If someone at home gets sick or is in an accident, am I covered to cancel my holiday or come home early?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Whether you’re still at home and haven’t left on your holiday yet, or you’ve already departed, you’ll be covered if you need to cancel, curtail, or change your holiday because someone close to you:

  1. is admitted to hospital;
  2. is admitted into palliative care;
  3. is diagnosed with a terminal illness; or
  4. passes away.

If that someone close to you doesn’t meet one of a – d above, then there’s no cover under the policy for you to cancel, curt short or change your holiday.

Why do you only cover those four events when it comes to people at home?  

To keep your premiums low we restrict cover to a – d above. Otherwise people could cancel or change their holiday for any reason under the sun, such as:

  • I want to come home early because our friends got us tickets to a game.
  • I need to cancel my holiday because I promised my mum I’d help clean out the garage.
  • I need to cancel my holiday as my sister’s upset because broke up with her boyfriend.

 

We hope you get our point.  Here are some examples of scenarios we would cover:

  1. My sister was hospitalised because she broke her leg and needed surgery. I want to come home to provide support.
  2. My grandma died so I want to cancel my holiday to attend her funeral.
  3. My brother was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. I want to cancel my holiday to support him.
  4. My father, who was battling cancer for 5 years, was finally moved into palliative care. I want to come home early to be with him.

 

What if my sister was already sick when I bought my policy? What if I didn’t know that my father had been battling cancer for 5 years? What if we knew grandma would pass away at some point but just didn’t know when? Will you cover me?

Our philosophy is that we don’t want you to put your life on hold for years due to the poor health of your loved-ones, but we also can’t offer you full cover for something that was more likely than not to happen. That’s why we’ll provide at least limited cover, even if they were already sick when you purchased your policy.

So, if the admission, diagnosis or death is due to that existing health condition we limit the amount we’ll pay you for that claim to $5,000 per policy, whether you were aware of that existing health condition or not.

The reason for this is that the likelihood of a – d occuring increases if they’re already sick. Let’s expand on the examples to show what we mean.

  1. Halfway through my holiday my sister was hospitalised because she broke her leg and needed surgery. I want to come home to provide support.

We would pay for either the additional costs of coming home or the non-refundable deposits that you were unable to use, whichever is higher, up to the policy maximum of $50,000.

  1. My grandma died so I want to cancel my holiday to attend her funeral. She didn’t die from any underlying conditions.

We would pay for any pre-paid non-refundable deposits, up to the policy maximum of $50,000.

  1. My brother was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour. He was sick when I bought my policy but we didn’t know it was cancer. I didn’t even know that he was sick. I want to cancel my holiday to support him.

We would pay for any pre-paid non-refundable deposits, up to the sub limit of $5,000, because the diagnosis was related to an existing health condition that your brother had when you purchased your policy. Although you weren’t aware that your brother was sick, we can’t prove or disprove whether someone is aware of someone else’s illness, so this is not taken into consideration when applying the sub-limit.

  1. My father, who was battling cancer for 5 years, was finally moved into palliative care. I want to come home early to be with him.

We would pay for either the additional costs of coming home or the non-refundable deposits that you were unable to use, whichever is higher, up to the sub limit of $5,000, because your father was already sick when you purchased your policy.

The above is just one aspect of the wider subject of cancellation claims, but it is the most complex one. We hope the examples above help you to understand it better, and have greater certainty of what you’re covered for when you buy from us.