travel insurance

[ian woollard]

Hi
We just booked 3.5 months holiday around the world- but my wife just turned 70(I am still young 68!), and insurance has gone through the roof- we are both very healthy.
Has anyone found any reasonable deals for over 70's please?
cheers Ian

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi
We just booked 3.5 months holiday around the world- but my wife just turned 70(I am still young 68!), and insurance has gone through the roof- we are both very healthy.
Has anyone found any reasonable deals for over 70's please?
cheers Ian

Hopefully another poster will have some info but there are several 'levels' with regard to age and insurance premiums. There is 65, 70, 75 and 80.

ANZ gold credit card (comprehensive) travel insurance is 75. (But they will only cover you for 3 months anyway.)


edited to add that a quick look and I have found some interesting thigs... including that a a lot of companies won't insure, at all, over 64's!!

However this company:

http://www.1cover.com.au/travelinsurance/quote/select/input.html?sessionFormKey=NJ35aNuK08gX8DdPf9bF

allowed you to split the ages - under 70 and over 70. I just did a 3 month quote for worldwide (incl USA/Japan/Europe) and for 'essentials' cover it was $972 for 68/70 years, compared to $789 if both of you were under 70. $180 more ($60 per month). I have only been able to search the first 4 or 5 listings under google.. the rest of the ones are currently brestricted from the country I am in (yes... insurance websites restricted!!)

Suresave was another one but they wanted over $1750 for the two of you. Which is very expensive.

If you can get an ANZ card (better read to confirm it is 75 - but my folks are in that category and they used it last year) you will need to pre-pay $250 of your holiday to get the insurance. This can be for anything - so you might want to pre-pay a night's hotel accommodation or somepthing.

 

[hazel]

Hi
I organise travel insurance for my mother each year - she is now 75.
We have used Vero & Medibank Private. There are some comparison websites you could try.
www.travelinsurancedirect.com.au
www.travelinsurance.com.au

Haven't used it because I keep forgetting about when I go to buy her insurance is 1Cover. This is recommended by a number of 'senior' organisations.
My 70+ in-laws have always found their cc travel insurance fine.
I guess at the end of the day it's premium cost vs level of cover but who has the time to research all of that.

 

[ian woollard]

Thanks-mbf is $802= much better than $1771 quote from allianz via aust freq flyer site.

 

[Travel Guru]

Try C.O.T.A. (COTA - Welcome)

Being an organisation focussed on the more mature individual, apparantly their rates are quite good.

TG

 

[drron]

We use travel insurance direct.Their annual policy is $354 under 70 and $443 70-75 whivch seems a pretty good deal.The problem you run into is that for leisure trips there is a 38 day limit.longer for business trips.

 

[Mwenenzi]

If you look in the dedicated Travel Insurance - The Australian Frequent Flyer Online Community you may get some help.

Several others have asked about over 70 insurance

 

[tuapekastar]

My mum and stepfather (76 and 73 respectively) have recently taken out TI for a trip to India and mum was saying RACV was well cheaper than any of the others she had checked out...not sure if that's what she eventually took though.

Edit: RACV was what they took, ~AUD360 for 2 people, for ~2 week trip.

 

[Happy Dude]

Hello Ian,

I would avoid 1cover.com.au because they "will not pay for delays or rescheduling by a bus line, airline, shipping line or rail authority unless it is due to a strike, riot, hijack, civil commotion, weather or natural disaster."

This means that if your flight is cancelled/delayed because of a mechanical fault with the plane, you are not covered for any onward costs (pre-paid stuff like hotels, cars, tickets, missed flights).

I've been bit on the bum there, and I can't believe that their travel insurance didn't cover mechanical breakdowns of an aircraft. Now, I always check what they wont pay for and the conditions under which they won't pay, rather than what they will pay.

Also, and it's a very important also, IF you need medical evacuation, you must get approval from 1cover (or Mondial Assistance) BEFORE you take said evacuation. How useless is that??

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Also, and it's a very important also, IF you need medical evacuation, you must get approval from 1cover (or Mondial Assistance) BEFORE you take said evacuation. How useless is that??

I would think the condition to call before evac is pretty standard. You will need to be stabilised before you can be evac'ed and during that time a quick call to the insurance company will be made.

