Posts Tagged ‘Travel insurance’

Short-term travel insurance and trip cancellation insurance

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

trip cancellation insurance, travel insurance, short term travel insuranceGood Neighbor Insurance, Inc (www.gninsurance.com) has been involved in providing international health care cover to our clients since 1997.  Many of our clients ask us what is the major difference between short term travel insurance and trip cancellation insurance.

Short-term travel insurance can be very similar to “Trip Insurance” or “Trip Cancellation Insurance.”  Here is the main difference: Trip Insurance focuses on insuring the cost of your trip, e.g. airline tickets, hotel reservations, etc. It may include minimal health insurance and medical evacuation coverage, but first and foremost the goal is to make sure you are reimbursed money you will lose if your trip is cancelled.  Trip Cancellation plans are primarily for those who are traveling outside their country of residence who want to insure their trip in case they are unable to go on their trip due to a medical reason or also due to weather related reasons like hurricanes.  Good Neighbor Insurance provides a variety of Trip Cancellation plans and you may view them here at http://www.gninsurance.com/tripcancellation/ .

Short-term travel insurance focuses on insuring you medically in case of illness or injury. It usually has good medical evacuation coverage and offers maximum medical coverage up to $1,000,000. Sometimes short-term travel insurance also includes minimal trip interruption coverage, lost baggage coverage, etc.  Good Neighbor Insurance provides short term travel insurance in the US and you may view this plan on our web page at http://www.gninsurance.com/travel-A/international_travel_insurance.asp.

Doug Gulleson loves to scuba dive overseas and makes sure he has his US health care and overseas health care information with him at all times when he travels, www.gninsurance.com/gap-year.  Keep our blog close by you, www.gntravelinsurance.com , for continual updates on the changes with the US health care system.

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Posted in General information |

When Dangerous Weather Threatens International Travel

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

travel insuranceGood Neighbor Insurance, www.gninsurance.com , realizes that there are “ah ha” moments during our travels; especially when severe weather comes in with a vengeance to disrupt our travels.  This is when travel insurance that includes trip interruption and/or trip cancellation comes to be an important financial safety net for us.   Good Neighbor Insurance provides many types of travel insurance plans and you may view them on these two web pages at www.gninsurance.com/tripcancellation.  Early on a February morning, a cyclone of historic proportions stormed the shores of Australia’s famous Great Barrier Reef. Residents scrambled to board up and head for shelter as foreign visitors hunkered down in hotels.

Rated a category 5 on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale, Cyclone Yasi was a dangerous storm even by American standards. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology measured the cyclone’s core pressure at 929 millibars and estimated storm surge at over 16 feet. This compares to a category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic, which is stronger than hurricane Katrina’s category 3 landfall.

The cyclone’s eye missed Cairns, a city considered by some to be the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. It churned up hundreds of miles of ordinarily calm, turquoise water known world over for its vibrant and exotic marine life. Hundreds of miles of tropical white sand beaches were threatened with erosion. Experts say it’s difficult to tell what damage if any was done to one of Australia’s natural wonders.

Such powerful land-falling cyclones may be rare in Australia. But when they occur, they can dampen any vacationer’s plans. You don’t have to go far for dangerous weather to threaten your travel plans. But the farther you travel, the more can go wrong. Consider these dangerous weather travel tips for international travel.

1. Allow for weather hazards along you entire route when making travel plans. Airplanes are especially vulnerable to changing weather conditions. Pilots constantly monitor the weather when flying. Passengers also should plan for potential delays caused by dangerous weather at their take off and landing sites and by any weather through which the airplane must fly. Don’t make connecting flight times too short or plan to arrive at your destination late in the day. If your flight is delayed in any way, you may have trouble getting to your hotel.

2. Research what kind of help will be available on your trip should dangerous weather strike. Bad weather can strike anywhere at any time. Some countries have sophisticated weather warning systems. Others don’t. Most countries try to provide shelter in severe weather, but that shelter may not be what you’re used to. Visitors to countries like Mexico who did not plan ahead have come home with hurricane shelter horror stories.doug's corner, scuba diving pictures

3. Verify your travel provider’s plans whenever you think weather might cause problems. Airline representatives are not likely to know what connections are important to you. The alternatives hotels or airlines have to offer inconvenienced patrons may not be what you need. But they may be able to do more for you if you are the first to ask.

