Mr. and Mrs. Chan retired 2 years ago when they were aged 60. They went to visit their elder son in Canada for 2 months and then to the US to visit their younger son for another 2 months. Mrs. Chan hurt her leg in the US when she was out with her son. She was hospitalised and received minor surgery.

Before this, Mrs. Chan had taken out an annual travel insurance policy. When she returned to Hong Kong, she filed her insurance claim for her medical expenses, but it was rejected by her insurer. Why did Mrs. Chan's insurer reject her claim?

The insurer rejected her hospitalisation claim on the grounds that Mrs. Chan's journey exceeded the maximum period of each journey (90 days) specified in the policy. According to the terms and conditions of Mrs. Chan's annual travel insurance policy, the insurance operates only if each journey does not exceed 90 days. Although the accident happened within the first 90 days of Mrs. Chan's journey, the total duration of her journey exceeded 90 days, which is why her insurance policy was deemed inoperative.

Customers often misunderstand that their annual travel policy will only exclude protection beyond the maximum period of each journey. In fact, the policy will be regarded as not effected from the very beginning of the journey. If the number of days that customers plan to stay overseas exceeds the maximum period of each journey specified in the annual travel insurance policy, they are advised to take out a single travel insurance policy as the maximum period specified will be longer than that of an annual travel insurance policy.

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