Unique situation travel insurance question

[skotti]

This is my first time posting so I hope this is an appropriate place for possible solutions although I'm fairly certain there are none for my situation. We went to Disney in 2015 booking through Disney and bought travel insurance. Luckily we didn't need it because I found out after that it would not have covered our trip if I had needed it. My 4 year old son has a terminal illness and apparently that would have not been covered as it was a pre-existing condition. Him being hospitalized would be the ONLY scenario in which we would not be able to make our trip so it was a waste of money. That being said, he has been very well for a while now and hospital free for over a year BUT that doesn't mean much if something comes up in a year. Our trip is being planned for March 2018 so I still have a little time to look for options. I know that once I rent points from either an owner or David's that the purchase is non-refundable and can't be changed. I found another rental company that offered a protection plan but the fine print said you basically forfeit all of your money if it's within 7 days so not very helpful. We've saved for 2 years for this trip so I just want to cover all of my bases. I know I would be out the price of the room but I believe the tickets could be used for a future trip. Also, is the meal plan refundable in the event of cancellation? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[bumbershoot]

I'm sorry about your son.

I found another rental company that offered a protection plan but the fine print said you basically forfeit all of your money if it's within 7 days so not very helpful.

I don't understand what that means.


Pre existing conditions mean you need to buy insurance with the PEC waiver. That is generally a bit more expensive and it means you generally have to buy it earlier.

I have found it best to call insurance companies and speak with them. The reps know what they are selling.

Insurance is for nonrefundable costs. So you would want the cost of the rental covered (for owners the insurance ends up just paying for the dues; ask what your coverage would pay).

Flights that can't be refunded or used in the future. So that means if you don't have high status with an airline and you aren't using southwest, get the air expenses added to the insurance.

You're right; tickets can be used in the future. They've recently added an expiration date but once that date has passed you can still use the value you paid towards other tickets. So tickets might not need to be added. They might not be refundable but they aren't lost if you can't use them then.

You would have to find out about dining. I googled a little and found one rental place whose plan does not include the dining plan though they will *try* to cancel it. And that's the issue, the plan is added by the owner, and the owner has to be available and willing to cancel the dining plan. Not all are both.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

This is my first time posting so I hope this is an appropriate place for possible solutions although I'm fairly certain there are none for my situation. We went to Disney in 2015 booking through Disney and bought travel insurance. Luckily we didn't need it because I found out after that it would not have covered our trip if I had needed it. My 4 year old son has a terminal illness and apparently that would have not been covered as it was a pre-existing condition. Him being hospitalized would be the ONLY scenario in which we would not be able to make our trip so it was a waste of money. That being said, he has been very well for a while now and hospital free for over a year BUT that doesn't mean much if something comes up in a year. Our trip is being planned for March 2018 so I still have a little time to look for options. I know that once I rent points from either an owner or David's that the purchase is non-refundable and can't be changed. I found another rental company that offered a protection plan but the fine print said you basically forfeit all of your money if it's within 7 days so not very helpful. We've saved for 2 years for this trip so I just want to cover all of my bases. I know I would be out the price of the room but I believe the tickets could be used for a future trip. Also, is the meal plan refundable in the event of cancellation? Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

First I want to say how sorry I am to hear of your son's illness. I cannot imagine going through that. Prayers to you and your family.

I might suggest looking into Travel Guard’s policy. We bought the gold one for my aunt’s cruise when she was terminally ill. They have a pre-existing condition waiver if you purchase the policy within 2 weeks of your initial deposit. We had the exact same concerns as you, needing to be able to cancel and get a refund if she ended up being hospitalized or too ill to travel. Travelex, the one through Disney is great for the added benefit of DVC owner’s getting maintenance fees reimbursed but since you are renting I think other plans are going to give you a better and broader coverage (i.e. for the room, flight, meals, and other nonrefundable things). If you look at Travel Guard, the link to the copy of the policy is on the page after you click buy now on the quote. That will detail all coverages and limitations and of course call and talk to someone if you have more questions.

 

[DLgal]

You have a couple options.

1. Purchase insurance coverage with pre existing condition coverage. Try Travel Guard. They have good products.

2. Book a room only reservation through Disney directly. Those only require a one night deposit upfront that is fully refundable if you cancel up to 5 days prior to check in. The rest is only due and payable upon check in. Disney will work with you to move your deposit to a future date if something comes up within the 5 day window. They have done so for me in the past. Buy tickets separately and skip the dining plan.