4. Be prepared for the unexpected. Few things are more unpredictable than the weather. Be prepared by bringing more than enough of essential items like medications, emergency cash and comfort food. Don’t depend on your airline or hotel to provide for all your emergency needs.

5. Know your options. Travel insurance can help provide what your travel operator can’t in emergency situations as long as you plan ahead. They can reimburse trip cancellations due to inclement weather and provide a hotel room instead of a cot in the airport if you become stranded. Tour groups and travel agents may provide minimal travel coverage for a fee, but these plans are often designed to cover the company’s possible losses not the traveler’s needs. The fine print may not even cover delays due to inclement weather. Travel insurance brokers, on the other hand, can tailor insurance to the traveler.

Then you can sit back and enjoy all the blue skies the weather might provide for your vacation knowing you have any dark clouds covered.

Doug Gulleson loves to scuba dive overseas and makes sure he has his US health care and overseas health care, http://onlineglobalhealthinsurance.com/my-travel-guard.asp , information with him at all times when he travels   Keep our blog close by you, www.gntravelinsurance.com, for continual updates on the changes with the US health care system as well as international travel insurance tips.

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The resurgence of gap-year programs: for students volunteering, here’s a checklist.

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Popular in Europe, taking a “gap-year” off of college to go serve nationally or internationally has once again taken U.S. college campuses by storm. Even major news outlets and magazines have been picking up on the trend, from articles in TIME Magazine1 to MSNBC2 to U.S. News and World Report3.

(PRWeb) October 12, 2010 – “It’s an exciting trend to be sure,” says Jeff Gulleson of Good Neighbor Insurance, who has helped thousands of students serving overseas. “The brightest, well-to-do, but often insulated students from universities in the U.S. are going off to deliver solar power to rural India or to do statistical research on nutrition in Southern Sudan.” It’s now becoming so popular that some universities are actually encouraging students to defer matriculation.

But what should you know before informing your family and packing your bags?

  1. Consider why you are volunteering overseas.

Is it to practice your expertise/skills, take a break from study, or discover if you want to remain in your major? Trying to pad your resume? Trying to save on tuition? Realize that volunteering overseas isn’t much of a break from tuition costs, and you could work a year at home to help pay next year’s tuition.

  1. Look for reputable help and advice either online or at your campus. (Many Gap-Year sites are geared towards Europeans. If you are a U.S. student, some things may/may not apply.)
  2. Consider your budget. Be realistic and try to avoid using credit.
  3.  Buy good travel/health insurance. Most U.S.-based health insurance policies will not cover you overseas, and do not cover medical evacuation or cancelled flights, let alone bungee jumping or getting stepped on by an elephant. For the small cost, it doesn’t make sense to go without it. Good Neighbor Insurance4 is a reputable broker that helps students and others whether they plan to visit multiple countries or do some adventure travel along the way.
  4. Protect your health. The Telegraph newspaper5 and other online sources,6 including the internationally recognized book Where There is No Doctor7 offer advice to keep you from getting sick or can help mitigate the symptoms when you are far from a good hospital8.
  5.  Learn as much as you can, listen as much as you can, be as sensitive as you can. Nothing is worse than a 20-year-old “know-it-all” telling locals how to tie a knot. Or organize a community. Or work their way out of poverty.
  6. Decompress and debrief9 when you get back home. Don’t immediately jump back into school. Talk to a trusted and wise friend. Consider where you struggled and have grown, as well as what you most enjoyed.

A Gap Year can be a great opportunity for students (especially from the U.S. that often are far removed from the complexities and struggles of the third-world) to serve selflessly and expand their knowledge in a way that few other experiences can match. While they may not be for everyone, a Gap Year can improve your leadership and communication skills while improving the world. Or a single child’s life in the nation of Belize.

About Good Neighbor Insurance

Jeff Gulleson established Good Neighbor Insurance in 1997 to provide global health and life insurance services after working with an NGO for 30 years in Indonesia.

GNI uses their expertise to help clients find good, cost-effective international health, travel, and life insurance while providing caring service based on integrity. The company serves students traveling overseas, short-term teams, aid organizations, foreign and domestic corporations, universities, and volunteers both from the U.S. and abroad.

