Travel Insurance is a key requirement for international travel, especially to countries like the US, where healthcare is very expensive and having travel medical insurance can put a smile on your face. Traveling during the Covi19- pandemic exposes travelers to a higher risk of contracting the virus. When we talk about travel insurance we are referring to health insurance for visitors also commonly known as visitor insurance.
But then the word travel arises a question, whether the insurance covers only the travel or is it a medical insurance as well? This is medical insurance that covers the insured for any medical requirement once the insurance cover starts, whether the person is in the flight or airport, as long as the person is out of the home country, or the person arrives in the destination country where they want to use the insurance if needed. It provides coverage for cancelled flights due to coronavirus and quarantine expenses can also be covered.
On the other hand we have customers who specifically ask for insurance cover that insures the cost of the trip, trip interruption, trip cancellation, trip delay, baggage loss, theft, and cancel for any reason … These benefits are not available in a travel insurance plan although trip interruption, loss of luggage and trip delay might be a part of travel insurance coverage.
To cover the cost of trip or in specific trip related costs, there is trip insurance. This is something that customers purchase especially while they are spending a lot of money for a vacation, on a cruise or to any place and are concerned about the money in case they need to cancel the trip. Due to Covid-19 pandemic travelers are choosing to buy CFAR rider as it offers protection for canceling of a trip for any reason that may have been listed otherwise.
IMG has these trip cancellation insurance plans which have been designed keeping this group of people who need trip insurance to cover the cost of the trip. We have three trip plans namely, Travel Lite, Travel SE and Travel LX. Let us see them in detail:
Travel Lite: This plan provides a trip cancellation benefit of $25,000, trip interruption benefit of $25,000. There is a travel delay benefit of $500($125 per day) after an initial delay of 6 hours. Missed connection benefit is available for $500($125 per day) after an initial common carrier delay of 3 hours. The Change Fee benefit of $150 is available. The other benefits are the Reimbursement of miles or reward points benefit for $75, baggage delay benefit of $150 and rental car damage benefit available for $40,000.
Travel SE: This plan provides a maximum of $50,000 for the trip cancellation and pays 100% trip cost for trip interruption. Rest of the benefits specified in the Travel Lite plan are available in this plan as well. The Baggage Delay benefit in this plan is available for $250. Apart from that there are extra benefit in the Travel SE plan such as the Accident and Sickness medical expense coverage of $250,000, Emergency Medical Evacuation coverage of $100,000, Common Carrier AD&D benefit of $25,000. Additional benefits for trivial expenses such as the internet usage fees for $50, overnight stay movie rental for $15 and additional cat or dog kennel expenses for $300($100 per day) are available with this plan.
Travel LX: This plan is the more of a comprehensive option compared to the other 2 plans where this plan just provides a higher amount of coverage for each benefit. Trip cancellation benefit of $100,000 and a trip interruption benefit is 150% of trip cost. The Travel Delay benefit in this plan is available for $1000($250 per day). Change fee benefit for $300, Baggage and personal effects coverage for $2500 and baggage delay for $500 makes this plan better than the other two.
This plan provides accident and sickness expense coverage for $500,000, Common Carrier AD&D benefit for $100,000 and Emergency Medical Evacuation of $1,000,000. Some unique benefits of this plan include hospital choice, pre-existing condition waiver available if the policy is purchased within 20 days of initial trip payment.
There is a Search and Rescue benefit available for $10,000. Sports Equipment rental benefit of $2000($500 per day) is available with this plan and a waiver for excluded sports/recreation activity included. The unique benefits of this plan extends to non-emergency medical evacuation coverage of $50,000, trip interruption for any reason benefit is included where 75% of trip cost insured, trip cancel for any reason benefit is included 75%of trip cost insured if purchased within the 20 days of initial trip deposit.
