nytimes.com
30.08.2023 / 09:25
Help! I Fell in Sicily and my Travel Insurance Ditched Me
I’m a 68-year-old solo traveler who was on a tour of Sicily in June 2022, when I fell getting off a bus, breaking multiple ribs, vertebrae and a pelvic bone. I had purchased the RoundTrip Choice plan from Seven Corners Travel Insurance, so I called, expecting they would help coordinate my medical care with Italian-speaking doctors. But they told me to seek help on my own, save the receipts and file a claim when I got home. Our tour guide was an angel, arranging drivers to take me back and forth to the hospital and even interpreting by speakerphone with doctors. Days later I got a doctor to fill out a form (which I had to Google Translate for him) saying I could travel home, as long as I was in a reclining position. My family chipped in to buy a business-class seat for the return flight, a day-and-night trip from Palermo to Munich to New York to Jacksonville. Seven Corners finally paid $5,772 for my bills and missed trip, but refused to reimburse me for most of my business-class fare. Far worse, I believe they failed to provide me the assistance they promised, essentially leaving me to fend for myself and leaving me unable to communicate with hospital staff. I have registered complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the state insurance agencies of Florida and Indiana (where Seven Corners is based), but I’ve gotten nowhere. Can you help?