Know your coverage

Since our retirement, every year we save for an international vacation. We always take out travel insurance. In November ’04 we went to Guatemala, and while at a friend’s country home in a remote area my wife slipped over some rocks. Where we were staying, there was no doctor, not even a telephone nearby. We considered the injury a bruise, but the pain increased.

As soon as we returned home, eight or nine days later, she went to see her doctor, who immediately recommended an examination by a specialist plus x-rays and an MRI. It turned out to be a broken rotator cuff.

We immediately advised our travel insurance company, Travel Guard International (800/826-4919 or www.travel-guard.com). When we purchased their insurance, we only got the words in bold type of what they would pay, etc. Two days before departure we got the full documents and insurance papers with a lot of fine print that I could only read with a magnifying glass.

Several months after filing all the bills with Travel Guard, they informed us that they wouldn’t pay because we did not report the accident within 24 hours. We were hoping to recover the portion of the bills that our personal insurance did not cover.

In 1995, while flying over the Himalayas on a trip to Nepal, my wife had ear problems. It was two weeks before we reported it, and yet the insurance company we had on that trip did pay for medical bills.

Travelers, be aware of what kind of insurance you buy, especially if your travels include remote areas of a third-world country.

FRED HARDER
Ashville, AL