Missed the 14 day window for travel insurance - what does this mean?

You are correct in thinking that you can still purchase travel insurance that will cover many situations.

Hi Katey - if you haven't already, you might try entering your trip details on squaremouth.com or insuremytrip.com to search for policies. It can depend on which state you are in, but when I input trip details it shows policies with a longer waiver for pre-existing conditions. For example my search showed Seven Corners Roundtrip Choice at 20 days, and IMG Itravelinsured which covered pre-existing if purchased before your final trip payment.

contact the agency by phone to discuss what can be covered. ask for a copy of the policy and read it thoroughly.

I buy insurance for the primary concern of medical evacuation.

Also, if the premium for "total cost of your trip" is more than you want to pay, remember you can insure for less than the total cost of the trip. On my last trip I did not insure for any meals and incidentals, nor cancellable lodging, nor the cost of my flight, because that could be converted to a credit for future travel.

sorry, don't know about 21-day windows. I always use Allianz and have been happy with their customer service when i have made a claim.

Nationwide's Prime policies have a 20 or 21 day window to cover preexisting conditions. Their less expensive Essentials policies only have a 10 day window.

Wow! Thank you all for the quick replies! I went back to Square Mouth and filtered for pre-existing conditions and did some more research. The Nationwide plan looks like my best bet at this point.
Thank you again!

Squaremouth insurance should have different policies and some should still cover preexisting 20 days after the initial payment of the trip.

In previous years, pre-Covid, I had good experience with Aardvark insurance consolidators recommended by AARP and now also called aardy.com. Through forms on their website, onlne chat, or phone call, they will give you comparisons of a number of insurance policies from different companies that fit your situation such as pre-existing conditions, what you want to cover, how many days in your "window," etc.

There are policies marketed by Trawick and underwritten by Nationwide that have higher COVID coverages in the event you have to extend your stay or quarantine. My recollection is that the more expensive Trawick policies had $2000 quarantine coverage, while the coverage for policies directly from Nationwide were lower, and less expensive. I don't know what time window Trawick has for preexisting conditions.

Thanks for the reply Tom and everyone!

Good things to consider. We can’t guarantee that we’d be able to fly again within 12 months so we do feel we need to insure our airfare. And about half our hotels are refundable. We haven’t booked everything but in previous trips some were not. Financially, it may be worthwhile to book the rest as refundable also. And the train trips we are planning don’t appear to be refundable either.

I will look again at the itinerary and see what we can eliminate. Thanks again!

Last summer I got the Travel Guard Plus plan which included a 21 Day Pre-Existing Condition Waiver.

This is what was included:

Standard Packages

ACCIDENTAL DEATH/DISMEMBERMENT
$50000.00 Per Insured

BAGGAGE COVERAGE
$2500.00 Per Insured

BAGGAGE DELAY
$400.00 Per Insured

CONCIERGE SERVICES
Included Per Insured

EMERGENCY EVACUATION AND REPATRIATION OF REMAINS
$1000000.00 Per Insured

EMERGENCY TRAVEL ASSISTANCE
Included Per Insured

MISSED CONNECTION
$1000.00 Per Insured

PERSONAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE
Included Per Insured

TRAVEL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
Included Per Insured

TRAVEL MEDICAL EXPENSE
$100000.00 Per Insured

TRIP CANCELLATION
100% Trip Cost Per Insured

TRIP DELAY
$1000.00 Per Insured
$200.00 Payout Limit Per Day

TRIP INTERRUPTION
150% Trip Cost Per Insured

TRIP INTERRUPTION - RETURN AIR
$1000.00 Per Insured

WORLDWIDE TRAVEL ASSISTANCE
Included Per Insured

21 Day Benefit

PRE-EXISTING CONDITION WAIVER
Included Per Insured

I had a voucher from Travel Guard for the canceled RS tour I was going to take in 2020. I'd purchased that in the fall of 2019 when I was 73. The coverage was essentially the same then, but with more pieces to put together. By the time I bought the new policy, it was simpler and I was then 75, putting me into a more expensive age category. Having the voucher that I could only use with Travel Guard, made the decision easier.

I don't know if Travel Guard still has that exact same policy available, but you might look online to see what they have now and contact them by phone to discuss your options. They work with you on the phone
and via email in real time as you discuss your needs and send you a quote with an id number so you can call back with more questions or buy as needed.

In response to Tom_MN about insurance coverage for a nonrefundable airline ticket, when a voucher has been provided by the airline...

My husband and I recently canceled 2 trips for a covered medical reason. We had purchased non refundable airline tickets for each trip. We canceled the flights and received credit for future flights from two different airlines.

One trip's airline tickets were insured through Travel Guard and the other trip through Tin Leg. In both cases, the insurance companies fully reimbursed us for the unused airline tickets. We had to provide airline receipt of purchase, airline notification that we received credits for future travel, and a signed waiver that we will NOT use the airline credits for future travel (and if we do ever use the credits, we will reimburse the insurance company for the refunded amount.)

We will NOT use the airline credits per the agreement with the insurance companies. We are very satisfied with how both companies handled our claim.

We got our travel insurance bought and paid for today. Thank you all again for your help!