What does travel insurance cover if you're pregnant

Some of the most common questions we get at Allianz Global Assistance are about travel while pregnant. While most pregnant women can safely travel without incident, sometimes complications arise and customers wonder, "What does travel insurance cover?"

Like any other kind of insurance, travel insurance includes specific coverage definitions and restrictions. Read your agreement carefully, and if you have any questions about coverage, call. Pregnant women should consult their doctors with concerns and questions about safe travel. Here's the quick guide to travel insurance and pregnancy from Allianz Global Assistance.

Pregnancy Complications: What Does Travel Insurance Cover?

You're in the first trimester of your pregnancy and feeling fine — until you begin feeling extremely nauseous a week before you're supposed to fly to New York on business. Your doctor diagnoses you with hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe and serious form of morning sickness, and you end up in the hospital on the day of your scheduled flight. Will travel insurance reimburse you for the canceled trip?

Travel insurance from Allianz Global Assistance covers losses resulting from unforeseen pregnancy complications, such as pre-eclampsia or gestational diabetes. That means your travel insurance may reimburse you for trip costs lost when you cancel or interrupt your trip because of covered pregnancy complications. It also means that if your plan includes emergency medical benefits, your insurance may reimburse you for the cost of emergency medical care that you received for those covered complications while traveling.

If you have to cancel your travel plans because a complication has arisen, you need documentation from your physician. Review your doctor's statement for accuracy before submitting it, because some doctors mistakenly fill in the code for "normal pregnancy" when they're treating complications.

Please note that travel insurance does not cover the chance that a complication might occur. For example, if you delivered prematurely with your first two pregnancies, your doctor might advise you to cancel the trip to Paris you planned for the sixth month of your third pregnancy. However, this is still considered a normal pregnancy because no complication has been diagnosed. Travel insurance would not cover the trip cancellation.

Pregnant travel
Traveling while pregnant

Surprise Pregnancy and Trip Cancellation
You and your spouse are planning a week-long European river cruise to celebrate your third anniversary. Tickets are hard to come by, so you book your trip a year in advance. You schedule the flights and purchase your travel insurance — and a month later, you discover you're pregnant. Will travel insurance cover your trip cancellation?

Sometimes. On some policies, Allianz Global Assistance lists pregnancy as a covered reason for trip cancellation if the pregnancy occurs after the effective date of coverage. The effective date is shown on your Letter of Confirmation, and it's typically the date after the plan was purchased. For your trip cancellation to be covered, you must provide medical records to verify the pregnancy occurred after that date. Please see your Certificate of Insurance/Policy for your plans specific coverage.

Late-Term Pregnancy and Trip Cancellation
You decide to plan a babymoon getaway so you and your sweetie can enjoy some time together before the baby arrives. You book your plane tickets and a bed-and-breakfast on the beach. You're feeling fine and getting excited. Then your doctor advises you, as a precaution, not to travel in the eighth month of pregnancy. Will travel insurance cover this pregnancy-related trip cancellation?

No. In this scenario, there are no medical complications with your pregnancy, so the cancellation will not be covered. Please understand that Allianz Global Assistance is not disagreeing with your doctor's recommendation not to travel — you should do what's best for you and your baby's health. However, most travel insurance from Allianz Global Assistance does not include normal pregnancy as a covered reason for trip cancellation. more ...

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