Action 9

Action 9: Woman cancels trip to donate kidney; travel insurance refuses to pay claim

FORT MILL, S.C. — Fort Mill resident Shannon Simmons and her family were going to the Caribbean for a big family trip, spending about $6,200 on the trip and $900 for travel insurance.

A couple of weeks after they booked the vacation, they found out that Simmons' father was suffering kidney failure.

Simmons was a match for a transplant. However, because the Zika virus was going around that part of the world, doctors told her that if she went to the Caribbean and caught the disease, she wouldn't be able to save her father's life.

"Well then, it was like, 'I can't. I can't go because my dad might not live.' And what are you going to pick a trip, over your dad?" Simmons said.

She canceled the family trip. She assumed that because she had purchased travel insurance, she would get her money back, but the insurance company, AIG, refused to pay the claim.

"In everybody's mind, they're like 'That's unconscionable, what do you mean, insurance doesn't cover that?'" she said.

Simmons asked South Carolina’s Department of Insurance for help. She said officials directed her to the state where AIG’s travel insurance is based: Wisconsin. She said that state’s insurance department didn’t help and directed her to North Carolina, where her travel agent is located. But that didn’t work either.

Simmons turned to Action 9. Within 24 hours, the family got the money back.

"My husband got a phone call and I got an email saying that all of our money was going to be refunded," she said.

AIG wouldn't tell Action 9 investigator Jason Stoogenke why it initially denied the claim or what changed, saying only that it got "additional information."

Simmons' father's surgery went well.

"If it wasn't for Shannon, I wouldn't be here. I was pretty sick," her father, who didn’t give his name, said.  "I don't think I would have been around six months later."

If you buy travel insurance:

  • Read the policy carefully.  Typically, policies have all sorts of exceptions so the companies don't have to pay.
  • The squeaky wheel gets the grease. The Better Business Bureau said companies bank on you giving up, but don't. Keep pressing your claim.
  • If the company is BBB-accredited, you have a right to arbitration. Threaten to go that route. Many companies would rather pay you and move on.