If you end up needing a private charter, or helicopter it could cost 10s of thousands of dollars (a freind of mine was evacuated from Norflolk island to Sydney for a bill just over AUD20,000).

It is not unreasonable to expect the insurance company to choose which evacuation method they wish.

In fact some insurance policies go even further, wanting you to contact them before emergency medical care. I'm not sure how that one works, presumably only if you are in a fit state to able to do so!

 

[Ric]

Anyone that knows of any travel insurance company that insures anyone for over 90 days outside of Australia for business and/or leisure, please post. I have been trying to locate one for over a year!!

Sometimes my trips takes me overseas for more than 90 days and I just sweat it out on those days when the 90th day ticked over!

Cheers,

Ric

 

[ian woollard]

no problem with mbf
ian

 

[Ric]

Ian, thanks!

Will check them out next week when I am back in Syd!

Cheers,

Ric

 

[hazel]

Anyone that knows of any travel insurance company that insures anyone for over 90 days outside of Australia for business and/or leisure, please post. I have been trying to locate one for over a year!!

Hi
a few year ago I was travelling for 11 months on my RTW trip & got cover from AMP they sold it in varying lengths - I presume they still do it.
In regard to the other post re needing approval from the insurance company before evacuation I think that would be pretty standard. I had the misfortune to require emergency surgery while in Florida - the hospital wouldn't admit me until they had a faxed approval from the insurance company guaranteeing payment.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Anyone that knows of any travel insurance company that insures anyone for over 90 days outside of Australia for business and/or leisure, please post. I have been trying to locate one for over a year!!

Sometimes my trips takes me overseas for more than 90 days and I just sweat it out on those days when the 90th day ticked over!

Cheers,

Ric

Hi Ric - plenty of companies will insure you for more than 90 days - just select the 4 (or 5 or 6) month option. Backpackers and students travelling use these policies frequently.

All of the ones I looked at yesterday offered these options.

In terms of credit cards - Earth Platinum offers 6 months cover (3 months of gold card).

So if you can get one of those AND put the entire cost of your ticket on the card that would suit you. There is a fairly hefty annual fee (250??).

 

[Travel Guru]

Anyone that knows of any travel insurance company that insures anyone for over 90 days outside of Australia for business and/or leisure, please post. I have been trying to locate one for over a year!!

Sometimes my trips takes me overseas for more than 90 days and I just sweat it out on those days when the 90th day ticked over!

Cheers,

Ric

Hi Ric,

The Toursafe annual multi-trip policy when taken with the QBE Advantage (which is an extra $50ish) bumps it up from 60 days to 90 days.

If you have any queries,let me know, im happy to email the info to you.

TG

 

[Travel Guru]

Also, and it's a very important also, IF you need medical evacuation, you must get approval from 1cover (or Mondial Assistance) BEFORE you take said evacuation. How useless is that??

Show me a travel insurance company that wouldnt require you to notify them prior to evacuation.

Given that evacuation and repatriation can cost anywhere up to $250k, what company wouldnt want to know in advance so they could attempt to minimise the loss by using their contacts, their agents and their specially negotiated rates.

TG

 

[Ric]

Thanks for the replies/info.
Just to clarify a bit.....
I am looking for an Annual Multi-trip/Frequent Traveller Travel Insurance that offers protection for trips over 90 days. I am using the TID Annual Frequent Traveller policy (which costs ~A$350) which offers maximum away from Oz of 90 days.

Cheers,

Ric

 

[Happy Dude]

I would think the condition to call before evac is pretty standard.

and

Show me a travel insurance company that wouldnt require you to notify them prior to evacuation.

Well if that's the case, they all don't pass the stink test. Not a lot of peace of mind knowing that some guy, with a financial interest, makes the decision as to how long you remain in an emergency situation.

The alarming thing is that accidental death cover is $25k, so they might (theoretically) just opt to let you die, rather than pay more than that for evac/repatriation.

All cynicism aside, that can't be used to differentiate so to help the OP find a decent policy, here's what others have said about 1cover.com.au on a product review website...

1Cover Travel Insurance Reviews Australia www.1cover.com.au

There's a lot more reviews on TID and others there too.

 

[ian woollard]

check your credit card cover-just realized my CBa platinum cover has no age limits, lasts for 180 days/trip, rental vehicle excess etc, etc at NO charge -see commbank website
Ian