Travel insurance reimburses you the money you lose. This is especially important if you’re concerned about a pre-existing medical condition. Trip interruption coverage (after you leave on your trip): you, a close family member including a non-traveling family member, or a traveling companion gets hurt or sick while you’re on your trip and you have to return home early. Travel insurance reimburses you the unused value of your trip plus pays the cost of one-way airfare up to its limit.

How does trip cancellation travel insurance work?

You book a cruise, tour or other trip that requires you to pay money up front. Sometime before the trip, the money you paid becomes all or partially nonrefundable. What I mean by nonrefundable is, that if you were to cancel your trip, you will not get any cash refunds.

How the trip cancellation benefit works:

Let’s say, you and your spouse paid $5,000 each for a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Two days before you’re supposed to leave you’re going out to get the mail and you get hit by a cement truck. In my examples, no one ever dies, but if you are hit by a cement truck i’m sure your doctor would advise you against traveling.

The fact that your cancel your trip just two days before you were supposed to leave, means that it’s highly unlikely you’re going to receive any refund on the $10,000 ($5,000 each) you paid for your trip. However, if you had bought a trip cancellation travel insurance plan some time in the days or weeks or months prior to being hit by a cement truck, and had insured your $5,000 per person trip cost, your trip cancellation travel insurance plan will reimburse you 100% of the money you lost on the trip, or in this case the full $10,000.

However, let’s say you only insured $3500 each of your $5,000 per person trip cost. In this case, the maximum amount of money you will receive from your trip cancellation travel insurance plan is $7,000 ($3,500 each), which is the maximum cost you had insured.

How the trip interruption benefit works:

You get to South America safely and this time, your brother-in-law (who you’ve never really cared for), is going out to get the mail and he gets hit by a cement truck. Even though you’re sure he deserved it, out of respect you and your spouse cut your trip short and return home early.

Returning home means your interrupted trip will have some unused value as will your return plane tickets. Plus, you’ll have to buy an expensive one-way last minute ticket home.

For the purposes of this example, your unused trip will be worth $3,000 for each of you. If you had insured your full $5,000 per person trip cost, your trip cancellation travel insurance plan will reimburse you up to $5,000 (and on some plans, a maximum of $7,500) of the money you lost on the trip plus the cost of the one-way last minute ticket home.

The maximum reimbursement depends on the percentage of trip cost you plan covers for trip interruption. Some plans state it as 100% of trip cost, while others cover as much as 150% of trip cost.

I hope this makes sense to you. If not, post a comment here or contact me and I’ll do my best to help you understand trip cancellation travel insurance.

By: Steve Dasseos

Medication Changes and Travel Insurance – Pre-Existing Medical Conditions Coverage

admin — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:18:54 +0000

Medication changes or adjustments can cause a stable medical condition to be classified as a pre-existing medical condition under many travel insurance companies plans. Now, I don’t mean to say that all travel insurance plans throughout the world work exactly like I’m going to explain it. I only work with 6 trip cancellation travel insurance companies mainly because I don’t think it’s possible to know the details of scores of different plans.

Also, before I go further into this subject I just need to say that what’s commonly known as travel insurance really has two different categories:

- travel health / medical insurance

- trip cancellation / interruption travel insurance

While nearly everybody thinks that these kinds of plans are the same, in reality they’re not for a few different reasons. So, with the purpose of trying to help you avoid likely claim problems with “travel health / medical insurance plans”, here is what we say:

“Pre-existing conditions are not covered. A pre-existing condition is defined as any injury, illness, sickness, disease, or other physical, medical, mental or nervous condition, disorder or ailment that, with reasonable medical certainty, existed at the time of application or at any time during the three years prior to the effective date of the insurance, whether or not previously manifested or symptomatic, diagnosed, treated, or disclosed prior to the effective date, including any subsequent, chronic or recurring complications or consequences related thereto or arising therefrom.”

I won’t bore you with all the other differences between these types of plans, since I am only addressing changes of medications and pre-existing medical conditions.

Back to the trip cancellation travel insurance plans. Typically, these plans have a Lookback Period of 60 – 180 days prior to the date the travel insurance is purchased. If the person’s medical condition has been diagnosed, treated, received advisement on, had symptoms of or changes or adjustments in their prescribed medication during that Lookback Period then most companies will define that medical condition as a pre-existing medical condition.

