Travel insurance for quarantine

Travel Insured calls theirs "quarantine or bed rest."

In my Nationwide travel policy, quarantine is considered a covered Hazard, which might cause a "delay" along with things like lost passport, a strike or a traffic accident. The occurrence of such a Hazard can trigger the Trip Cancellation clause and coverage (if it occurs prior to the trip) or the Trip Interruption clause and coverage (if it occurs after departure.)

The policy will pay for additional Reasonable Expenses (hotel, meals) and return airfare if any Hazard (including quarantine) results in Trip Delay.

You need to read the fine print carefully several times. The travel insurance has been a little spotty on this coverage. Earlier some travel insurance excluded delays caused by the virus. And be careful about relying on someone's assurance over the phone -- get it in writing.

My Allianz policy calls it Trip Interruption and specifically talks about quarantine. However it has a # of days and a $ per day limit specified.,

I talked to an Allianz rep and then my wife made a second call just to make sure we got the same story and same understanding. You should call with your own questions but as we understood it a positive test that prevented you from boarding to the US falls under "trip interruption". There is a daily limit and a total limit for each policy and that coverage also extends to paying additional charges for the later flight (the same type of seat as you had originally) but that also is part of the total limit. Policies with a particular Covid qualifier ("endorsement", I think it's called) remove the number of days limit from the trip interruption.

Thanks for the replies & advice.

Today I bought a policy that offers $150 per day / $2000 max per person if our trip is interrupted/delayed due to a Covid quarantine. It cost $407 to cover my family of 5 with ages ranging from 16-61. That works out to $100 per week of the monthlong trip - well worth it for the peace of mind, IMHO.

I compared policies on the InsureMyTrip aggregator recommended on this site.

@ Rebecca _ what travel insurance did you go with? I have called several but gotten only vague answers regarding being stuck beyond trip dates! Thank you.

@Lori I went with WorldTrips Atlas Journey Preferred. I'll admit, it's not a company I've heard of, like AIG, but it's well-rated, and the chat function worked well to answer my questions thoroughly & quickly. The chat seemed to be an actual person and not a bot.

I compared plans & purchased through Insure My Trip, which was recommended here in Rick Steves' article about travel insurance.

Currently researching quarantine coverage (using SquareMouth) and see a number of policies that offer quarantine coverage for upcoming trip to Italy.
HOWEVER, they all use the term “medically required quarantine”!
That specific terminology makes me wonder if it applies to a positive Binax self-test whereupon one is self-quarantined due to the airlines requirements for negative test?

Okay, I contacted the insurance rep regarding the term medically required quarantine.
They made it clear that in order to be covered, the quarantine must be ordered by a legally qualified physician at your overseas location.

stvrun, this is exactly what I was wondering too. In doing my research I've read my policies and they all make clear it has to be a quarantine that a medical professional tells you to take. "Recommendations" even if they are the official government guidelines don't seem like they would cut it in my reading of the policies.

This makes me wonder about people who are currently stuck because they tested positive and are relying on their travel insurance to cover some of the costs. I was going to post a separate thread and ask for experiences to see how they have gotten along with that, if their insurance policy was easy to deal with and reimbursed them.

QuickMD gets a lot of talk on here for the recovery letter, but I wonder if a traveler should also have some health service ready, whether telemed or their local doctor they can contact, that can give them some official documentation that they should isolate and should not travel for proof for the insurance company.

QuickMD also offers doctors notes for varying things (like time off from work) but when I wrote them to ask if they will write something official about having to isolate and not travel the response I got was very vague and did not answer my question directly.

Something else it seems to be worry about!

Hmmm... this is a level of detail I had not considered. Thanks for bringing this up. I'm still within the 15 day review/cancel period for my policy so I'll dig a little deeper.

This is how a Quarantine is defined in my policy:

Quarantine means Your strict isolation imposed by a government authority or Physician to prevent the spread of disease. An embargo preventing You from entering a country is not a Quarantine.

EDITED: Yes, under our policy, we would need a letter from the local doctor (in Italy, in our case) or gov't official administering the test. So I guess if one of us tests positive using a proctored home test, we'll have to go to an official testing site to get that documentation. sigh ...another step, but better to know now!

The following is a reply to my inquiry that I received from Tin Leg Travel Insurance.

“Thank you for contacting Tin Leg.

I understand you have questions regarding coverage for trips extended due to COVID-19 illness. I am happy to help!

Most of our policies offer coverage for quarantine lodging expenses under the Travel Delay benefit. This benefit primarily is designed to reimburse for additional meal and accommodation expenses incurred due to being placed under physician ordered quarantine. Most policies offer an extension of coverage of up to 7 days past your originally scheduled return date if your trip must be extended due to being under quarantine.

Please note that denied flight boarding due to a positive COVID test will not suffice as enough proof to trigger coverage in most cases. If the event of testing positive while traveling, we recommend that you follow-up with a physician if possible so that your results can be confirmed and documented by a licensed physician.

