I think the World Health Organisation is getting closer to declaring a pandemic. If this happens what does this mean for insurance? I assume all travel insurance will consequently exclude cover straight away. And what about life insurance if I to become a fatality from coronavirus?
If Coronavirus Is Declared a Pandemic, What Are The Insurance Implications?
WreckTangle on 26/02/2020 - 22:32
Comments
Yeah as above. I went looking for a travel insurance that still covered cancellation due to epidemics. Lets just hope it doesnt get caught up in any of the other fine print i didnt bother to read haha
I recently talked to a rep from Covermore Insurance Travel at a travel show, in essence there is no secure cover. They have "Cancel for Any Reason" but on discussion which went in circles!, they would cover the Gap from any refunds from the likes of Airlines, tours,hotels,boats etc. Bit like the gap payments from health insurance!!.
I talked to Airlines and Tour operators, again they might come to the party, or not!, so it's all rather vague, and a cross your fingers situation IF they will help out. So back to the Travel Insurance, it will be an interesting task to get any confirmed pay out as it will be a case of IF you gain any refund from the Tour Sector, and what GAP payout the travel insurance sector are prepared to make IF any?.
The PDS statements will just help to give a confusing spin on the situation, now that's a surprise!!.
Bit like the gap payments from health insurance!!
Kind of but not really. Insurance wont pay for what it doesnt need to.
Lets say I have to cancel my trip that cost $10,000. Insurance wont straight up cover that. If I got to each vendor and get $2,500 back from them, then insurance will cover the remaining $7,500. - This is a very basic explanation and will depend on cover limits
In all likelihood you won't become a fatality from Coronavirus as such.
It is the infections from it such as pneumonia, severe acute respiratory
syndrome, kidney failure that will affect people.Yeah, but my point is that by declaring s pandemic, that's the key word that insurance companies can use to deny claims
As with any insurance policy - if you want to know what you are not covered for then just make a claim
Most covers already exclude coronavirus from travel insurance - I know my annual multi-trip policy excludes it.
I have not checked my life insurance one yet, I should, I expect it to be excluded too. If I die it doesn't matter anyway as I am not here to see it, though most of the money goes to my wife and parents and they should be OK financially.
That said, the risk of dying from this, close to negligible. The truth is in Australia, nobody has died from this in the two months this virus has been floating around the world.
The only thing life insurance does not cover is suicide…..after a waiting period ….or fraud by murder
Once they let all those people from the Diamond Princess cruise ship out of quarantine and they spread all over Australia that all might change. The 14 days isolation might be shown in future to have been completely inadequate to determine who is infected and who is not.
Yep, you can expect that the existing clauses of most policies already have exclusions that mean that you get zero coverage - particularly for cancellation.
As of this morning, the industry seems to be on the front foot in the media. Presumably this is to minimise any blowback once this thing really escalates over the coming months.
The one thing that I haven't been able to get an intelligent answer on from my usual insurer is whether the medical coverage will be honored if I'm stuck in isolation whilst abroad. Some insurers are saying yes, but in my case the insurance company guys didn't seem to have a scripted answer.
14 days in isolation in a foreign hospital will likely come with a nasty bill.
It could be similar to the H1N1pdm09 virus 2009/2010 , the swine flu was spreading quickly around the world .
I heard on the radio many insurance policies also don't cover "the threat of a pandemic", so people are already not covered
Your travel insurance policy will be as per the T&Cs when you signed up. So nothing will change.
New Policies….. well thats a different issue.