Watch Out on Travel Insurance Excess

SuperMick on 11/10/2016 - 13:01
Last edited 12/10/2016 - 15:51 by 1 other user

I'm posting this, as I Hope to help someone not to make the same assumption as I did.

A month ago, my wife and I flew to Singapore to join a cruise. It was our wedding anniversary, so I had booked a balcony cabin on the top deck, the works. I had also taken out travel insurance with Medibank Private. It was their top cover, with a $250 excess.

Part way through the voyage, people started coughing, then we started coughing. We went to the ships Doctor and he charged $264.26 for my visit and $265.67 for my wife. We both went at the same time, and both sat in the same room, while we were talking to the Doctor. When we got home I did the claims online, expecting to get $279.93 back. What I actually received was $14.26 for me and $15.67 for my wife.

I contacted Medibank Private and was told that the $250 excess is on each claim, and that we had two claims. 'It's in the PDS" they said, well I read the PDS again and couldn't find any reference to it. I disputed Medibank's findings, and contacted the insurance ombudsman. They directed me to an insurance advisory group, which is staffed by solicitors. I was told that they get "lots of calls over this sort of thing". I have also seen a local solicitor, who read the PDS, and showed me where the clause was. I'm only writing this as a warning to others in the OZBargain family, to hopefully save them from what I have been through. Both solicitors advised me to only take out nil excess policy's in future.

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Comments

  • mskeggs on 11/10/2016 - 13:09
    +12

    I am sympathetic in that I have also had minor claims made useless by excess charges, but insurance is best for catastrophes, not minor expenses.
    Spending lots on insurance for the possibility of covering minor issues that may never occur is a false economy.
    Especially if it leads you to spend money you would not otherwise, e.g. $500 for a doctor when all you had was a cough.

  • Skramit on 11/10/2016 - 13:12
    +3

    Good info for travellers to be aware but I'm not at all surprised you got the reaction that you did from the insurance company.

    You pay for travel insurance cover 'per person', so why would a claim suddenly be a combo of both your costs just because you saw the same doctor at the same time? The doctor clearly billed it individually as he should, so not sure where the big misunderstanding or swindle is in this case… you got exactly what you paid for.

  • inherentchoice on 11/10/2016 - 13:18

    When I used TID I'm pretty sure their standard excess was only $100.

    Sometimes it's best not to pay an extra premium for a $0 excess. Basically you're taking the risk for the first $x of anything that goes wrong, where $x is the policy excess.

    The excess for my CBA credit card is $250 for medical expenses. But I'm happy to take that risk for basically free insurance.

  • spackbace on 11/10/2016 - 13:52
    +2

    Yeah quick look @ 1-cover, and you can get a $0 or $100 excess options

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 11/10/2016 - 14:22
    +1

    I'm not so surprised by the separate excesses (I'm not sure how it normally works) but I am surprised that the excess was so high. All the cheap companies I look at charge $100. But then again, they'll always make you feel like they're doing you a favour (it must be part of their training).

  • FloatingPoint on 11/10/2016 - 15:06
    +1

    Travel insurance with $250 excess is pretty useless unless you have some major incidents. (e.g. death, serious injury)
    Sorry about OP but I cannot see anything wrong with separate excesses. You saw a doctor, your wife saw a doctor. That's it. It doesn't matter if you both sat in the same room or not.

  • SuperMick on 11/10/2016 - 15:36
    +12

    Just to clear up the misconceptions that I caused unintentionally. I only posted this, because I have had lots of help from Oz-bargainers and I was trying to repay a bit. We didn't just have coughs, not that it matters, we had what he called an acute upper respiratory infection. Also I didn't have two policy's. I had one policy with two names on it. I thought that the excess would be $250, for the policy. That was the simple mistake that I made and I'm trying to maybe warn others about it.

    • ItsMeAgro on 11/10/2016 - 16:14

      I didn't have two policy's. I had one policy with two names on it. I thought that the excess would be $250, for the policy.

      Makes sense.

