Air Vanuatu liquidation exposes insurance coverage gaps | Insurance Business Australia
Thousands of travelers left stranded, facing financial losses
Travel
By Roxanne Libatique
Air Vanuatu’s unexpected decision to enter voluntary liquidation has left thousands of travelers stranded and facing significant financial losses due to widespread flight cancellations.
A spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has advised Australians to reach out to their travel agents or travel insurance providers. Consumer experts, however, warn that only a few travel insurance policies cover such insolvency events.
Australian travel insurers that cover airline insolvency
Natalie Ball, director of Compare Travel Insurance, indicated that travelers impacted by Air Vanuatu’s liquidation might be able to claim expenses through their travel insurance.
“In the event that an airline has entered voluntary administration, only a handful of travel insurers provide reimbursement for lost trip costs. This benefit usually only applies to comprehensive policies and claims would be assessed on an individual basis,” she said.
She highlighted that not all travel insurers provide coverage for insolvency or financial collapse, stressing that customers need an active policy before the event to be eligible for claims.
Compare Travel Insurance highlighted insurers that cover airline insolvency:
Cover-More offers up to $10,000 for rearrangement or cancellation due to insolvency of a travel services provider (applicable to comprehensive policies only);
Go Insurance providers up to $1,500 for trip cancellation or amendment due to financial default of a travel service provider (for Go Plus policies only);
Travel Insurance covers up to $5,000 for the insolvency of a booked travel carrier (applicable to Deluxe policies only); and
World2Cover assists up to $3,000 per adult if the travel services provider, excluding agents and operators, suffers financial default.
How to mitigate travel insolvency risks
Ball advised travelers to thoroughly research travel insurance providers to avoid potential risks.
“Make sure you know what you’re covered for and ensure you’re up to date on what you’re entitled to as a consumer. Always choose reputable travel providers and consider booking your trip through a travel agent – they may be able to issue you with a refund under these circumstances,” she said.
Using a credit card for travel bookings might also offer additional protection, according to Ball.
“If you aren’t covered by insurance, you could be entitled to a ‘chargeback’ through your credit card company if you pay for a service and don’t end up receiving the product or service. Keep in mind that you would have to have paid for most of your trip via your credit card to be eligible,” she said.
She further emphasized that travel insurance generally excludes coverage for the insolvency of travel agents but can be crucial for airline insolvency.
“Travel insurance generally excludes coverage for the collapse of a travel agent. However, in the case of airline insolvency, travel insurance can be a life saver. “We highly recommend securing travel insurance before any trip as a preventive measure,” she said.
Organized labor has called on the Board of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to cancel the sale of 60% shares of its stake in several hotels to the Agriculture Minister, Bryan Acheampong.
Addressing a news conference in Accra on May 20, 2024, the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, said the sale of shares is unacceptable.
Meanwhile organized labor has called for an emergency meeting with President Akufo-Addo and officials of the Investments and Operations Unit of SSNIT.
Dr Yaw Baah said, the Minister for Employment and Labor Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, should ensure that the agreement is cancelled.
“If the Minister of Pensions who is also the Minister of Employment and Labor Relations fails to stop SSNIT, we workers of Ghana who own the funds, will stop it.”
He again said, the sale of the 60 percent shares to Bryan Acheampong was unacceptable.
“We do not think that the regulations that guide the sale of state assets were followed. We do not think that the necessary due diligence was done, we cannot imagine that state property will be sold to a minister of state. For us, it smacks of state capture and that should be stopped,” Dr Baah said.
Chairman of The Forum, Isaac Bampoe Addo intimated that if Mr. Ignatius Baffour fails to cancel the sale agreement, there will be a nationwide strike.
“We want the government to know that these funds are not government funds. “These funds are pension funds, the government should be aware that we will not allow our pension funds to be misused and should they dare, there will be a nationwide strike,” Mr Bampoe Addo threatened.
He added that organized labor will not allow government and SSNIT to misuse the funds of pensioners.