Travel Sport Insurance: Travel Sport insurance is specifically designed for adventure-seekers and offers flexible sport and adventure travel protection while away from home.This plan offers coverage for accommodations due to a covered Trip Delay which is $5,000/$250 per person per day and is included in the basic coverage.This plan offers Trip Cancellation up to 100% of the non-refundable insured trip cost.This adventure sports insurance is available only for US residents and offered coverage both within the US as well as overseas.
Vacation Rental insurance: The IMG Vacation Rental insurance plan is underwritten by Sirius America is ideal for travelers who want coverage for vacation rental investment in case of trip cancellation and trip interruption. Trip cancellation coverage up to 100% of trip cost. Maximum Trip Length is 31 days. This plan is available upto 99 years. Travelers can recover non-refundable, unused payments and deposits when a trip is cancelled or interrupted due to a covered reason.
Travelers can compare trip plans from IMG, Travel lite vs Travel SE vs Travel LX and select a plan that best satisfies the needs.
Will the IMG plans offer protection of loss of trip costs due to a positive COVID test prior to traveling (person may be asymptomatic) since the person is unable to travel? (The policy mentions "sickness" but this may not be a debilitating illness, but it does prevent travel)
IMG does offer the option to upgrade to “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage on some of its travel insurance plans. The “Cancel for any reason” add-on benefit gives the traveler the option to cancel for any reason, even if it is not listed in the plan’s base trip cancellation reasons. For example, one can cancel the trip because there was a work related crisis which would not be covered in the base trip cancellation coverage.Please review the plan to check the rules for CFAR coverage. IMG’s Travel LX travel insurance reimburses 75% of the non-refundable trip costs under the CFAR benefit. The traveler must buy the “cancel for any reason” add-on coverage within 21 days of making the initial trip deposit. To make a CFAR claim one must cancel the trip at least two days prior to the actual departure date.
IMG provides travel insurance that include coverage for Covid19 related trip cancellation and medical expenses. IMG’s Travel SE, Travel Lite and Travel LX Basic trip cancellation insurance plans all include Covid coverage. This can make all the difference should anyone contract Covid before your vacation and have to cancel the trip. The IMG plans will cover you and reimburse all the financial loss incurred in prepaid expenses and non-refundable deposits. The IMG trip cancellation plans will also cover all Covid19 related medical expenses while traveling.
IMG’s travel insurance includes Pre-existing medical condition waivers as an add-on coverage. Travelers should review the policy details to be sure of this coverage specification. Including this pre-existing conditions waiver add-on will mean the pre-existing conditions is not excluded from your travel insurance coverage.
COVID-19 is treated the same as any other sickness for purposes of all coverage that are triggered by sickness or that can reimburse losses resulting from a sickness including death caused by sickness. Depending on the Plan Design, this can include but is not necessarily limited to the following (including the sub-benefits of many of these):
Regardless of the terms of the Plan, United States Fire Insurance Company has made the administrative decision to allow for coverage to be extended for the entire duration of a COVID-19 related quarantine, and coverage will be extended for five additional days following the end of the quarantine provided the travelers have not arrived back in their return destination city.
If the travelers incur additional hotel or meal expenses solely due to a quarantine, they will not receive any reimbursement under the Trip Interruption coverage either. Trip Interruption coverage may include a provision that provides reimbursement for additional hotel nights and meals (among other expenses) if the travelers cannot continue travel due to a sickness that does not cause them to need to be hospitalized. Please note that the travelers would actually need to be sick, as certified by a Legally Qualified Physician (as defined by your Plan), for this to apply if this provision is in their Plan.
However, when included in a Plan Design, the Travel Delay and Missed Connection coverages may be able to reimburse additional meal and hotel expenses incurred solely due to a quarantine (subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable coverage).
The trip cancellation insurance coverage starts on the day following the purchase of the policy. The trip cancellation insurance plan will cover the traveler for factors such as trip cancellation even before the departure date of the trip.