The villas are OFTEN available for 25-40% off using various discounts that Disney offers throughout the year. No need to pay rack rate. I would book now with a Disney travel agent and they will apply any discounts that come available automatically.

I get that renting points is cheaper but there are risks involved and in a situation like yours probably more risk than benefit. Just my opinion. I don't rent DVC points for a similar reason. We need flexibility and the ability to cancel last minute.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I have found it best to call insurance companies and speak with them. The reps know what they are selling.

I wish this were always true! Unfortunately I think a lot of times you get a call center and they aren't very helpful or knowledgeable about their product. Most travel insurance companies have a link to the policy somewhere on their website. You have to do some digging to find it but it will lay out all coverage, restrictions etc. Sometimes it's not the easiest to read but then you can use it as a guide when speaking with someone the company.

 

[skotti]

First I want to say how sorry I am to hear of your son's illness. I cannot imagine going through that. Prayers to you and your family.

I might suggest looking into Travel Guard’s policy. We bought the gold one for my aunt’s cruise when she was terminally ill. They have a pre-existing condition waiver if you purchase the policy within 2 weeks of your initial deposit. We had the exact same concerns as you, needing to be able to cancel and get a refund if she ended up being hospitalized or too ill to travel. Travelex, the one through Disney is great for the added benefit of DVC owner’s getting maintenance fees reimbursed but since you are renting I think other plans are going to give you a better and broader coverage (i.e. for the room, flight, meals, and other nonrefundable things). If you look at Travel Guard, the link to the copy of the policy is on the page after you click buy now on the quote. That will detail all coverages and limitations and of course call and talk to someone if you have more questions.

Thank You! This was super helpful and I will be looking into that option. Also, thank you for the kind thoughts. My son is actually doing really great and surprising every doctor he's ever had. He was almost 2 when we went last but still talks about Disney all the time so we are very excited to get back.

 

[adisneyaunt]

OP: I'm so sorry to hear about ur sons illness ss. Prayers for him and ur family.

Insure my trip dot com .. you can see the policies online and/or call them as well.
Pre existing can be covered and each policy has different requirements as to when it must be purchased. ( some within a certain number of days of deposit, etc)
The MOST important part of ANY insurance policy is the EXclusions.
If something is Not EXcluded, then it IS INcluded.
I would go to the website, put in ur out of pocket costs ( be sure to include any/everything that you d be losing regarding no refunds etc)
Then choose one with pre-existence coverage.
You can compare, print them out and call to ask further questions.
I have used them more than once. We utilized the policy once .. the cost of the policy at the time was under $250. At the time but we were able to recoup Thousands that would have been lost.

The peace of mind can be priceless. Take the risk away from ayou and place it on them.
Best of luck..on researching and
I pray that you will not be using the coverage, once purchased!

 

[skotti]

You have a couple options.

1. Purchase insurance coverage with pre existing condition coverage. Try Travel Guard. They have good products.

2. Book a room only reservation through Disney directly. Those only require a one night deposit upfront that is fully refundable if you cancel up to 5 days prior to check in. The rest is only due and payable upon check in. Disney will work with you to move your deposit to a future date if something comes up within the 5 day window. They have done so for me in the past. Buy tickets separately and skip the dining plan.

The villas are OFTEN available for 25-40% off using various discounts that Disney offers throughout the year. No need to pay rack rate. I would book now with a Disney travel agent and they will apply any discounts that come available automatically.

I get that renting points is cheaper but there are risks involved and in a situation like yours probably more risk than benefit. Just my opinion. I don't rent DVC points for a similar reason. We need flexibility and the ability to cancel last minute.

Thank you! We are keeping this option in mind as well, I have my heart set on AKL and some other family members are coming with us so we are looking for a 2bd and it's just not affordable if we don't rent points for it. We stayed at an AoA suite last time through Disney and were very happy. I'm also pricing 3 studios through Disney and comparing all of my information currently so I will definitely weigh the pros and cons of each of my options.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Thank You! This was super helpful and I will be looking into that option. Also, thank you for the kind thoughts. My son is actually doing really great and surprising every doctor he's ever had. He was almost 2 when we went last but still talks about Disney all the time so we are very excited to get back.