Read also:
Full Text: SSNIT responds to Ablakwa’s comments on sale of hotels
Stop the sale of SSNIT hotels to Bryan Acheampong – Ablakwa to CHRAJ
Qatar Insurance Company wins best travel insurance in MENA | Insurance Business Asia
Company earned recognition for the second consecutive year
Travel
By Roxanne Libatique
Qatar and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region insurer Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) was named “Best Travel Insurance Company in The Middle East” for the second year running at the 2024 Global Banking & Finance Review Awards.
The award recognizes QIC’s leadership in transforming travel insurance with its digital tools and customer service that benefits both departing and arriving travelers.
QIC has launched several products over the past few months, including an online service for acquiring mandatory health insurance for Qatar visitors. The insurer said the initiatives have dramatically decreased the time it takes to secure a policy, with transactions now completed in under two minutes via qic.online.
Qatar Insurance Company recognized for travel insurance
QIC Group CEO Salem Al Mannai said the repeated recognition confirmed the company’s commitment to enhancing travel insurance on a regional scale.
“Winning this award for the second year in a row is a strong testament to our continuous success in taking travel insurance to higher levels region-wide, offering travelers the best cover and the most convenient digital services,” he said. “QIC has proudly been the preferred insurer in Qatar and beyond since 1964.
“Our presence in regional markets since then has allowed us to build a unique understanding of the ever-changing needs of travelers to and from the MENA region, and to keep exceeding the expectations of customers through innovative insurance products, customer-centric services, and the most convenient digital solutions.”
The hotel that owes the largest wage theft payout in Oakland’s history still hasn’t paid a dollar to 128 ex-workers, according to union representatives who are pressuring the city to take legal action.
Workers at the Radisson Hotel near the city’s airport were owed $20 an hour instead of the $15 rate they made between July 2019 and April 2020 because they declined health benefits — a wage-increase measure approved by voters in the 2018 election.
Last fall, the city’s Department of Workforce and Employment Standards found the Edes Avenue hotel owed more than $400,000 in back pay to housekeepers, front desk staff and other employees who were almost all laid off when the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
But the local chapter of UNITE HERE Local 2 now says the affected workers still haven’t seen a single check, even though the Radisson missed a deadline in December to appeal the city’s findings.
“The owner hasn’t even said anything to the effect of ‘I don’t have that money,’” said Sonya Karabel, a campaign researcher for the union. “These workers have been waiting years and years to receive the money they earned.”
The hotel’s owner is the Houston-based K&K Hotel group, which operates a number of hospitality sites and carries the Radisson brand at the Oakland airport location.
Soon, the 300-room hotel will shut down and be converted to affordable housing, part of the state’s Project Homekey initiative that was first launched as a way to shelter homeless people during the pandemic.
Officials at K&K and Radisson management didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Director of Workplace and Employment Standards, Emylene Aspilla, middle, speaks during a press conference regarding an investigation into workers wage theft in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. 128 workers employed at the Radisson Hotel near the Oakland Airport are supposed to earn back more than $400,000 according to the DWES and the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
California Supportive Housing, the nonprofit acquiring the Radisson, is separately overseeing the rehabilitation of a Quality Inn motel near the airport — a process for which the city in January received $20 million in state money to facilitate.
Leaders of the hotel workers union have said they don’t want to interrupt the Radisson’s conversion to housing. Instead, they’re pressuring the city attorney’s office to sue K&K over the unpaid wages as a measure of enforcement.
“Until now, we have not received anything,” Ana Bermudez, a former laundry worker of three years at the Radisson, said in Spanish at a news conference last week outside the hotel. “We want the Radisson to pay attention to us and pay us what they owe us.”
Research shows wage theft is widespread throughout California, and employers are quick to retroactively pay workers even after being flagged by local jurisdictions.
Using federal data that outlined workers’ home addresses, researchers at a Rutgers University lab found as many as 14% of workers may have experienced yearly minimum-wage violations across San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont and surrounding cities between 2014 and 2023.
Dan Galvin, who led the study published this month, noted the finding that Black and Latino workers throughout the state were more likely than white workers to be illegally denied proper wages.
“It’s very common for employers who are found liable for wage theft to either just refuse to pay or sometimes they open up a new business under a different name so it’s harder to find them,” Galvin, who is also a professor of political science at Northwestern University, said in an interview.
