Travel Insurance

[Sir Ringo]

Hello guys, I have ran a search on the forum about travel insurance, and was wondering if anyone would care to elaborate on their personal experiences on writing these products. I am being contracted with assurant at this time (thanks to reading this forum) and know that they offer a travel policy, but it seems that maybe theirs doesn't provide quite enough coverage, unless I am mistaken. Not that it will be my main market or if that is even possible, but it does have my interest.

Anyone care to elaborate?

Did I mention that I am in Ms, not even close to an average metropolis to say the least. But concerning travel ins, does that even matter? What % of travel business is on your books?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I believe you're referring to International Medical Group - IMG I almost never run across an instance where I have to sell international coverage nor do I fully understand how it works. They seem to be scheduled plans and supposedly if you're sick or injured while traveling you coordinate care through them.

I have to assume this is simply an indemnity benefit since it's impossible to have a network in Costa Rica when you're on vacation or have any foreign doctor/hospital be forced to accept any negotiated rate. I think in many cases you'd have to front the cost and be reimbursed according to some schedule.

I know we had Blue Cross group when we were in Cancun about 6 years ago which covered us out of the country. My wife got violently sick and we needed a doctor. When we whipped out our insurance card we might as well have just handed the girl the three of clubs - her reaction was "what's this?" and handed it back. It was cash on the barrel head for the visit and meds.

 

[Sir Ringo]

Thanks, that helps alot. Now, I wonder how far an hsa would go in this case? Could a person make it work? Have to excuse me cause I am still learning how an hsa works.

So it is now safe to say that I may not venture into selling tvl. ins. that much, however, I would still like to learn how it all works.

 

[Sam]

I was in a hospital in Rome for food poisoning, and the travel insurance took care of everything, including translating the bill.

Typically, medical costs are lower everywhere else in the world, so you don't need to worry too much about negotiated rates.

 

[TXINSURANCE]

IMG GLOBAL is the biggest player in this arena.

I used them when I was in CHINA, they have a easy online application and appear to be paying claims very well.

They have a plan called Global Medical which in most cases is comparable to a U.S. based plan less the co-pays.

Some of their plans even cover maternity.

We use IMG for two reasons:

1. International Travel

2. Foreigners who do not qualify for U.S. plans (i.e. they just arrived and the big carrier wants 6 months of residency, etc., etc.)

The commission appears to be horrible. I don't know what it is but I recall getting a lot of $15 checks in the mail.

There is a lifetime cap on pre-ex and pre-ex waiting periods.

I have NEVER had anyone declined.

I don't think the commission is high enough to market it stand alone - but it fills a need when it comes up time to time.

The competition is VERY high marketing international plans online - tons of competition.

 

[Alston]

I offer travel insurance on my website but it is a pretty small part of my business. I sold about 200 permanent individual health policies last year. I only sold two travel policies to people I marketed for individual health insurance. I sold a few more by directly marketing travel policies.

Most travel insurance is short-term coverage. These plans will typically cover a person who is overseas on a business trip or a vacation. These plans don't stay on the books because they aren't designed to do so. The market is small and so are the commissions unless you sell group policies or long-term policies. IMG has products for groups and for those who reside out of their home countries for longer periods of time. Sevencorners is another marketer of international medical policies.

My experience indicates that there is very little cross-over between travel insurance and domestic health insurance. You will have to put together a separate marketing plan to sell travel policies in any quantity.

Conversely selling domestic short-term health insurance works well with selling permanent policies. If a client wants a permanent policy with a carrier that only accepts the first of a month as the effective date, you can sell him or her a short-term policy with minimal effort. Also you will often sell someone who has just been laid off a short-term policy in January and then sell him a permanent policy in April when he decides to work as a consultant.

Selling a short-term policy to someone who would otherwise have exposure before the effective date of their permanent policy offers a real service to a client, but be sure to tell them that pre-existing conditions and preventative care aren't covered.

Good Luck,

 

[Mr. Bill]

It's been a while so I thought I would resurrect this. My understanding is that most plans don't cover travel overseas. I have (perhaps stupidly) never purchased travel insurance, medical, that is, for myself. If YOU were going overseas, what would you do? Which company would you consider purchasing from???

I don't know whether it's worth it to sell it, but I think I ought to at least consider purchasing it beforehand....

Thanks, all.

 

[tommyk]

Local travel agency added it to my sister in laws and her husbands trip to Maui. He went into the hospital had a gall bladder removed. Insurance picked up $4k of the hospital bill, extra miles on the rental car, extra days at the resort and all the extra air lines tickets to get back home. Cost of $299. They will not travel any where without it.

 

[BasicBill]

It's been a while so I thought I would resurrect this. My understanding is that most plans don't cover travel overseas. I have (perhaps stupidly) never purchased travel insurance, medical, that is, for myself. If YOU were going overseas, what would you do? Which company would you consider purchasing from???

I don't know whether it's worth it to sell it, but I think I ought to at least consider purchasing it beforehand....

Thanks, all.

http://www.sevencorners.com/

has been on my web site for years. Pays claims, easy to reach by phone if you have questions. I had a US artist studying in France buy it for a year and renew annually twice. She said it performed better than other plans she had owned while overseas.

 

[InsuranceBenefitsGroup]

Hi, it's great to have, not worth selling. You time (= $) is best spent selling what you're good at!