I would think twice before purchasing…
I would think twice before purchasing travel insurance with FWD again. We would also like to highlight to everyone to read their terms and conditions very carefully before deciding to purchase travel insurance. FWD may have a good rate but we certainly did not have a good experience. I got into an accident while traveling in Dec 2022 on a holiday. The injury to my leg was severe and I had to be warded in the hospital overseas for around 6 days after an emergency. My wife extended her hotel stay in a hotel near the hospital to be with me after the surgery. Given my condition, my wife and I flew back immediately after the doctors discharged me, and the trip was cut short. There are two areas of extreme disappointment with FWD: 1. When we were distraught by the accident and contacted FWD at the hospital, they highlighted that they do not generally issue letter of guarantees to the hospital. The Bill was around SGD50,000. FWD informed us that we should pay using our own money first and put in a claim later. Thankfully, I contacted my company insurer who was willing and able to issue a guarantee so we did not have to fork out cash upfront and be subject to uncertainties of whether we will be reimbursed. 2. We tried to claim the extended hotel stay that my wife additionally incurred to continue to be with me while I was in the hospital for 6 days. FWD rejected the claim. FWD highlighted that the T&Cs will reimburse the flight and accommodation costs of an adult family member who travelled to be with me ONLY if i had no adult family member with me. This was neither a fair or logical outcome. This would mean that FWD would agree to pay for my wife's economy air tickets from Singapore and hotel stay overseas if I happened to be on the trip alone without her, yet not agree to pay for my wife's hotel stay to continue to be with me to take care of me in the foreign country. (The costs incurred in the later situation would be a much lower sum than the earlier situation since the cost of her air tickets from Singapore need not be paid for.) If this is so, this would be contrary to commonsense as any insured in my situation would be shortchanged and out-of-pocket simply because he travels on a trip with an adult family member, and would instead be in a better financial situation if he was travelling alone and needs a family member to travel to the foreign country. Taken to the extreme, this would mean if my wife flew back to singapore or was different place from me just before my accident, FWD would pay for her flight back from singapore to the overseas country and her accommodation to be with me. Yet, FWD refused to pay for her to stay on in the same country to be with me. Again, this does not make any sense. I urge travelers to consider alternative insurers for travel insurance.