For the hotel industry, though, he added, “I would assume it’s harder for them to get out of liability to pay.”
The IA has warned insurers of the inherent risks related to premium financing as this is particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates. The surge in interest rates in the past two years has brought severe volatility to the market which has impacted both policyholders and the insurance market.
Mr Marty Lui, the IA’s head of Long Term Business (Acting), highlighted the risks involved in premium financing:
during periods of low interest rates, policyholders are able to use premium financing to benefit from the spread between their policy returns and bank loans and also amplify their returns through leveraging; however, this magnifies risks and potential losses;
current high interest rates have already increased the cost of borrowing, and at the same time decreased policy returns as the majority of products purchased through premium financing are now participating products, which offer returns which are not guaranteed and are subject to the investment performance of the insurers and also have longer break-even periods, further aggravating the risks involved in premium financing.
In view of these risks, the IA and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) jointly issued guidance to the industry in 2022 to clarify the supervisory requirements for premium financing. These requirements, which take effect in 2023, are targeted at insurers and insurance intermediaries and focus on enhancing disclosure and improving affordability assessment to protect policy holder interests.
In 2022, the IA received 28 complaints about premium financing, and that figure rose to 50 in 2023. Concerns were raised over the lack of risk disclosure by intermediaries during the selling process and misrepresentation of policy terms and loan rates.
In 2023, premium financing activities will slow down substantially; this business declined from 43% of the total market in 2022 to 21% in 2023 (including a multi-year record low of 9% in Q4 of 2023). This may indicate that amid rate increases the public has become relatively conservative towards premium financing.
The IA and the HKMA have joined forces for another round of inspections related to premium financing to examine compliance with the new requirements and assess market trends. They will share their observations from these inspections with the industry in due course and in the interim, and to enhance policyholder protection, have issued a reminder about the cautious use of premium financing.
Club Med, which offers stunning all-ages family resorts in Lijiang, Bali, Phuket, and the Maldives, is offering travelers an up to 40 percent discount for the summer.
The Discount will be active from May 21 until June 10 and is set to be applied automatically to guests at Club Med Lijang, Club Med Kani, Maldives, Club Med Finolhu, Maldives, Club Med Bali, and Club Med Phuket.
“At Club Med, we prioritize the importance of families, couples, and friends coming together to create cherished memories and share quality time,” Country Director for Thailand, Indonesia, India and New Markets Bruno Courbet said. “Our special offer allows guests to book their all-inclusive packages, enabling them to embark on this journey of togetherness and create valuable moments that will last a lifetime.”
“With savings of up to 40 percent available until June 10, 2024, our five stunning resorts across Asia provide the perfect setting for unforgettable experiences,” Courbet continued.
Additionally, Club Med offers a 20 percent discount to children aged 12-17, a 40 percent discount to children aged 4-11, and a complimentary stay for children under four years old.
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The best COVID travel insurance is Seven Corners’ Trip Protection Basic, according to our analysis of travel insurance plan rates and coverage options.
Editor’s note: This article contains updated information from a previously published stories.
Best COVID travel insurance of 2024
Why trust our travel insurance experts
Our team of experts evaluates hundreds of insurance products and analyzes thousands of data points to help you find the best product for your situation. We use a data-driven methodology to determine each rating. Advertisers do not influence our editorial content. You can read more about our methodology below.
851 coverage details evaluated.
161 rates reviewed.
5 levels of fact-checking.
Top-rated travel insurance for COVID-19
Compare the best COVID travel insurance plans
Our insurance experts reviewed 851 coverage details and 161 rates to find the best COVID travel insurance plans. For this rating, we only scored travel insurance plans that cover COVID.
The benefits we scored out of a possible 100 points include:
Cost: 70 points. We scored the average cost for each COVID travel insurance policy with “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage for a variety of international trips and traveler profiles.
Emergency medical expenses: 10 points. We scored travel medical insurance by the coverage amount available. Travel insurance policies with travel medical expense benefits of $250,000 or more per person were given the highest score of 10 points.
