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8:53 am
16th October 09
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Editor
Admin
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Travel Insurance
A Third Age Insurance feature
by our Property & Finance Editor
Travel Insurance is insurance cover taken out to cover the likes of personal accident medical bills when travelling abroad, reimbursement for loss of personal belongings when on holiday, reimbursement for travel delays and cancellations, together with personal liability cover and legal expenses protection.
The good news for those of us in our Third Age is that specialist Over 50s insurance companies such as Castle Cover now provide low cost Travel Insurance products specifically designed and discounted for the Over 50s.
Castle Cover understand the Over 50s market. They are specialist Over 50s insurers. They are also one of the few independent Over 50s insurers in the country.
Their Travel Insurance products include Single Trip cover, Annual Multi-Trip cover (Annual Travel Insurance), short or long stay cover, backpacking cover, winter sports cover and even wedding cover.
Single Trip Travel Insurance
Ideal for a one-off annual holiday, Single Trip Travel Insurance, as the name implies, covers you for just one holiday in a single year, typically up to 90 days in length.
Annual Multi-Trip Travel Insurance
An Annual Travel Insurance policy that covers you for any number of trips in a single year, typically each of 45 – 90 days duration.
Benefits of Castle Cover Travel insurance:
- 24-Hour Emergency Medical Assistance
- Up to £15,000,000 Medical Expenses Cover
- Up to £75,000 Personal Accident Cover
- Up to £3,000,000 Personal Liability
- Claims Helpline
- Competitive Premiums
For the very best Travel Insurance for seniors and the Over 50s we are happy to recommend Castle Cover, the 50+ Insurance Specialists.
 Read original blog post
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12:24 am
14th January 10
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Me.
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As I don't live in the UK I cannot comment on the travel insurance mentioned above. In this part of the world travel insurance tends to be quite expensive, but this can so easily be got around. Visa, the credit card company, offer a free, very comprehensive travel insurance providing that 50% of the air fare is paid using the Visa card. With my wife and I, this requirement is easily met. I arrange and pay for all our international travel, hotels and transfers over the Internet with my card, therefore insurance cover is automatic.
I do take care to have my credit card always in credit, never allowing it to go into the red. Interest charges by credit card companies are among the highest charged, keeping the card in the black kills that little problem dead in its tracks.
Nearly all the travel we do is International, although, oddly, I am taking an internal flight next week. With the extortionate charges made by Air New Zealand on internal flight, I only use them when there is no other option. At present I can fly from Auckland to Sydney return on the latest Boeing A380 airbus for $299-00 per person. This is a three hour flight and during the flight I will be served a seven course cooked meal with free unlimited drinks. Next week I will fly from Rotorua to Wellington. A flight lasting sixty-five minutes on a plane with propellers (wind up elastic band). The fare is $208-00 return and the meal will consist of a pottle of water, a cup of tea served in a cardboard container (YUK!!!) a packet containing two dry biscuits, and a hard boiled lolly (sweet).
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7:59 am
16th January 10
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Lucy
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Travel Insurance has now become one of those “top of the news” stories here in the UK. 'Free Insurance' is often offered by travel companies as a hook to catch the customers, but this has led to many people being trapped abroad with enormous health care bills to settle. The USA is a particularly bad place to visit on these 'free insurance' deals and it would be a fool-hardy traveller who attempted to leave these shores without having taken a good look at what they will be covered for.
We have become complacent. We know that whatever were to happen to us at home, we would be taken to the nearest hospital and no questions would be asked as to whether we could afford the treatment. Foreign travel has now become so much a part of normal life that some people don't even give a thought to what might happen to them in foreign lands.
It was interesting for me last year to meet up with a couple at the Oncology Hospital who both had lovely tans. They explained that they'd just come back from a month in the Canary Isles, and as I'd looked into this for Bill and I, I asked where they'd got their travel insurance from and what it had cost. They said they didn't bother with it. They live in a Council House so they would have no assets to be stripped away if they were to fall ill abroad, so they are going to carry on travelling as long as they can. Who's right and who's wrong? All I know is that because of the cost of the insurance we were unable to have that little break which would have meant so much to us.
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8:11 am
16th January 10
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Me.
Member
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Lucy, the free travel insurance offered here by Visa is first class. A company with a world wide reputation could not afford any adverse publicity. I do not know if the same policy is available in the UK with Visa, what I can write is that I was fully covered with very generous coverage on the four times I have visited the UK in the past five years.
This coverage is not available on a standard Visa card, it has one level for a Visa Gold card, then the cover is doubled on a Visa Platinum card, which is what Tricia and I both have.
It would depend on your health and well being as to whether you should insure or not. If you are someone who enjoys good health, then perhaps you could take out an insurance on the travel only side … loss of luggage, cancelled flight etc. However, I would never take the chance, a fool and their money are soon parted, or so the old saying goes.
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9:06 am
17th January 10
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Lucy
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My circumstances have now changed, so that I could take advantage of the 'free' insurances on offer but those who have a terminal diagnosis or have a serious illness diagnosed, if they don't advise the Insurer before travelling,then the insurance is null and void. Of course, once the Insurance Company is notified, then the prices they quote are through the roof.
The UK has always had an 'open door' policy as far as anyone who sets foot on its shores is concerned. In fact in the 60's/70's it was cheaper for US citizens to board a flight to the UK after they had been diagnosed with a costly illness and be treated 'for free' at public expense here, where there were no systems in place to attempt to claim funds back from anywhere. This has still not been fully dealt with, but the main ill-health incomers now are from Asia who fall ill at Heathrow Airport and are ferried away to the nearest hospital
The growth of the Internet and global dating has become another problem. Stories are now going the rounds of foolish British men being seduced into marriage by others needing expensive and urgent healthcare. There's nothing we seem able to do about that of course as they are fully entitled to all the services of the NHS once they have that marriage licence and are in the UK. We just can't afford it, but it would need a strong politician to tackle it. We don't have many of them. 
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3:27 am
18th January 10
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Me.
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| posts 558 |
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Lucy, I believe in all insurance documents there is what's commonly termed as 'small print'. I think it is a general insurance practice to disqualify a claim if it's for a problem diagnosed before the travel is undertaken. However, cover can still be obtained providing the person with an ongoing problem declares the malady, and pays an excess.
To me this seems fair and I have no quarrel with such a practice. There will always be people who abuse the system and in doing so make sure the price of the insurance rises for everyone. House content insurance is a classic example. If people only made genuine claims then the cost would be a lot lower. However, many of the claims are fraudulent and this means the cost of this insurance rises annually for everyone.
Here we used to have many cases of Pacific Islanders coming to NZ for health treatment. The authorities have clamped down on this practice, and oddly it's the media who love to highlight a nasty problem, usually involving a child, who is being refused entry for health care. This always brings an outpouring of public sympathy, and someone will donate the necessary funds for the child to be seen by private practice … end of problem.
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