All about Pre-Existing
Volcano causing flight delays and cancellations? My girlfriend just started chemo? By the time, you’re asking these questions, these are all pre-existing “known” situations. All travel protection plans cover pre-existing situations, but lots of specific dates and details attached to that coverage affect whether each situation is actually covered.
The travel protection I offer waives pre-existing situations for anyone purchasing the policy prior to final payment. Other policies may require purchase within 14-, 21-, or another number days from the date you made your initial deposit on the trip. You must cover all the days you will be traveling, and you must include all your non-refundable costs in the trip for pre-existing situations to be covered. That’s the basic rules, and there may be even more, so read your policy.
Most folks decide early on to buy the travel protection at final payment, because that’s when cancellation penalties begin, and there’s a real risk of losing some money. The problem is, by that point, one of those “known” situations I described earlier may have popped up. Here’s how this works:
- Anyone who purchased travel protection for a trip to Europe before the volcano erupted will be covered for any expense incurred due to flight delays or cancellations due to the volcano. If you planned to purchase travel protection at final payment after the volcano has erupted, the travel protection will exclude that “known” situation.
- My girlfriend booked a cruise with us in 2009, traveling in 2010. She paid her deposit, and, a couple of months later, she paid her cruise in full, including her travel protection. A month or so later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and started chemotherapy. She’s still planning to cruise, and her doctors are encouraging her to do so. I love my friend, and I’m especially happy that she had purchased her travel protection before the diagnosis and treatment, because now she can continue with her treatments, knowing her situation is covered by the travel protection if she has to cancel.
Most travel protection provides coverage for serious medical conditions for yourself, those traveling with you, and your immediate family, whether they’re traveling with you or not. But, all these people must be medically stable at the time you purchase the travel protection in order for their situation to be covered by the policy. Medically stable means the person hasn’t already taken a turn for the worse, and it can’t be foreseen, known, or expected that the person could take a turn for the worse.
- Do not purchase travel protection while you’re currently being treated, but can’t travel right now, even if your doctor says you can travel by the travel date. Travel protection will not cover this situation.
- Do not purchase travel protection once someone close to you is seriously ill, because it won’t cover that situation.
We never know when one of these situations will affect our travel, so the safest time to purchase travel protection is when you first book your trip. As you purchase other non-refundable components, like airfare and hotels for your trip, amend your travel protection to include those components. Doing so, your travel protection policy will cover you for any sad surprises that pop up in the future.