Contrary to popular opinion, getting coverage for a pre-existing condition with a pre-existing condition waiver is not guaranteed. That’s because the person with the pre-existing condition must be medically stable when the insurance is purchased.

We get quite a few calls a month from people where it almost sounds like we are the only travel insurance seller who points out the medically stable rules. It’s surprising how much mis-information there is floating around out there.

Medically Stable includes the idea that nothing is foreseen or expected to “be a turn for the worse”. It’s much more complicated than just buying travel insurance in the pre-existing condition waiver period because a condition of covering a pre-existing condition is the Medically Stability. Go here to get more information on being Medically Stable.

The quick & simple truth is “No!”. You are asking for problems if you think all travel insurance plans are the same.

The problem is caused partly by sellers who can’t figure out how policies differ. In their minds all plans that include the words “insurance” or “protection” are the same.

Plus, there are many online forums, message boards, chat rooms & advice columns where anonymous posters can say whatever they want without having to be held accountable. For example, if you go to Cruise Critic, you will find I sign my posts with “Steve Dasseos”. Anyone could Google me to track me down.

The only way to know what a travel insurance plan covers is to read it. You can get (to read or download) our providers’ Terms & Conditions here: (it’s a really good idea to review a plan before you spend money for it)
http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/3/what-is-covered.shtml

My family of four is planning a trip to Italy in June 2008. If I purchase your trip cancellation insurance, does it cover bankruptcy of the airline I have booked flights on?

The answer is technically “No”. Bankruptcy is commonly misunderstood to be the same as Financial Default. That’s because may travel insurance sellers use the terms interchangeably.

Just going into bankruptcy by the airline or travel supplier isn’t covered. On the other hand, all our plans can cover Financial Default. Financial Default means the travel supplier must cease operations compared to bankruptcy which means the company’s seeking legal protection to hopefully work out its financial problems.

Go here for more information: What’s Supplier Financial Default?.

Myself and my husband are going on a 4 month trip to India using frequent flyer points and perhaps buying a few flights. One month into this trip we’re going to Bhutan for one week.

We leave for India on Jan 9 and return from Dubai on April 10th. We’ll be flying to Bhutan from Calcutta on Feb 9 returning to Nepal on Feb 15. I’d like to buy my coverage for the full 4 months then a separate policy for the week in Bhutan which will have trip cancellation. Is this allowed? Thanks, Amanda

This question comes up periodically when some’s taking a longer trip. Even though it sounds like there are 2 trips here, there’s really only 1 trip. That’s because travel insurance policies define a trip as “round trip travel that takes you away from home and returns you to your home.”

Therefore, Amanda has only one choice as to how to cover her travel dates: She must cover the entire length of time she’s away from home. If she covers a shorter time period and she has a claim, a travel insurance company will likely deny the claim.

I’ve purchased insurance through your company for a past trip and I am once again headed over to Europe. I am traveling with 4 other people who do not want to purchase any insurance and I am mainly interested in having coverage for emergency medical and emergency medical transportation back to the states. Am I able to just purchase insurance for myself?

Yes, you can purchase insurance just for yourself. You are covered even if something happens to one of your traveling companions. That’s because your benefits don’t depend on the others having travel insurance.

Along these lines, if something happened to all of you, you’d be the only one with any coverage.

All I want is coverage to cover my airline and accomodations costs if I, my wife, or one of my kids gets injured or sick OR if someone in my immediate family dies and we have to cancel the trip. Isn’t there something that covers just that? I don’t need or want all the other coverages.

This question comes up at least a few times each week. I think it’s because people think that they can remove certain coverages & save some money. However, about 88% of claims are trip cancellation or interruption so the extra coverages don’t really cost the insurance company much to include them.

Just to clarify this: there are no plans that cover just trip cancellation & interruption. All trip cancellation plans are package plans. They all include medical & everything else.

Therefore we suggest you get the least expensive plan (that is, of the companies we trust) and jsut ignore the other coverages. If you want more information on this, I have a page here that explains this more fully, too.

The short answer is “Yes, Steve, Tara, Deanna, Becky, Teresa & Mary are our real names”.

This is a common question. The nature of this question reveals how little trust there is in doing business both online and offline.

One of my pet peeves is websites that don’t have real people with real names available to speak with. Another is email addresses that are in the format “info@…” or “service@…” How hard can it be to use the real names?

If you want to know about TripInsuranceStore.com’s philosophy, go to our About Us page.