Medical evacuation: 10 points. We scored each plan’s emergency medical evacuation coverage by coverage amount. Travel insurance policies with medical evacuation expense benefits of $500,000 or more per person were given the highest score of 10 points.
“Interruption for any reason” upgrade: 10 points. We gave travel insurance plans with the option of “interruption for any reason” coverage 10 points. This coverage allows you to end your trip early for any reason, including reasons not listed in your policy, and get reimbursed for a certain percentage of your prepaid expenses.
How to buy COVID-19 travel insurance
“Look for travel insurance that covers trip cancellation, trip interruption, emergency medical and emergency medical transportation,” said Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA. A policy that provides epidemic-related coverage may reimburse you for costs associated with a canceled trip, travel delays, mandatory quarantines and being denied boarding due to suspected illness.
Plans that offer emergency medical coverage usually provide medical coverage for treating COVID-19, but you’ll want to read the policy to be sure.
Most travelers are surprised to learn about the 15-day review period that comes with many travel insurance policies, Durazo said. “Consumers should take the time to read their policy and call their provider with questions. If they don’t feel that their policy meets their needs, they can exchange it for a new product or cancel it for a full refund.”
Average cost of COVID travel insurance
The average cost of our top-scoring COVID travel insurance plans is $415. By adding optional “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage, the average cost of COVID travel insurance rises to $615, an increase of 48%.
CFAR coverage gives you the flexibility to cancel your travel plans for any reason, as long as you do so at least two days before your scheduled departure. When you cancel, you will typically be reimbursed up to 75% of your prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses. If you’re interested in adding CFAR coverage to your travel insurance plan, you usually need to do so within two to three weeks of making your first trip deposit.
How much you pay for travel insurance will depend on factors such as how many travelers you’re insuring and their age, your trip destination, trip length and total trip cost. On average, travel insurance costs 5% to 6% of your prepaid, nonrefundable trip expenses, and adding CFAR coverage to your plan could increase the cost of travel insurance by about 50%.
Get the best deal for the price: Discover affordable travel insurance options.
What travel restrictions are still in place?
Many travel restrictions that existed in the past three years due to COVID-19 are no longer in place. However, if a new, more dangerous variant emerges or if another infectious disease becomes a serious concern, national governments might reinstate previous restrictions such as requiring a negative virological test or proof of vaccination to enter the country. States and territories may have requirements that differ from national requirements.
Things are always changing, so it’s best to consult the official government website of the country you’re visiting and Travel.State.gov for the latest entry requirements and travel recommendations before booking your trip. Then, continue to check these websites as your trip date approaches to see if you’ll still be able to enter and leave your destination and re-enter the United States.
Quarantine reimbursement from travel insurance
Getting reimbursed by your travel insurance provider requires submitting documents that support your claim. Your policy should spell out what documents you’ll need.
“Failure to get proper documentation for a claim will almost always delay processing of the claim,” said Daniel Durazo, director of external communications at Allianz Partners USA. “Never assume that your insurance company will accept less than what they ask for. Call your insurance provider if you have questions about what documentation they’ll need to process your claim.”
In the case of a quarantine claim, you’ll typically need proof of getting infected with or being exposed to COVID-19, proof that you were required to quarantine, and invoices and receipts from any medical treatment and additional lodging costs.
For coverage purposes, “a COVID diagnosis has to be from a licensed physician who determines that you can’t travel,” said Stan Sandberg, co-founder and CEO of TravelInsurance.com. “An at-home, self-administered COVID test won’t be enough to pursue a claim under a travel insurance policy.”
What does COVID-19 travel insurance cover?
“Most travel insurance providers today consider COVID like any other unexpected illness for purposes of coverage,” said Sandberg.
If your plan does not exclude costs related to COVID-19, specific types of coverage under your plan can reimburse some or all of your expenses. These might include additional hotel nights, transportation, meals, medical care, flight changes and more. Here’s how different parts of a travel insurance policy would apply as it protects against COVID.
Extension of coverage. Applies if you have to stay at your destination longer than planned because you get sick and have to quarantine or new travel restrictions emerge.
