I saw an interesting thread on a travel group yesterday and wanted to share my response. It dealt with a person who purchased a policy from “Trip Assured” an agency in TN. The coverages sold by “Trip Assured” do not offer pre-existing condition waivers and it appeared that the persons claim was declined. One of the responses to their posting was that “Trip Assured” is not an insurance company and therefore the writer inferred that the person had no recourse. Not true. Here is my posting:
Trip Assured is not an insurance company but they are still regulated by the State Insurance Department. All insurance agents must be licensed by their State Insurance Department and conform to the laws of the state where they are selling insurance. This applies to travel insurance as it would to life or auto insurance.
The key issue is how they define a pre-existing condition. Most companies define a pre-existing condition as one where you (sometimes including family members) have received or should have received care or treatment for a medical condition within x number of days of when coverage becomes effective. X number of days is usually between 180 to 60 days prior to your coverage effective date. As an example, you buy
travel insurance on May 1, 2005 for a trip scheduled to leave on June 15, 2005. Your trip cancellation insurance usually will become effective on May 2 (day after purchase of coverage). If your plan has a 180 day pre-existing conditions period than the insurance company will black out the period between November 3, 2004 and May 1, 2005 and if you (sometimes including family members) have had treatment or had symptoms during this black out period than there will be no coverage.
It’s important to review this key provision especially where the company either doesn’t offer a waiver of pre-existing conditions or where you haven’t purchased the insurance within the required time period to qualify for the waiver.