Travel Insurance 101: Primary vs. Secondary Coverage
Travel Insurance 101: Primary vs. Secondary Coverage
One of the big mistakes we see on a daily basis is people’s proclivity to shop for travel insurance in hunt of the lowest price.
While this approach isn’t totally absent from merit, we’ve seen folks very frustrated when it comes time to make a claim because they didn’t really know what they had purchased.
Travel insurance is complicated and paying attention to the fine print is very important.
Travel Insurance: Primary vs. Secondary Coverage
I was talking to a traveler the other day and through his shopping on the Internet, he found travel insurance that was a little less expensive than the policy we quoted.
As I explored deeper, I found that the lesser priced policy offered secondary coverage on the health benefits.
Let’s explore the general difference between the two:
- Secondary Coverage: Let’s say that you fall while traveling and break your ankle. With secondary coverage, you’re generally on your own if you need medical care in a foreign country. You find the hospital, you should pray that there isn’t a language barrier, you should further hope and pray that you understand the care you will receive, and when you walk out of the hospital with your shiny new cast, you better hope that your credit card has a large enough available balance to cover the cost of care in a foreign country. Then, when you get home looking for coverage from your travel insurance policy, if you have secondary coverage, you will be told that you must first exhaust all possible coverage that you might have from your personal health insurance provider(s). This will include deductibles, out-of-network care, and on and on. Then, once you have exhausted your options and have written denials in hand for the full balance you paid, then the secondary travel insurance provider will step in to make you whole on the money you spent for overseas care.
- Primary Coverage: Let’s again say that you fall and break your ankle. With primary coverage, you call the 800-number on your travel insurance card, the travel insurance company can make recommendations for hospitals, handle any language barriers that might exist, and many times, will even front-load the payment to the hospital and provide your benefit at the time you need it most. Plus, you will have a case manager assigned to you to help manage your care until you return home. If you have an emergency, having a primary coverage policy will give you tremendous peace of mind.
So, back to my first example. Yes, you can probably save some money with a secondary coverage policy. However, from my point of view, I’m happy to pay a small additional premium to have my travel insurance company as a guardian angel if an emergency strikes. And, I surely don’t want to try and mess with my primary U.S. health insurance company to get denials before I can get my money back from the travel insurance policy.
When we make travel insurance recommendations to our clients, the companies we use are carefully vetted through our Virtuoso Network, they provide an appropriate amount of coverage to insure our clients, and most importantly of all, if a claim arises, you aren’t going to have to hire an attorney to get paid. It’s just like anything else, buyer beware.
I hope you found this little tidbit of advice valuable. 🙂
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Roaming Boomers Travel Services is an Independent Affiliate of Cadence, a Virtuoso® member. CST#201120-40