CBC Marketplace – Travel Insurance
This evening (March 9/2012) the CBC’s Marketplace will be doing an episode on the pitfalls of travel insurance. From the previews I listened to on the radio this morning, it sounds like this episode will be well worth viewing for anyone who is planning on traveling out of the country.
When purchasing insurance, most people have only a very general idea of what they are buying. Rarely do the purchasers of insurance take the time to read the policy. This is unfortunate as insurance contracts are notorious for their “fine print”. The overlooked fine print contained in the application form, the definitions, and in the overall contract frequently leads to customers being denied insurance coverage. A denial of insurance coverage in the face of massive foreign medical bills often proves financially catastrophic for the unwitting traveller or their family.
Unfortunately, due to the extremely technical nature of insurance policy application forms and contracts, these financial catastrophes are a far too frequent occurrence. Any innocent error or omission when filling out the applicattion form can result in a denial of coverage and insurance companies love to deny coverage as much as they love to take your premiums. I highly recommend that you watch Marketplace tonight to gain some insight into what can go wrong when purchasing travel insurance.
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This has happened to me. I have a lawyer – we are at the point of serving the insurance companies. Please tell me that I am not going to end up paying my lawyer, the 3 insurance companies involved as well as the $100,000.00 hospital bills. Why does the government let these companies get away with this stuff. Most of these policies are with pensioner’s and they certainly cannot afford these kind of bills. We have bought insurance for 7 or 8 years thinking we were covered. We are so frustrated now – help us please.
The Market Place episode on travel insurance showed what I knew all along. There is no way to be sure that you filled out the questionaire to the insurance company’s satisfaction. That even totally unrelated conditions play a role and even if this is not an issue, their only concern is to pay a cheap air ticket home, where your provicial plan takes over.
This was the case with Medipac, who insisted that my wife returned home from Florida for a minor 20 minute operation and than cancelled the remainder of the policy on the grounds that returning home constituted the end of the trip.
Do we all have to stay home from now on??
We missed marketplace last night and we are wondering if it is on the web for us to read? If so were do we find it?
Thanks
This episode is now available for online viewing on the CBC website.
I finally got around to watching this episode last night and was quite shocked by the findings. I am surprised that more people have not responded with similar complaints – if indeed there are more. I figured that if this was just the tip of the ice berg, as it seems the segment hints at, we are either blindly ignorant or a multitude of cases are not being made aware of to the public. Some MPPs have been quite vocal about car insurance – does travel insurance need the same scrutiny?
I think travel insurance is just a scam as I am now in the process of appealing a $22,000.00 claim that was denied.I feel they should be investigating more on these companies as rhey get away with to much. When I talked to them I asked them how many they actually pay out and she said maybe 1 a month.