Coverage Alert - Swine Flu Outbreak

From Access America:

Access America Prepared to Assist Your Clients Impacted by Swine Flu Outbreak

Access America is monitoring the swine flu outbreak very carefully and coordinating with our offices in Mexico City and around the world to assist customers. We've re-evaluated several hospitals in Mexico where our customers are hospitalized to verify their swine flu procedures. In fact, one customer recently injured on a cruise ship was taken to a hospital in Cartagena, Colombia, instead of one in Mexico to avoid possible exposure to swine flu.


We are seeing a significant spike in call volumes due to this situation. Several callers have asked if they can still purchase insurance to cover this event. The answer is yes. Access America will cover customers who contract swine flu as long as the insured bought the policy before they contracted the illness.


Here's brief summary of our coverage. Please refer to the Certificate of Insurance/Policy for complete details.


Trip Cancellation / Interruption

• Cancel Anytime allows the purchaser to cancel for virtually any unforeseen reason. For example customers who purchased the policy prior to the issuance of the travel advisory to Mexico would be able to cancel due to this event and receive reimbursement. as described in your Letter of Confirmation and Certificate of Insurance/Policy.

• Basic, Classic and Deluxe policies would provide Trip Cancellation and Interruption coverage should the insured customer contract swine flu before or during their trip. These policies do not provide coverage for "change of mind" or if the insured becomes afraid to travel.

Emergency Medical and Dental / Medical Transportation

• Our medical team and assistance professionals stand ready to help your customers who become ill while traveling more than 100 miles from their home.

• Should our consulting physician determine that an evacuation is necessary, our assistance team will locate the nearest appropriate medical facility.

• Please remind your customers that Access America must coordinate all evacuations.

Should the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reclassify the outbreak as an epidemic or pandemic, we will re-evaluate our response and coverage. Similar to other types of insurance, we consider epidemic/pandemic to be a General Program Exclusion.

Many travel suppliers are allowing customers to change the dates of their vacations without penalty. We suggest contacting the travel supplier to request a change should your customer be interested in postponing their trip. Please let us know if your customer will need the travel dates changed for their insurance.

For complete coverage details about all Access America travel insurance plans, as well as Frequently Asked Questions, please visit www.accessamerica.com. This site will be regularly updated as more becomes known about the swine flu outbreak.