With knowledgeable staff that have lived and worked for extended periods overseas, GNI has the expertise to counsel individuals, families, and groups on their international insurance needs.

Contact Information

For more information, contact Jeff Gulleson at Good Neighbor Insurance, Toll Free: 866-636-9100 or in Phoenix, AZ: 480-813-9100

Good Neighbor Insurance, 690 E. Warner Rd., Ste. 117, Gilbert, AZ  85296, USA  info@GNInsurance.com

http://www.gninsurance.com

SOURCES:

  1. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2015783,00.html
  2. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24260521
  3. http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-colleges/2010/08/16/the-lure-of-the-gap-year.html
  4. www.GNInsurance.com
  5. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/hubs/gapyear/7956096/Ten-tips-to-keep-the-doctor-away.html
  6. http://www.gninsurance.com/medical_advice.asp
  7. http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php
  8. http://ezinearticles.com/search/?q=best+hospitals
  9. http://www.globalconnections.co.uk/OneStopCMS/Core/CrawlerResourceServer.aspx?resource=db2f33aa30e044ff922ae264082ef5d9&mode=link&guid=c363a4a7555144f6b3c85d3db066fa3e
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Posted in Gap-year travel insurance |

Why Travel Guard is better than vendor-offered travel insurance

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Why Travel Guard, http://onlineglobalhealthinsurance.com/trip-cancellation/, is better than vendor-offered travel insurance such as purchased through the airline, travel agent, and your credit card supplier. There are many reasons why and below is some great information to share with you on why you and I should use Travel Guard for those overseas insurance benefits such as medical, evacuation, trip cancellation, and other overseas travel insurance benefits.

Why get Travel Guard?

  • Optional Cancel For Any Reason coverage
  • Cancellation due to Work Reasons coverage now included in base plan
  • Now includes Cancellation coverage due to involuntary Job Loss
  • $500,000 evacuation coverage and $25,000 medical coverage included (may increase medical coverage)
  • Children age 17 and under covered at no additional cost! (Must be related to, and traveling with the primary insured
  • Comprehensive non-insurance travel services automatically included with plan
  • Policy starts 100 miles from your US residence
  • http://onlineglobalhealthinsurance.com/trip-cancellation/

GENERAL INFORMATION:

* You are covered door to door including any before, after, or side trips you may take.

* It has a higher medical maximum than most venders who offer travel insurance.

* Bag Track: Locates lost luggage while you are still on your trip.

* If you go to a hospital that does require payment before treatment, call them and they can make arrangements.

* They offer a Group plan that is discounted for groups of ten or more.

* It is the primary insurance.

* Cuba is excluded.

* In the “Destination Blank,” they want only the primary destination.

* Domestic partners do count as family members.

COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING MEDICAL CONDITIONS:

* If purchased within 15 days of your initial trip, payment and pre-existing medical concerns are covered. These also include pre-existing conditions of your family members who are not going with you, but may result in you cancelling your trip.

* Family members include: mother, father, children, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, steps, foster children, wards, and domestic partners. However, cousins are excluded.

* Travel Guard cancellation coverage because of sickness, death, etc. includes aunts and uncles, but not cousins.

CANCELLATION OPTIONS:

* If your trip is interrupted or cancelled because a family member is dying from a pre-existing condition, you are still covered even if you didn’t purchase the insurance in the 15-day window.

* Regarding pre-existing condition coverage: If you plan a trip and someone dies in your family of a know disease/illness before you leave on your trip, Travel Guard will cover the cancellation cost of your trip up to 75 percent.

* If a bride and groom cancel their wedding, they can only use trip cancellation if they purchased “for any reason” on to their coverage.

* Insurance must be purchased before a tropical storm is upgraded to a hurricane in order to use the trip cancellation benefit.

* You are covered for financial default.

* The advantage to buying Travel Guard insurance rather than just settling for insurance sold by the airline, travel, and credit card suppliers is you will find you have very limited medical coverage for international emergency and evacuation.

* If a cruise line offers cancellation coverage, they usually do not refund your cash–it is usually a voucher, and it is non-transferable. Travel Guard refunds your cash.

* One of the biggest evacuation costs that Travel Guard handled and paid for was from a cruise ship in the South Pacific that cost them over $250,000.

