Eye on Travel Insurance

This article is for travelers who want the preexisting-condition clause waived when buying a full-feature travel insurance.
This article describes what a traveler needs to know about the preexisting-condition clause when deciding whether or not to purchase a policy that covers only overseas medical expenses and emergency-medical evacuation.
Travel insurance competition” — Two more travel insurance providers have switched their medical benefits to primary-payer coverage. (See June 2013, page 58, which explains the advantage of primary-payer policies.)
The short answer is 'Probably not.' A discussion of the possibilities of having a medical emergency on your trip abroad. Statistics that Wayne developed indicate that only on approximately one trip in 1,000 trips will an overseas traveler have any kind of medical emergency that requires an outpatient visit to a hospital or other medical clinic, etc., that is, a medical problem that needs more than first-aid type of treatment. (This article claims that a disadvantage of a zero-trip-cost policy is the lack of a waiver of the preexisting-condition clause. Subsequent research indicated that three travel insurance policies will waive the preexisting-condition clause [see July 2012, pg 58].)
A discussion of travel insurance with regard to changes in a trip’s itinerary. Travel insurance without a “Cancel for any reason” clause will cover trip interruption only for specific causes (generally, a death in the family or a medical emergency affecting you, your spouse or a traveling companion or a close relative back home or one of the nonmedical reasons listed by the policy). (See June 2003, page 50, for information on “Cancel anytime, for any reason" coverage.)
Answers the question “Am I likely to get a refund of a travel insurance premium if I cannot take the trip?” — The short answer is 'Probably not.' A discussion of this issue and some situations in which you might get a refund of the premium from a travel insurance company.
(also known as post-departure coverage or zero-trip-cost coverage) — A discussion of a strategy to get economical high-limits overseas medical coverage plus medical-evacuation coverage.
A discussion of alternative coverage.