TME Travel Insurance

What TME Travel Insurance is

TME Travel Insurance is a plan brand and licensed seller, not the insurer. The footer names the business as "TME Travel Insurance® (TME), DBA TRAVEL MEDEVAC INSURANCE SERVICES" with "CA License Number OM25107," and every page carries the line "In Affiliation With Passport Health." The same footer names two sets of underwriters. One is "AXIS Insurance Company under policy form series number TRVL- IND-001," described as "an Illinois property and casualty company" licensed "in all 50 states of the United States and the District of Columbia." The other is Nationwide: "Underwritten by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio," and "In WA, coverage is underwritten by Nationwide Life Insurance Company, Columbus, Ohio and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company." The pages do not say which plan sits with which carrier.

Service partners are named too. "All TME Travel Insurance (TME) plans include assistance services when traveling provided and managed by On-Call International. All claims are processed by Coordinated Benefits Plan (CBP)." The footer adds that TME does not manage, own, lease or operate any aircraft, so its evacuation benefit is an insurance benefit arranged through the assistance company, not a transport service of its own.

The three plan lines

TME sells three lines. The homepage lists Comprehensive Trip Protection Plans as a "Single Trip Plan up to 120 Days" with trip cancellation, interruption or delay, airline cancellation fees, lost or delayed baggage, emergency medical expenses, repatriation of remains, optional Cancel For Any Reason and Interruption for Any Reason, and political and natural disaster evacuation on the Elite Plan. The FAQ says there are three trip plans, named Choice, Preferred and Elite, each covering cancellation, delay or interruption along with "emergency medical and evacuation protection." The homepage does not print their dollar limits, and the FAQ says each benefit's maximum is shown once a plan and state are selected in the quote.

The Emergency Medical & Evacuation Plan is "for the traveler who wants coverage for a medical emergency" and has no trip cancellation cover. Its page lists Emergency Medical Expenses of $100,000, dental expenses up to $750, travel delay at $150 per day with a $2,000 maximum, Medical Evacuation of $500,000 with transport "to your home hospital of choice," repatriation of remains of $50,000, $5,000 to bring a visitor if the traveler is hospitalized "for 24 hours or more," and $5,000 to return an unattended vehicle. It also pays for ground ambulance between hospitals and airfields and for returning unattended minor children. It is sold for a single trip or as an annual plan, "as long as none of your trips are more than 180 days."

The Evacuation Only Plan keeps the evacuation, repatriation, visitor and vehicle benefits at the same figures, including the "U.S home hospital of choice," and drops the medical expense line. Its page says it "is available for single trips, even if that trip is 364 days," with an annual option "for those who don't have any single trips longer than 180 days." The FAQ adds that annual medical and evacuation plans are not currently offered "for NY, WA, and FL," and that trip cancellation always needs a separate policy for each trip.

Pre-existing conditions, CFAR and exclusions

The FAQ sets out the pre-existing condition rule in detail. Conditions are subject to a look-back: if "during the 60 day period before you purchase your policy you are first diagnosed with a medical condition (or had a change in diagnosis), required a change in prescription medication," or had symptoms, related claims are excluded. The Preferred and Elite trip plans include a waiver of that exclusion "so long as the plan is purchased within 14 days of initial trip deposit and before your final payment due date, all pre-paid trip costs are insured, and you are medically able to travel on your effective date." The FAQ also says medical tourism and traveling against a physician's advice are excluded from the medical expense cover.

Cancel For Any Reason "is an optional upgrade, available when you purchase the Elite Plan only," must be bought "within 14 days of your initial payment or deposit," and "is not offered in WA or NY." The FAQ says it reimburses "up to 75% of your non-refundable trip costs" and that the traveler must cancel "two (2) or more days before your scheduled departure date." On the standard trip plans, the FAQ names the most common covered reasons for canceling as "unforeseen illness, injury, or death of either the traveler, a traveling companion, or a non-traveling family member along with loss of a job." Without CFAR, the FAQ says cancellations due to "known, foreseeable, or expected events, epidemics, or fear of travel are generally not covered."

The FAQ lists excluded destinations, including "Algeria, Belarus, Chad, Chechnya, Congo DR, Cuba, Iran," North Korea, Russia, Syria and Somalia, noting the list "is subject to change." It describes medical expense cover as "generally secondary or excess to one's primary health insurance," lists eligible expenses as typically including "physician services, hospital confinement, use of operating rooms, laboratory tests, X-Rays," treatments, prescribed drugs and emergency dental care, and says an evacuation "must be recommended and certified by a physician, and must be approved in advance by the assistance company medical personnel."

Who can buy it and how it works

The quote takes travel dates, total trip cost and each traveler's name and age, and the site says it takes about 2 minutes to quote and 2 minutes to issue. Separate quote paths exist for "residents of all states except NY & WA" and for residents of New York and Washington, and the menu has a separate entry for non-US residents. Travelers in the same state can share one plan "even if you are not living together," while residents of different states need separate plans. On age, the FAQ says "You can buy our Comprehensive Trip Protection plans up to 100 years old," and that "the cost of travel insurance rises with age." It puts the general cost of travel insurance at "between 4-8% of your total trip cost."

Coverage starts at 12:01 am on the effective date, or the following day for same-day purchases. Plans carry "a 10-day free look period from the date of purchase," after which they are non-refundable. A trip can usually be extended by calling (602) 344-9225 or (888) 963-4933, with the extension active only once confirmed and paid. The FAQ describes a 24-hour travel assistance line run by On Call International for all plan holders. Claims are filed with the forms on the claims page.

Who it suits

TME fits a US resident, including an older traveler, who wants a choice between full trip protection and narrower medical or evacuation-only plans with published limits and a return to a US hospital of choice. The evacuation-only plan fits a single trip of up to 364 days. Buyers in New York, Washington or Florida face narrower options, and anyone needing CFAR has to buy the Elite plan within 14 days of the first deposit.