    • zappy32 on 11/10/2016 - 22:19
      +1

      Yes, probably also worthwhile for people to check whether it is worthwhile to get a combined or two singles insurances too. Sometime they combine the limit etc. and it's not really worth it. It's a bit late now but I would also say, once you've hit the excess then don't be afraid of making follow up medical booking whilst on holidays just to check everything is alright.

  • SirFlibbled on 11/10/2016 - 15:43

    were you billed separately, or on the same bill?

    • SuperMick on 11/10/2016 - 17:20

      We had two bills, but at the time I didn't think that it mattered.

      • SirFlibbled on 11/10/2016 - 17:55

        Yep 2 bills = 2 claims.

        • Thrawn on 12/10/2016 - 15:37

          Not really.. if get seriously injured and end up in a hospital, you'd usually get lots of bills from various parties. That still counts as a single claim

  • buzymum20 on 11/10/2016 - 15:49
    +1

    I'm glad you posted as I will watch my travel insurance in future, thank you. I always make sure we pack travel sickness pills, gastro stop, and basic things like panadol, indigestion medication, even bandaids. I heard about someone on our South Pacific cruise buying Avomine onboard and paying $20, when I had purchased the same medication at Chemist Warehouse before leaving for $8. They certainly made a profit on selling that!

  • Mamaof3 on 11/10/2016 - 22:54
    +1

    I personally appreciate this post thank you OP. I always ask this question before going on holidays and the travel insurance guys always tell me (i do use diff companies depending on who comes in best priced) and they always assure me if the thing all happened at the same time then it is treated as a single claim with single excess. Must vary between insurer.

    Not sure about different incidents either - so if 2 claims made under medical then you might be covered but then say one lost their laptop later that day or the next then i understand that would be treated as potentially 2 separate excesses (diff category and diff times that the incident occurred) but its harsh for Medibank to treat your situation as 2 separate excesses.

  • shaybisc on 12/10/2016 - 10:56

    2 things I have learned reading this:

    1 They charge you anything at all to see the ship's doctor, and

    2 They supercolossaly overcharge you to see the ship's doctor.

    Is that common practice on cruise ships?

    • johninmelb on 12/10/2016 - 12:49
      +1

      I was on a Holland America cruise in the Caribbean back in 1987.

      Got ill with bronchitis, and had to see the ship doctor. From memory I think it cost about $US100, but that included the antibiotics as well as I recall. Excellent doctor and I had no complaints. He even gave me the same antibiotics that my doctor here in Oz prescribes for me.

      Didn't claim on insurance as it was less than the excess.

      Last year I ended up in Emergency Clinic at Raffles Hospital in Singapore with acute Bronchitis. Seeing the doctor, and getting 5 different drugs, cough medicine etc, at the hospital etc, cost me a total of $A160. Absolute bargain according to my doctor back home, though he thought 5 drugs was a tad excessive! However the doctor took into account that I had to fly home 3 days later, so he was making sure I would be right to fly. I think my insurance excess was $150, so I didn't bother claiming the $10.

    • tunzafun001 on 20/10/2016 - 00:11
      +1

      Yep, a cruise doctor will always be a high cost. You can use your onboard credit. I got sick on a Mediterranean cruise. I spoke with a pharmacist on shore and they offered me medication that we would probably need a script in Oz. So there is another option.

      Also, the top decks on a boat sounds good, but it will have the most vibration. Think of every movement as a lever from the engine. Lower decks for a good sleep..and keep your immune system up ;)

  • SuperMick on 13/10/2016 - 15:58
    +1

    After posting this, I have spoken to a former ship's nurse. He told me that all of the ships that he had worked on, charged astronomical doctors and nurses fees. We were charged $15 each to take our blood pressures. He said that the reason for that is simple, all of the passengers have travel insurance, and the insurance in most cases pays the bills. Not the passenger.

    • peterpeterpumpkin on 28/10/2016 - 14:17

      Reminds me of my dentist. Well… former dentist - since I wasn't insured…

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