Travel delays. Applies if you or someone traveling with you gets sick or injured en route to, at or returning from your destination or if, say, an airline refuses to let you board because of suspicion of illness.
Trip cancellation. Applies if you get sick before you leave for your trip and have to cancel the whole thing. Be sure to get a diagnosis from a licensed physician.
“Cancel for any reason” upgrades. Applies if you decide you don’t want to travel because of a spike in COVID cases or national entry and exit requirements change. Not all plans offer this upgrade, and it can add quite a bit to the cost of your insurance.
Trip interruption. Applies if you have to interrupt your trip after reaching your destination — for example, if you have to fly home early because you or someone traveling with you gets sick.
“Interruption for any reason” upgrade. Applies if you miss part of your trip for a reason your policy doesn’t otherwise cover — for example, because you have to quarantine, but you don’t actually have COVID. Not all plans offer this upgrade.
Emergency medical treatment. Applies if you unexpectedly get COVID during your trip and need health care. Pre-existing conditions are usually excluded. Plan to pay out of pocket and wait for reimbursement.
Medical evacuation and repatriation. Applies if you need to be transported to the nearest adequate medical facility for treatment. If, God forbid, you should die of COVID during your trip, this coverage would reimburse you for costs associated with transporting your body back home.
What does COVID-19 travel insurance not cover?
“Most travel insurance providers that offer comprehensive policies have done a great job at accommodating COVID-related disruptions, providing reimbursement for events like quarantine and hospital stays,” said James Clark. Clark is a spokesperson for the travel-insurance comparison site Squaremouth, which is also the company behind Tin Leg and Cat 70 travel insurance.
“However, there have been a handful of events that travel insurance simply does not cover,” Clark said. “During the height of the pandemic, when countries would close their borders for travel due to the coronavirus outbreak, many customers were unhappy that border closures were not covered by their standard trip cancellation policy.”
“Policyholders who no longer wanted to travel due to negative tests and face mask requirements were also unable to receive reimbursement through standard policies,” he said. “In order to receive reimbursement in these scenarios, a customer would have needed the ‘cancel for any reason’ upgrade.”
That upgrade also covers “fear of travel,” which almost all travel insurance policies usually exclude, according to Clark. Canceling your trip out of fear of COVID infection or fear that the virus will disrupt your trip somehow is only covered by the CFAR upgrade, he explained.
Best COVID travel insurance FAQs
If you’re traveling within the United States or the US territories, check with your health insurance company to see what coverage you get outside your state of residence. You may have coverage for emergency care and telehealth visits, but not for routine care. It’s also possible that your in-state plan may have arrangements with providers in other states that give you reduced rates.
With the end of the US national emergency and public health emergency declarations related to the COVID-19 pandemic ending in May 2023, group health plans and individual health insurance plans will no longer be required to cover COVID tests and testing-related services without cost- sharing or prior authorization. This, too, could mean an extra expense for you.
Medicare usually does not pay for health care you receive abroad (unless you’re in a US territory, or, in rare cases, near the border of Canada or Mexico).
Other US health insurance may not cover international health care, either, or the health insurance deductible may be high.
For these reasons, it’s important to choose a travel insurance policy with good emergency medical coverage — which usually has no deductible — when you’re traveling abroad.
Yes, as long as the policy covers COVID-19 and travel to the country or countries you visit. All of the travel insurance plans in our Best COVID travel insurance cover COVID.
Your travel insurance policy’s trip cancellation benefits will apply if you have to cancel your trip before you leave because you tested positive for COVID-19. But you need to get diagnosed by a licensed physician if you hope to file a successful claim for your prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs like airfare and lodging.
Cruise travel insurance is just travel insurance that doesn’t exclude cruise-related issues or has additional cruise-specific benefits. If you’re going on a cruise and want COVID-19 coverage, make sure your travel insurance policy covers COVID-19 and has high coverage limits for emergency medical and emergency medical evacuation.
You should expect to spend your own money if you need proof of a negative COVID-19 test for travel because travel insurance does not cover predictable expenses. In some cases, such as when you’re recovering from a COVID infection, your health insurance or travel insurance may cover a doctor-ordered test.