Having a pre-existing medical condition doesn’t mean you can’t get travel insurance. It just means that order to get coverage for that pre-existing condition with a trip cancellation travel insurance plan, you have to purchase the insurance within the specified deadline to receive the waiver of the pre-existing medical conditions exclusion. Here are the four rules that you need to follow:

- With a few exceptions, you have to insure at least your trip’s full prepaid, non-refundable cost (you can’t round it down). If you don’t know your final trip cost, estimate it high to be safe. You can always lower to the correct trip cost prior to your departure date. If it drops you to a lower trip cost range, you’ll get a partial refund. and

- The person (including non-traveling family members) with the medical condition has to be medically stable when you get your insurance and

- You must get your travel insurance in the first 14 or 21 days after your first trip payment date or no later than 24 Hours after you make your final Trip payment and

- You have to cover your trip’s full length.

By: Steve Dasseos

Finding Travel Insurance for Pre-Existing Medical Conditions

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:01:48 +0000

What would happen if you had a month’s trip to America booked – departing in six months time – and were unexpectedly diagnosed with lung cancer? Suppose you had to cancel your holiday and go in for immediate surgery. If you had been smart and taken out travel insurance – effective from the date you booked the trip – you should be able to recover costs associated with the cancellation of the trip (after any excess payable). However, if you had waited until the day before departure to purchase travel insurance your cancellation costs would not be covered. Some people try to squeeze extra mileage out of their annual travel insurance policy by making the start date of the policy the date of the first departure. This is a risky thing to do because there will be no cover for cancellation costs if anything should go wrong prior to the departure date.

Just suppose you’d been having tests and investigations within the last year for lung-related problems but failed to declare this fact when purchasing travel insurance. During your scuba diving holiday in California, you start coughing up blood all over the dive boat. You have to seek emergency medical care and a diagnosis of lung cancer is confirmed. Would you be covered for the high emergency medical costs or curtailment of your trip? Probably not.

Anyone with a serious pre-existing medical condition will already know that obtaining travel insurance can be tricky, but not impossible. Some travel insurance companies exclude all claims related to pre-existing medical conditions. Some insurers will cover for pre-existing conditions without any additional premium. Other travel insurance companies may have a medical screening system, usually carried out over the telephone or online. A series of questions is asked to assess the risk and determine whether insurance can be issued. If approved, there may be a choice to either pay an additional premium to cover the pre-existing condition – or elect not to pay the extra premium and exclude claims relating to the risk.

Common conditions such as hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and asthma can all cause problems when trying to obtain travel insurance – especially if combined with other conditions, so never neglect to disclose something as common as high cholesterol thinking that it is insignificant! All questions must be answered fully and honestly.

As with any type of insurance, there are always exclusions. Some insurers will refuse to insure those with pre-existing conditions involving cancer, serious kidney problems (requiring dialysis), serious heart conditions, strokes and HIV, AIDS, or any AIDS-related problems. They also do not cover for suicide or suicide attempts – in case you’re thinking of jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge!

Most travel insurance policies will carry similar wording and it is wise to read and understand the terms and conditions. For instance, there might be clauses stating that you should never travel against the advice of a medical practitioner, or to obtain medical treatment abroad (unless already disclosed and pre-approved). The same goes for those on waiting lists for surgery or procedures, or awaiting the results of medical tests. There are specialist travel insurers who will often cover terminal illnesses.

During the medical screening, you may be asked specific questions, such as: have you been a hospital inpatient or had any medical condition that requires ongoing medication, or referral to a specialist within the past twelve months? Have you ever suffered from, been diagnosed with, or treated for cancer (or other malignant disease), a heart or lung condition (excluding well-controlled asthma), high blood pressure or any psychiatric disorder?

Any claims you make which relate directly or indirectly to the types of conditions listed above will normally be excluded – unless you declared the condition and it was accepted by the underwriter, subject to any conditions or additional premiums imposed. Whether or not a particular travel insurance company is willing to offer insurance will depend upon different factors, depending on the underwriter, so it is wise to shop around and obtain quotes.

The biggest mistake is taking the risk of failing to disclose a condition to obtain the insurance. You might get away with it if there are no problems and you have no reason to make a claim. However, if the worst should happen, the insurance company has ways to find out – and they will find out – about any pre-existing conditions! You could find yourself with huge medical bills and your insurance claims denied. With the high cost of medical treatment in some countries (the USA especially) it simply is not worth it. Always be completely honest so that you can have peace of mind and enjoy your holiday without worrying about every twinge!

By: Jean Andrews