Manulife simplifies travel insurance with innovative new plan

Officially announced today, Manulife has launched its Premium Protection Plan, a brand new, simplified travel insurance product designed to boost sales for agents and increase confidence for consumers.

Available exclusively through travel agents, the new plan has been in the market since Oct. 27 and is already receiving rave reviews.

“There’s already lots of excitement around this product,” said Robert Iafrate, assistant vice president, travel insurance, Manulife, noting that the company had more than 3,000 travel agents register for the webinars it held last month.

With this new plan, simplicity is key, Iafrate said.

“The general feeling with travel insurance was that it was not as easy to sell as it once was,” said Iafrate. “If travel agents are not confident in what they’re selling, they can’t make the consumer confident [in the product].”

Therefore, in response, Manulife created this new plan, reducing its policy to 14 pages from more than 40 and eliminating 37 exclusions while providing more coverage. “Our goal was to create a simple product that was easy for Canadians to understand their coverage,” while also creating something that travel agents could sell with confidence, thus driving more sales.

Other highlights of the new plan include the removal of pre-existing condition clauses and stability periods often associated with travel insurance and the reduction of 24 definitions traditionally need to define and interpret coverage. In short, “if it’s not excluded, it’s covered,” said Iafrate.

"Early sales indications are demonstrating that this will be the most successful new product introduction we have made to the marketplace… and we plan to keep the momentum going."

The Manulife Premium Protection Plan is available to Canadian travellers who have valid government health insurance coverage, are 69 years of age or younger, insuring a trip value of up to $30,000 and who are travelling for no more than 23 days. This coverage must be purchased from a travel agent within 72 hours of booking the trip.

For more information, agents should contact their Manulife Business Development Manager.