SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Agencies that are members of Travelsavers or the Network of Entrepreneurs Selling Travel (NEST) now have a preferred-supplier product specifically tailored to agents who sell medical travel/tourism: insurance that covers clients in the event of travel-related accidents or complications while they are traveling internationally for medical treatments.
The American Marketing Group (AMG), parent of Travelsavers and NEST, introduced the policy to members in late June at the Well-Being and Medical Travel Conference 2012 here. AMG co-sponsored the event, the first such conference focused on the travel trade.
The product, Global Protective Solutions, is provided by Custom Assurance Placements, a specialty insurance broker based in Columbia, S.C. It will be sold exclusively through Travelsavers and NEST agencies, plus any nonaffiliated U.S. and Canadian agencies that register with Well-Being Travel, another AMG business unit. Agencies that have previously sold the product, mostly in Canada, are already effectively registered.
Tracy Simons, president of Custom Assurance Placements, said standard travel health insurance policies exclude medical travel. The traditional policy, she said, won't even cover a traveler hurt in an unrelated accident if the trip's purpose is medical treatment.
MH Ross Travel Insurance Services is an exception among providers of traditional insurance. According to Paul Salamone, vice president sales and marketing, MH Ross will sell its standard policies to medical travelers “but cancellation must be for anything other than the medical procedure.
Global Protective Solutions, on the market for less than three years, covers expenses arising from complications that occur during the first six months after the medical procedure. Like standard travel-insurance policies, it also covers travel accidents that occur on the trip, plus an emergency assistance service available 24/7, Simons said.
What's not included
However, she cautioned that the policy for medical travelers does not currently cover unrelated illness, such as food poisoning during a trip, but would likely be added to the policy later this summer.
In addition, she said, the policy doesn't cover baggage, nor does it cover trip cancellation or interruption. It's not available except by special exemption to travelers under 18 or over 70, and it does not cover pre-existing medical conditions that are unrelated to the reason for the medical travel.
The premiums, with commissions to be determined, will vary widely based on the kind of medical procedure involved. Major heart surgery could result in a premium of $4,000, she said.
Simons urged agents to avoid giving clients detailed descriptions of what the policy covers due to the risk of misrepresenting those details. Instead, she urged agents to send clients to the broker's website to buy the insurance and said agencies can add customized links from their own sites to Custom Assurance.
Simons said that to date, 40% of customers for this insurance have been Canadians, and another 40% have been Australians.
The Well-Being and Medical Travel Conference, designed to help agents find their place in the medical tourism market, drew about 400 delegates, 80% of them travel agents, according to Anne Marie Moebes, executive vice president of Well-Being Travel.
The Scottsdale conference was open to all agencies, with the result that up to 40% of agent delegates were not AMG affiliates, Moebes said.
The conference sponsors were two AMG units, Well-Being Travel and the Travel Market Report, plus another publication, Medical Travel Today.