Then you absolutely must get back! Just being able to talk about going and the excitement leading up to a trip is fun. Just an FYI, the Travel Guard policy will require you to input the total trip cost when you quote/buy it so be sure to include costs that you may not pay until later (like dining plan, flights and tickets). Also, you can't put a deposit date for the future so just use today's date for now to get a quote. Then you can buy on the day you make your first purchase of the trip (i.e. renting the points) or within 2 weeks of that date in order to get the pre-existing condition waiver.

 

[skotti]

I'm sorry about your son.



I don't understand what that means.


Pre existing conditions mean you need to buy insurance with the PEC waiver. That is generally a bit more expensive and it means you generally have to buy it earlier.

I have found it best to call insurance companies and speak with them. The reps know what they are selling.

Insurance is for nonrefundable costs. So you would want the cost of the rental covered (for owners the insurance ends up just paying for the dues; ask what your coverage would pay).

Flights that can't be refunded or used in the future. So that means if you don't have high status with an airline and you aren't using southwest, get the air expenses added to the insurance.

You're right; tickets can be used in the future. They've recently added an expiration date but once that date has passed you can still use the value you paid towards other tickets. So tickets might not need to be added. They might not be refundable but they aren't lost if you can't use them then.

You would have to find out about dining. I googled a little and found one rental place whose plan does not include the dining plan though they will *try* to cancel it. And that's the issue, the plan is added by the owner, and the owner has to be available and willing to cancel the dining plan. Not all are both.

Thanks for the helpful information. The point protection program the other company offered was mostly setup so that you could be more flexible in changing dates or cancelling far in advance. You got a percentage of your money back at certain time frames but forfeited all of it at 7 days so it wasn't helpful in my situation.

 

[bumbershoot]

Insure my trip dot com .. you can see the policies online and/or call them as well.

That's the one I dealt with, where the reps knew what they were selling. Not the actual insurance comany itself.

FWIW we got a Travel Guard policy (living in WA, my state requires that pre existing conditions be covered, and so there are only a few agencies that are allowed to sell to us, and that was one) and we could keep adding to our trip as we went, and PEC would be covered.

You got a percentage of your money back at certain time frames but forfeited all of it at 7 days so it wasn't helpful in my situation.

So if you canceled at 21 days out you would get x dollars but at 7 you'd get nothing? I feel like maybe something is missing there. It makes no sense. I wonder if they mean *if you BUY at 7 days out* you get nothing back? Or if you cancel the *protection plan* at 7 days out you don't get a refund on it?

 

[maburke]

I have found it best to call insurance companies and speak with them. The reps know what they are selling.

I agree with everything you've said, except for this. I would never sign a contract as important as this based on what someone said rather than reading it.

I have 3 kids with chronic health issues, and I always get a pre-existing conditions waiver, as I never want anything to be denied if it could be connected to that. Usually it's just a matter of buying the policy very shortly after making a nonrefundable payment. So make sure you have your research on the insurance options done at the same time as your booking is done.

 

[LAX]

Be very careful about waiver for pre-existing conditions (or exclusions for that matter). It would be a shame to find out after the fact that their definition is different from yours. I would try to get clarifications from the company if you can. Another option that you can look into is a "cancel for any reason" policy. Most only offer refund of up to 75% of nonrefundable costs and have some exclusions (despite cancel for any reason!). Plus, they are not cheap. However, it might be worth it over losing a few grands on the DVC rental plus airfares.

LAX

 

[maburke]

Be very careful about waiver for pre-existing conditions (or exclusions for that matter). It would be a shame to find out after the fact that their definition is different from yours. I would try to get clarifications from the company if you can.

Can you give an example of an unexpected definition of pre-exiting condition? I want to know what to look for.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Can you give an example of an unexpected definition of pre-exiting condition? I want to know what to look for.

Perhaps pregnancy could be confused as a pre-existing condition. Most companies (if not all) would not classify it as such. For instance if you purchase the policy because you are pregnant and want to be able to cancel if you have the baby a few weeks early then they may not afford coverage if it is still a normal birth. Reason being that you knew when you were due so it was a planned event. Now if you are pregnant and suffer a new condition that requires you to go on bedrest, then that's a different story.

 

[maburke]

Good point. Pregnancy is a subject unto itself. Many airlines won't even take you after the seventh month. My HMO would not cover an out-of-area delivery after the seventh month. So my advice is don't think of pregnancy as a pre-existing condition; look specifically at pregnancy coverage.