If you have any specific questions about a particular policy, you may respond with a search number, or a policy name and your state of residence so that I can provide more specific details.

If you have any further questions please or concerns, please respond to this email or call our customer service team at 844-240-1233. Our agents are available 8am to 10pm ET, seven days a week, and we are delighted to help.

Thank you for the opportunity to assist you.”

Taniyah Green
Customer Service
ext 6254

Customer Service: 800-240-0369 - Available from 8am to 10pm ET, seven days a week.

Stvrun, I think you got a little more helpful information than I did. At least the part about the being denied boarding for a positive test not triggering coverage.

Here is the response I got when I asked what documentation I would need to submit if I tested positive and had to isolate and pay for an extended stay.

Hi James

Thank you for contacting Tin Leg.

I understand you are asking if your policy can cover for additional costs associated with a medically necessary quarantine imposed before your return and what documentation is required.

This can be typically covered under the Trip Delay benefit as long as the policy includes a 'Quarantine' as a listed reason. This benefit is designed to reimburse the cost of additional meals and accommodations if your trip is delayed for a covered reason. Most policies include Trip Delay coverage, however the amount of coverage can vary. In looking at the Tin Leg Luxury policy it allows for $2000 max / $150 daily limit per person.

Most plans expire all coverage on your scheduled date of return. If you are delayed return for a covered reason such as quarantine, most policies extend coverage only up to 7-10 additional days, depending on the policy.

These policies are treating covid as they would any other injury or illness. So if a person were to test positive while on their trip, we conservatively encourage you to still seek medical care and obtain a doctor's statement as a positive test alone, may not trigger coverage. I should also point out that home test kits are not accepted as they do not have the travelers details on the results such as their name or when the test was taken like those a doctor would administer or an official lab.

As I am not a claims agent, I can only recommend that you keep all emails, texts, receipts from restaurants, hotels, airlines, physicians, etc associated with your loss. If you were to file a claim for your loss, a claims agent will instruct you what documentation will need to be submitted.

Please call our customer service team at 844-240-1233 if you have any further questions. Our agents are available from 8am to 10pm ET every day, and we are delighted to help.

Thank you for the opportunity to assist you, James.
Dawn Watry
Customer Service
ext 6277

Customer Service: 800-240-0369 - Available 8am to 10pm ET, seven days a week.

As always, caveat emptor.

As I was reviewing the policies of alternative insurers, I came across the following verbiage of one insurer:

"Please note, to confirm COVID-19 illness, we require a physician’s
diagnosis or confirmation, or the verified record of a positive
molecular (e.g. PCR) or antigen COVID-19 test performed by a third
party testing service provider."

(emphasis added.)

So, for at least one insurer, the verified record of a positive test is sufficient to "trigger" the "Trip Delay" provisions of the policy, and a formal physician's diagnosis is not (apparently) required.

Source (on 6/6/2022):
https://www.allianztravelinsurance.com/coverage-alerts/2019-novel-coronavirus.htm

(I am in no way affiliated with or endorsing any insurance company, and have not decided which insurance policy to purchase for my upcoming international travel. My intent here is to add clarification to the ongoing discussion.)

Phil

I got my policy from Travel Guard (AIG); and their 'Policy of Insurance' states:

if an Insured is unable to continue on his/her Trip due to any of the
following Unforeseen events: (a) Sickness, Injury, or death of an
Insured, Family Member, Traveling Companion, Business Partner or Host
at Destination. Sickness or Injury must be certified by a Physician;

• (1) Sickness or Injury of an Insured, Traveling Companion, Family Member traveling with the Insured which results in medically imposed travel restrictions as certified by a Physician at the time of Loss;

I asked an TG agent if official positive test result was sufficient; the agent simply repeated the above statement, that one must see and get certified by a doctor about the need to self-isolation due to Covid positive test result. When I asked if a 'Documentation of Recovery' from QuickMD was as good as doctor's certification; the agent wouldn't give a definitive answer and simply said "just submit whatever documents you have and our claim department will make a decision based on what you submit ..."
I couldn't get a straight answer if one must see and certified by a doctor!!!

I read someone's comment that in Europe after seeing a doctor, it could take a few days to get a certification. If I know that Allianz will accept an official positive test result, I would have gotten my policy from them instead of Travel Guard.

I did clarify with the agent about what would be covered for the scenario 'if someone tested positive with mild symptoms or asymptomatic, and only need self-isolation in a hotel':

• Trip delay: will cover new hotel expenses and meals due to quarantine; but only $200/day and total maximum of $1000 (for my policy)
• Trip interruption: will cover additional cost for return flight rebooking or transporation to rejoin tour, and unused portion of your prepaid and non-refundable expenses (pre-booked hotel, excursions etc). The maximum is 150% of the 'Trip Cost' I chose to insure.