looking for insurance with a pre-existing condition

[Angelic Jennifer]

My FIL is going to be cruising with us in October. He has multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He has received treatment, and while not considered "in remission", he's as close to it as he could be.

Does anyone know if Disney's insurance covers him having to cancel if he becomes ill related to the cancer, or is that a pre-existing condition that wouldn't be covered?

Would we be better investigating a third-party insurance carrier for better coverage?

They're planning on booking within the next day or so, but we need to make sure he's fully covered in case there's a problem.

TIA!

 

[mdsoccermom]

My FIL is going to be cruising with us in October. He has multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He has received treatment, and while not considered "in remission", he's as close to it as he could be.

Does anyone know if Disney's insurance covers him having to cancel if he becomes ill related to the cancer, or is that a pre-existing condition that wouldn't be covered?

Would we be better investigating a third-party insurance carrier for better coverage?

They're planning on booking within the next day or so, but we need to make sure he's fully covered in case there's a problem.

TIA!

Disney will not cover him. You definitely need third party insurance. Travel Guard policies (that's what I'm most familiar with) will cover pre-existing conditions if you buy it within 15 days of depositing your cruise. Most third party insurance has pre-existing condition waivers.

 

[lbgraves]

When I was looking for insurance for MIL to book a cruise for them Travel Guard was the only company that would cover her cancer. Even Access America said no when I called them.

 

[wishuponastarforever]

Not sure about cancer but definitely PE conditions.
CSA Travel Protection. We've used them in the past and plan to again in September.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We ended up getting Access America insurance through AAA for our upcoming cruise. Our DD has Type 1 diabetes, so we had to have pre-existing conditon insurance.

 

[shelbell77]

A good family friend is a TA. She recommends Allianz most of the time (formerly Access America I believe) but for her cancer patient clients she says Travel Guard is the company to go with.

She likes both. But Allianz typically pays out within a week and Travel Guard takes more like a month to pay out.

In any event, to make sure your FIL is covered you want to buy the policy soon after initial payment - usually within 14-15 days.

 

[kimb96]

Go to tripinsurancestore.com and call the 1-800 number. They will be able to help you find a policy. Getting insurance with a cancer diagnosis is tricky. I was in treatment for ovarian cancer when I booked our cruise and Becky was able to find me a policy with a pre existing waiver and a very reasonable price.

 

[lbgraves]

Forgot to say that Travel Guard required that the person with cancer be in physical condition to travel at the time the policy was taken out. I called MIL's doctor and, after confirming with him that it would be okay for her to travel, requested that the doctor put a letter in the file stating this with the date to make sure that we would be covered. MIL did have to cancel so I was very glad we had gone with Travel Guard.

 

[kcashner]

We were very happy with Travel Insured International. They do cover pre-existings if purchased within 21 days of initial payment, but obviously I can't address cancer. We filed a small claim with them on one trip--Easy and rapid payment.

Check the definition of pre-existing on various policies. Some say that if you haven't seen a doc in a certain time period, it isn't one. Others say if you haven't had a CHANGE in treatment in a certain time, it doesn't count. Unfortunately, the definition and the time period can differ among different companies. What fun (not).

 

[mdinowitz]

We also used allianz through AAA, and found that the policy that AAA offered was more inclusive and less expensive than booking through allianz directly. We were able to get pre-existing condition coverage, and we purchased the policy a full year after booking the cruise. Good luck, and make sure to read the fine print and get the policy that is right for your circumstances- alot of them are very different.

 

[mellers]

My FIL is going to be cruising with us in October. He has multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He has received treatment, and while not considered "in remission", he's as close to it as he could be.

Does anyone know if Disney's insurance covers him having to cancel if he becomes ill related to the cancer, or is that a pre-existing condition that wouldn't be covered?

Would we be better investigating a third-party insurance carrier for better coverage?

