CASE STUDY
Travel Mishaps
How you can lose everything in a holdiday Instant!
Travel Mishaps!
Edmonton woman faces hefty $100K+ medical bill after being hit by a bus in a crosswalk while travelling in Peru; medical travel insurance had expired!
A medical incident while traveling can devastate your finances for a lifetime. Out-of-country settlements of $100,000 + are common. Each year, millions of travelers embark on trips to foreign countries to enjoy the sights, visit relatives, attend tradeshows and business conferences, take family vacations, and even enjoy honeymoons.
44% of 18–34-year-olds chose to leave Canada in 2011 without buying travel and medical insurance. But many do the right thing and purchase that little add-on cost to their trip. Such insurance policies are designed to protect travelers against a catastrophic medical emergency that could run into the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, depending on the country where the incident occurs and the severity of the medical issue.
"A young Edmonton woman who was struck by a bus in Peru has learned she was not covered by the travel insurance she thought she had, and is now on the hook for $100,000+ in medical expenses."
Medical Bills incurred while Travelling
Travel insurance is one of the add-ons to the cost of a trip that can literally mean the difference between life and death, and whether or not you survive your foreign medical ordeal or you end up financially destitute because of the crippling costs of out-of-country medical care. In general, you should expect an insurance plan will cost anywhere from 4%-10% of your total pre-paid, non-refundable trip cost. For example, if you purchased a trip with a total cost of $5,000, travel insurance policies available to you will likely range in price from $250-$500, depending on variables.
Medical emergencies in U.S. can cost Canadians thousands.
Just How Many Travel Insurance Claims Are Denied?
Snowbird Robert Woodcock heard that only 2 per cent of travel insurance claims are denied. Will McAleer, director of business development at Travel Underwriters in Richmond, BC, revealed a denial rate of about 5 per cent and Manulife Financial would say only that its denial rate is “in the single digits.” Single digits could mean anything from 1 per cent to 9 per cent, but the largest player in the industry declined to be more specific. The most common reason for denied claims relates to pre-existing conditions, and the insurer will always try to wiggle out of paying on this basis, if for no other reason.
Is Travel Insurance Worth The Price? Although many different contingencies could affect your travel plans, sickness or injury is by far the chief reason for canceling or interrupting a trip. Policies generally exclude coverage for “preexisting conditions,” but they differ in how they define the term. Depending on the underwriter, the exclusion can apply for between 60 and 180 days before you buy the insurance, whether or not you knew about the condition, and whether or not it was diagnosed.
Are you willing to risk your life savings on a potential 1 in 10 chance that your travel insurer DOES NOT pay your claim?
Even if your claim is deemed valid, your insurance company is only required to pay out to the extent of your coverage, often leaving YOU to come up with the balance. Everyday people lose their entire life savings and their future earnings are garnisheed to settle out-of-country medical injury claims. DON'T be a financial victim of a travel accident that leaves you with a massive financial travel hangover.
CASE STUDY: - Sue and Glenn Bacarro
Mike Outram fell in Michigan and is now a paraplegic. His medical bills plus other expenses in the U.S. cost him $325,000 US and he had no insurance. (CBC News)
"Everybody has heard horror stories." Sue and Glenn Bacarro have one. They were heading home to Windsor, Ont., from Detroit Metro Airport when Glenn lost control of their SUV in a snowstorm and the couple were struck by a transport truck.
Sue suffered a bruised tailbone and crawled out the back of the SUV. Glenn, though, had a collapsed lung, fractured spine, broken nose, broken pelvis, 12 broken ribs and an aorta dissection. He also lacerated his kidney, liver and spleen.
He spent two weeks in two U.S. hospitals before he returned home. The Bacarros had auto insurance, OHIP and an insurance plan through the University of Windsor, where Sue was going to school.
"I thought possibly, yeah, [it could be expensive] but I was thinking of Glenn and his well-being. I kept saying, 'do the treatment and we’ll figure it out,'" Sue said. The bill was $70, 000 U.S. when she realized auto insurance didn’t cover the medical costs. The bill ended up being $325,000 before Glenn came home.
"What a price to put on a life, right?" Glenn said. Sue said she could barely keep up with the mounting bills. "There are so many things coming at you; treatments, reports, invoices, insurance. It’s very busy," Sue said. Eventually, every dime was paid for by OHIP and insurance. It took six years to close the case. Meanwhile, bills were coming, and collection agencies were calling, almost immediately.
'The effect on your family can be devastating.' - William Goldstein, personal injury lawyer Glenn said the system is not easy to navigate.
"It’s hard to understand what you’re dealing with or what you’re agreeing to. It’s all business and technical terms. It’s a whole other world," he said. "We honestly don’t know what happened. We don’t know who paid for what." They couple now has out-of-country medical insurance that covers up to $5 million. "You don’t think about it but if anything happens and you end up in a hospital, you’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments," Glenn said. "How are you going to cover that?"
Will Goldstein, a person injury lawyer, said even a Canadian's auto policy should be bolstered before heading to the States. "One of the things you have to worry about in the state of Michigan is a lot of folks driving around without insurance. You shouldn’t assume the people who bang into you have proper insurance. You better make sure your insurance is high enough to cover the situation where you’re hit by an uninsured or unidentified car," he said. "The effect on you and your family could be devastating."
Protect yourself in advance with the STS program. Remember, if YOU don't OWN anything in your own name, then NOTHING can be taken from YOU. The STS program protects your financial equity by placing your assets securely within a Trust. In the case of medical expense collection lawsuits, the claim is against you and NOT your former assets.
As asset protection specialists, our role is to point out how such real-world cases would have been resolved had these individuals had the STS program in place prior to their travel. Arguably, one of society's primary functions should be to look after the sick and injured through pooled insurance plans and taxpayer-funded health care safety nets when insurance plans fail or are not in place. Unfortunately, in most areas of the world, these outrageous medical costs often fall directly on the shoulders of the foreign traveler. However, with the STS Program in place, travelers no longer need fear being financially wiped out due to a medical catastrophe, either foreign or domestic. All of the individuals in these actual cases would have still incurred the debts but they would no longer have had to fear a lawsuit and a lifetime collection of unpaid debt. The creditors would simply have had no recourse to collect on the medical bills incurred.
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