COVID-19 Travel Insurance Claims: Success or Not?

[Seat0B]

I'm really interested to know the specific details of the travel insurance companies that are paying claims for cancellations and for health issues related to COVID-19.

I have been a long standing user of Defence Health Travel Insurance, mainly because of their reasonable approach and minimal extra fee for my pre-existing medical condition (both knees replaced). I do read the PDS, but apparently not with sufficient focus because I missed this line in our policy on page 41 under the heading exclusions that apply to all sections of the policy: "Your claim arises from, is related to or associated with:
• an actual or likely epidemic or pandemic; or
• the threat of an epidemic or pandemic."

Reading this in Japan in February, with scheduled travel to Shanghai on on the way home certainly caused me to have a sharp intake of breath. Luckily, Qantas, Ramada, JAL and (eventually) agoda.com all came to the party and our actual claimable losses were nil. However, we would have been in a real pickle if that hadn't worked out. "Hadn't worked out" is not a phrase I expected to use given that I paid a fortune for insurance, well in advance of travel. Looks like I wont be using Defence Health again in the future.

So now I'd like to hear the RESULTS of claims that people have made so I can make a better informed choice in the future. Once you know the result of your claim, could you please post here with the company details. I'm sure it would help a lot of people.

I hope this is a place to capture all the comments and responses that people are making in a range of different threads - it's hard to find them when they are scattered. Moderator, please remove if this is covered elsewhere.

 

[SeatBackForward]

our Insurer includes this wording:

General Exclusions
We will not pay for any claims arising directly or indirectly from:
1. War or any act of War, invasion, foreign enemy, Civil War, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, military or usurped power;
2. any nuclear reaction or contamination, ionising rays or radioactivity;
3. any prohibition, regulation or intervention by government authorities;

On point 3, they were not willing to clarify if the direction to not travel o/s by the Prime Minister could be considered as Government Intervention until I actually make a claim. Thankfully for me, like you @Seat0B all the travel providers have come onboard offering refunds/credit and the only likely claim I am going to make is against the insurance provider themselves. Well not really. I mean I just have a policy now for travel that will not be taken.