They're planning on booking within the next day or so, but we need to make sure he's fully covered in case there's a problem.

TIA!

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU PURCHASE DCL INSURANCE!!!!!

They DO NOT cover pre-existing conditions. As everyone in my family has a pre-existing condition, this is a MAJOR issue for us.

That said, there is no reason you shouldn't go on the cruise, and you can, most definitely, be covered for pre-existing conditions.

I strongly recommend http://www.tripinsurancestore.com , and http://www.insuremytrip.com and http://www.squaremouth.com/

It is VERY IMPORTANT, however, that you book your insurance VERY SOON AFTER you make ANY non-refundable deposits--that's what will allow you to get the pre-existing conditions coverage. Most require you to purchase the insurance within 14-30 days after your first non-refundable deposit ON ANY ASPECT OF YOUR TRIP, so this includes hotels, cruises, airline tickets, etc.

If you, or a traveling companion, is a veteran, I would recommend http://www.usaa.com/ Travel Insured World Trip Protector or World Trip Protector Gold--however, you may want to consider upgrading the medical to primary, given your situation--with secondary insurance, you may have to wait longer to be reimbursed for a medical situation. A recent traveler posted that they handled a medical claim swiftly and politely.

 

[janeey22]

This thread was great information for me! So, I wanted to share what I learned. Unfortunately, I didn't purchase insurance when I put down my deposit months ago. But I haven't made my final payment yet. There is one company that will still waive the pre-existing condition clause if you buy either before, or within 24 hours of your final payment. So, I was able to book with them, and still get the waiver. I purchased through insuremytrip.com (recommended by the poster above me), and I went with CSA. But you have to get the more expensive "luxe" policy to get the waiver. Now, this option was around $50 more expensive than most of the other policies, but it was the only option for us b/c we waited past that 15-21 day window of our deposit, and we needed the pre-existing condition waiver. (We didn't think it was important, b/c at the time we booked, no one had a pre-existing condition - we learned our lesson!) So, if anyone is else is in the same boat, I hope you find this information helpful!

 

[Momma2Jax]

This thread was great information for me! So, I wanted to share what I learned. Unfortunately, I didn't purchase insurance when I put down my deposit months ago. But I haven't made my final payment yet. There is one company that will still waive the pre-existing condition clause if you buy either before, or within 24 hours of your final payment. So, I was able to book with them, and still get the waiver. I purchased through insuremytrip.com (recommended by the poster above me), and I went with CSA. But you have to get the more expensive "luxe" policy to get the waiver. Now, this option was around $50 more expensive than most of the other policies, but it was the only option for us b/c we waited past that 15-21 day window of our deposit, and we needed the pre-existing condition waiver. (We didn't think it was important, b/c at the time we booked, no one had a pre-existing condition - we learned our lesson!) So, if anyone is else is in the same boat, I hope you find this information helpful!

We also purchased the csa luxe plan right before making our final payment so we could get pre-existing coverage, since we had passed our deposit date.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

We also purchased the csa luxe plan right before making our final payment so we could get pre-existing coverage, since we had passed our deposit date.

Another option is the CSA Freestyle plan or the Freestyle Luxe available through tripisnurancestore. Our Freestyle with pre-exisitng waiver was about $85 less than a Custom Luxe through insuremytrip (although the coverages were lower as well, but high enough for us to feel comfortable). -- Suzanne

 

[lisaradz]

Definitely call. We always use square mouth.com Once I narrow down my choices on my own, I call and confirm that it will cover pre-existing conditions. They were awesome the last time and even found a less expensive policy that still covered pre-existing but had less benefits on some items that were not important to us. Don't use DCL's insurance!!!!!

 

[AnnaS]

Question - my cruise is booked on points - I purchased the insurance that DVC sells for the points. DH is on medications for his heart condition - should I look into purchasing additional insurance besides the one I purchased through DVC? It sounds like I should - will one of the above companies sell us additional insurance?