Doug Gulleson totally adores scuba diving and travels overseas throughout the year with his underwater camera in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. He knows through experience never to leave home without his travel insurance and credit card too. Visit Good Neighbor Insurance at www.gninsurance.com/tripcancellation for international travel insurance coverage.

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Posted in Travel guard |

Swimming with the big guys? Then think about medical evacuation!

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

 

Swimming with whales in warm Pacific waters sounds crazy — except to those few of us who love the water dangers of snorkeling and scuba diving. Anytime I venture near my favorite diving places, I always keep on board a copy of my medical evacuation travel insurance.  

The goal of medical evacuation is to save a patient’s life and to limit the extent of an injury. If my condition is stable and not at risk from flying, insurance companies will fly me to the nearest adequate medical facility. For example, if I were diving in Indonesia they would fly me to Singapore, if in Fiji, to New Zealand. Once stabilized, if needed, they will fly me home. No insurance company is large enough to have their own fleet of planes available in every country. Instead, they sub-contract planes with medical evacuation companies worldwide. 

Regardless of where you are in the world, you will have 24/7 access to a special emergency division within the insurance company.  You simply call their collect-call number. One company GNI works with has 10 nurses and 1 Medical Officer (doctor) in their medical evacuation division. 

Depending on the geographical location of the patient, medical evacuation can happen quickly, often within 2 to 3 hours. Here is the general procedure: 

  1. The insurance company is contacted concerning a needed medical evacuation.
  2. The Medical Evacuation Division in the company makes a quick and complete evaluation of the illness or injury. This is generally done in consultation with a physician that works with the insurance company and medical personnel that are on the ground stabilizing the patient.
  3. Evaluation of the physical/geographic location of the patient, e.g., nearest airport and nearest adequate medical facilities, is considered.
  4. The patient is evacuated to the nearest adequate medical facility, and if necessary, once stabilized, evacuated back to his or her home country.
  5. If the medical condition is not overly serious, they will use a common carrier for the evacuation, often sending along medical personnel to assist the patient in flight. If very serious, they will charter a plane from a medical evacuation company in the region.

Two other side benefits of medical evacuation bring much needed comfort to the family in an emergency. One, if you have any children with you, they will be flown back home.  Two, the insurance company will pay for a family member to be with you. 

So next time you plan to swim with the big guys, give us a call and we’ll hook you up with the right medical evacuation policy. 

Doug Gulleson loves to scuba dive overseas and he makes sure he always takes his Amex card AND international travel insurance policy.  Visit Good Neighbor Insurance at  www.gninsurance.com  for your next overseas trip and get a FREE quote.

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Good Neighbor Insurance has added Travel Guard Gold Trip Cancellation

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Good Neighbor Insurance is happy to announce our new Trip Cancellation plan titled Travel Guard Gold.   We now have four Trip Cancellation plans for you to choose from.  You can view them on our web page at www.gninsurance.com/tripcancellation/

1.  If you require strong trip cancellation, strong trip interruption, and strong evacuation coverage with limited medical coverage, than the Travel Guard Gold is the perfect plan for you.  

   a.  This plan is very cost effective.  For example, a person 39 years or younger will pay under $26 for one month; however, this plan has no trip cancellation coverage.   Just add $20 and you will be able to add $1,000 of trip cancellation for a total month of coverage.

   b.  You may also add extra medical coverage, flight insurance, and car rental insurance, if applicable.

   c.  Another great benefit of Travel Guard Gold is the ability to have cancellation added on for any reason.

   d.  You may also add trip cancellation due to work reasons and involuntary job loss–without paying an extra penny.

   e.  You may view the Travel Guard Gold on our web page  www.onlineglobalhealthinsurance.com/trip-cancellation.

2.   If you are requiring similar benefits as the Travel Guard Gold with very strong medical coverage, than our premium plans will work for you as well.  You can view them at www.gninsurance.com/tripcancellation.  

For example, our HTH Trip Protector plan is a favorite with many. This plan will cover all pre-existing medical conditions as long as you have U.S. health insurance while you are overseas.  You can view this plan on our web page www.overseashealthinsurance.com/trip-protection.asp.

Doug Gulleson loves to scuba dive overseas. He makes sure he always takes his credit card AND international travel insurance. Visit Good Neighbor Insurance at www.gninsurance.com for your next overseas trip and get a FREE quote.

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