Florida man waits months for cruise refund after wife dies of cancer

APOLLO BEACH, Fla. — Rich Schmidt's travel insurance would have covered him when he had to cancel a recent trip. Instead, he spent months waiting without receiving the thousands of dollars he said he was entitled to.

Schmidt reached out to Tampa Bay 28 for help and explained that he had planned a cruise in June for his wife, Karen’s, 70th birthday. However, days before the trip, Karen fell ill.

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“She just had lower back pain, and she thought it was sciatic,” Schmidt explained. “We decided we should cancel this cruise because she wouldn’t be able to enjoy it. By that time, she had difficulty even sitting up in a chair.”

Schmidt canceled the cruise and started the claim process with their insurance company, Travel Insured International. He thought he would receive a payout in weeks, but months later, his claim still wasn’t processed.

“Where’s the humanity? It’s a business I know, but what about people?” Schmidt questioned. “You pay for everything upfront but then to get a claim processed, it’s a horrible, horrible experience.”

When Schmidt filed the claim, he wrote that the reason was that his wife had severe back pain and difficulty walking. On the form, he also noted Karen was seen by multiple doctors and scheduled for an MRI. Days later, they learned the real cause of Karen’s pain.

“We were told for the first time in the emergency room you have a tumor on your spine,” Schmidt said.

“Instead of going on her 70^th birthday cruise, she was at St. Joe’s emergency room being diagnosed with cancer on her birthday, how sad is that?”

Karen spent the next month in and out of the hospital.

“This was an aggressive form of cancer, it metastasized throughout her body and spread to her bones and that was the cause of her pain all along, it was the cancer but we didn’t know it,” Schmidt explained.

At the end of June, Karen was moved to hospice, where, within a week, she passed away.

In the meantime, Schmidt was also dealing with the travel insurance claim. He showed Tampa Bay 28 the list of records Travel Insured International required, and everything he filed, including notes from multiple doctors.

“They were never satisfied with what I had sent them.”

“I’m still wondering why this insurance company will not process my claim,” Schmidt said.

When Consumer Investigator Susan El Khoury reached out to Travel Insured International, a company spokesperson stated that they were actively investigating the claim and its status.

Within a few days of being contacted by Tampa Bay 28, Travel Insured International closed Schmidt’s claim and sent him a check for the money he was owed.

“I can’t thank you enough,” Schmidt said. “I don’t think this would have happened without you.”

Travel Insured International did not respond to Tampa Bay 28 again or explain what happened with Schmidt’s claim.

Pamela Lopez-Cservak has over 25 years of experience as a travel agent, specializing in cruises.

“The insurance wants to cover themselves,” Lopez-Cservak explained. “I always tell my clients when you have the insurance and you have to cancel you need to see a physician right away and they have to say you cannot travel get it in writing.”

She said she has seen clients get claims pain in as quickly as two weeks, but it varies by the case.

“If the insurance company asks for more information, unfortunately, you do have to give them more information,” Lopez-Cservak said.

She recommends that clients purchase travel insurance, but stresses that they need to understand that not all policies offer the same types and amounts of coverage.

“Trip cancellation interruption, medical coverage,”Lopez-Cservak said listing off coverage she recommends. I’ve seen policies that have a million-dollar coverage because if you need to get flown off a ship it’s not cheap.”

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