If the traveler becomes ill with the Covid19 virus while they are insured, it will be covered like any other sickness. Along with trip costs and any eligible medical expenses, Covid19 related Quarantine expenses may also be covered if required by the concerned authority. Please refer to the policy documents for the detailed coverage benefits.
IMG plans do not cover COVID19 vaccinations since all preventive care is not covered. However it will cover COVID-19 treatment as any other eligible sickness if Covid19 infection happens after the policy is effective. Please see the policy document for more details.
All US citizens and US residents are eligible to buy IMG trip cancellation plans. They can buy these trip cancellation plans for travel both within the US as well as outside the country.
Yes, one can cancel the IMG plan if there is no claim on the policy and if the traveler :
The trip costs will include all non-refundable expenses such as the airline ticket costs, cruise expenses, hotel booking costs .... In the event of an unplanned cancellation of the trip, these expenses which would otherwise be lost will be covered by the IMG trip cancellation plans.
No, the IMG plans are not renewable.
The pre-existing conditions coverage varies depending on the IMG plan.
Trip cancellation coverage is available if the entire trip is cancelled even before the start of the trip (this is even before the trip start date). Trip interruption coverage is applicable only after the start of the trip. Trip interruption comes is applicable if the trip is cancelled for a valid covered reason (unless you have the Travel LX plan which covers CFAR), after the start of the trip and here the insured traveler has to return to his/her home country.
You compare the coverage differences between the three IMG plans IMG travel insurance Comparision
There isn’t a specific “quarantine” benefit, but benefits could apply under both IMG travel Insurance’s Trip Interruption and Travel Delay benefits. Trip interruption would generally reimburse for the prepaid, unused, nonrefundable elements of the trip that are lost. Travel delay would reimburse up to the per day, per person policy limit (varies between plans) for additional meals, accommodations, and local transportation expenses. A requirement to quarantine is a covered event under each of these benefits. In addition, if medical treatment is sought due to symptoms, the medical expense benefit would apply as well.
There isn’t a specific “accommodation” benefit, but benefits could apply under IMG travel Insurance’s Travel Delay benefit. Travel delay would reimburse up to the per day, per person policy limit (varies between plans) for additional meals, accommodations, and local transportation expenses. A requirement to quarantine is a covered event under each of these benefits. In addition, if medical treatment is sought due to symptoms, the medical expense benefit would apply as well. Benefits would apply to an insured traveler OR a travel companion.
If the traveler is required to quarantine as per the terms of coverage, benefits would be extended for up to 5 days after the period of quarantine ends (per the guidelines provided by our underwriter).
If required to do so as per the terms of coverage. Note that the policy defines quarantine as follows: Quarantined means You or Your Traveling Companion, Pet or Service Animal are forced into strict medical isolation by a recognized government authority, their authorized deputies, medical examiners or Physician to prevent the spread of the disease due to You or Your Traveling Companion, Pet or Service Animal either having, or being suspected of having an contagious disease, infection or contamination. An embargo preventing You or Your Traveling Companion, Pet or Service Animal from entering a country is not a quarantine.
There are some very advantageous credit cards out there to help travelers, particularly with money exchange fees when making purchases abroad. However, you should look over your benefits carefully. Certainly travel items charged to the card may be covered and refundable, but what if you get sick at your destination? What if your luggage is lost? What if you need to quarantine or get delayed in one leg of your trip? The best trip cancellation insurance can put your mind at ease. These best travel insurance are specifically designed to help in all aspects of travel from interruptions that may come up (an emergency back home), unintended trip delays (testing positive for COVID, missing a flight or having a flight cancelled), helping you get your minor children home if you can't, and medical expenses should you become sick or hospitalized. There are plans to help you get your pet home safely and insure your expensive golf clubs or sports equipment get with you to your destination! You have invested so much into your trip planning, you may as well have full peace of mind that your investment is protected and you are taken care of by experts who have dealt with the most unlikely of scenarios!
Covid travel insurance - Know more