Columns

Elaine Chew of Sacramento, CA, found out about baggage-delay cov­erage in an annoying, frustrating way.

In October 1995 she transferred from a San Francisco/London flight to a connecting flight on to Frankfurt; unfortunately, her luggage did not make the connec­tion.

She joined her tour group with­out the luggage and spent a good bit of her first three days on the phone to British Midlands Air­lines trying to locate the missing bags.

Preexisting-condition clause on the way out

Suddenly this year, a number of travel insurance companies have cho­sen to waive the onerous “preexisting medical condition” clause in their overseas health coverage and trip- cancellation policies.

The coverage must be purchased within 24 hours of making the first deposit on a trip (this is easily done through your travel agent), and for trip cancellation protection the cov­erage generally must be purchased for the entire amount of the purchase price of the trip.

Editor’s note: Continuing to up­date his information on travel medi­cal insurance (see May ’95, pg. 46), Wayne offers the following.

This article is meant to help you choose a travel-insurance policy that has a lenient “pre­existing” medical condition clause. There are major dif­ferences among the available policies.

Editor’s note: Having written sev­eral articles on travel insurance for ITN (April ’94, pg. 34; July ’94, pg. 51; Aug. ’94, pg. 37, & Oct. ’94, pg. 30), Mr. Wirtanen expressed inter­est in commenting on the issue dealt with in the letter by ITN reader Mr. Brewer, appearing on the preceding page.

Amid a rash of tour-company failures, including a few large operators within the last few years, the traveling public came to the scary realization that there was an underappreciated hazard connected with buying a tour package.

The full amount paid for a tour might completely disap­pear before the tour ever be­gan, or travelers might end up being stranded halfway through a tour without even transportation home.

When the rug is pulled out

These travel nightmares did in­deed descend upon a large number of 

Some kind of trip insurance is pur­chased by a large percentage of over­seas travelers, especially the over- age-55 set. The article “Overseas Travel In­surance — Magnifying the Fine Print” (April ’94, pg. 34) provided assistance in deciding how (or whether not) to select a policy. How­ever, what are the odds that you’ll actually need to collect on a travel-insurance policy?

Reader-recommended

A travel-insurance company recommended by Robert and Miriam Bacon of Lake Worth, FL, is Amex Assurance Co. (800/541-3522 in San Diego, CA).
They wrote of the company, “Their insurance is low cost; for example, $87 family coverage for one to eight days or $127 for up to 31 days.
“After our trip to Australia and New Zealand and after another trip to Morocco, our modest claims were processed quickly and to our complete satisfaction.”

What are the most important factors to consider when choos­ing a travel insurance policy or considering not to buy one? (The proposed Clinton health plan is reported to provide over­seas travel coverage, but don’t hold your breath.)

For medical emergencies

Well before your trip, review the variety of types of assistance to which you already have access.

The Gold MasterCard overseas MasterAssist Medical Protection program has canceled the outstand­ing benefits for overseas travelers as described in the article “Selecting Travel Health Insurance” (ITN, May ‘91, pg. 64).

This cancellation is effective Jan. 1, 1992. Benefits now are essentially ones providing “referrals” and other “assistance.”

The provisions in effect through 1991 supplied no-extra-cost health insurance, medically required trans­portation to cardholders’ home cities and several other benefits not avail­able through other credit cards.