Taking a vacation always carries a certain risk, but some travelers find that buying health insurance is no safety net in the case of an emergency.
Just ask Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel, the Saskatchewan woman who incurred a bill for $950,000 after giving birth prematurely while vacationing in Hawaii in 2013.
Huculak-Kimmel said her insurance company wouldn’t cover the massive bill due to a pre-existing condition — namely, a bladder infection she had four months into the pregnancy.
Many insurance claims are denied on the basis of pre-existing conditions. Here’s a closer look at this often confusing issue.
What is the definition of a ‘pre-existing condition’?
A pre-existing condition is a health condition, including pregnancy, that”you know about before you buy the insurance,” says Will McAleervice-president of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada.
When you agree to buy travel insurance, either directly from an insurer or through a broker or travel agent, you are asked to fill out a questionnaire. It will ask you if you have a history of a variety of medical conditions, from cholesterol to high blood pressure to a previous bout of cancer.
The questionnaire is intended to help the insurance company assess its risk when quoting you a price, says McAleer, who likes it to know the history of a house when buying home insurance.
If you honestly don’t know about a pre-existing condition, you can’t be denied an insurance claim after a medical emergency abroad, says George Frank, a partner at the Toronto law firm Devry Smith Frank LLP.
Does a pre-existing condition mean you can’t get insurance?
Not necessarily, but it does mean that you have to demonstrate that there has been a “stability period” — which could be as short as 30 days to as long as a year, depending on the condition — in which the condition in question hasn’t been t’s gotten worse.
Jennifer Huculak-Kimmel, left, of Humboldt, Sask., gave birth to Reece nine weeks early while in Hawaii, and was later slapped with a $1-million US hospital bill. (David Shield/CBC)
McAleer says that there are “always ways you can get a pre-existing condition covered,” but that will inevitably mean higher insurance premiums.
Can a doctor’s opinion affect how an insurer assesses a pre-existing condition?
Most policies look at whether a condition is stable or not, and “that’s where a doctor’s opinion might come into play,” says Frank.
However, a doctor’s view on the stability of a person’s pre-existing condition might not matter if it doesn’t meet the terms set out in the insurance policy, Frank says.
For example, the fact that your doctor says you can travel 30 days after having minor surgery might be irrelevant if the insurer states that you need to be “stable” for 90 days.
What bearing does a pre-existing condition have on an insurance claim?
If someone has an accident while on vacation and makes a claim, and the insurance company discovers that the person has a pre-existing condition, it could be grounds for denying the claim — even if the pre-existing condition had no bearing on the emergency .
“The pre-existing condition that the insurance company seizes on doesn’t actually have to be connected materially to the actual claim that you’re making,” says Sivan Tumarkin, an insurance and injury lawyer in Toronto.
Tumarkin says that if an insurance company investigation reveals a pre-existing condition after the fact, the company could claim they were misled.
“The insurance company says, ‘Had we known that you had high blood pressure or cholesterol or a previous history of cancer, we would have quoted you a higher amount. So therefore, you didn’t tell us everything we should have known, therefore we gave you a policy on the basis of a misrepresentation,'” says Tumarkin.
McAleer says that in a recent survey, the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada found that 40 per cent of respondents “didn’t know what kind of travel insurance they had, let alone whether [the conditions they had] had been covered.”
The key to avoiding any surprises is familiarizing yourself with the terms of your travel insurance policy, and calling your insurer if you have questions, says Leonard Sharman, senior media relations adviser at the Co-operators insurance firm.
“No policy covers everything, so don’t just check a box and say, ‘I’ll take that insurance,’ and assume that you’re covered,” says Sharman.
“Whatever age you’re at, it’s worth doing your research.”
So if a person’s claim is denied, does that automatically mean they’re on the hook for that money?
While receiving a denial letter from an insurer might seem like the final words on the claim, it isn’t necessarily so.
If a claim dispute makes it to court, it’s possible that a judge might rule in favor of the insured if the defense demonstrates that the individual filled out the health questionnaire in good faith and genuinely misunderstood the parts in question, says Tumarkin.
