Colorado Travel Insurance Regulations Take Effect
New law sets industry standards and establishes consumer protections for Centennial State travelers.
Published | Reading time: 2 minutes
Published | Reading time: 2 minutes
Colorado residents may find their summer vacations a bit more relaxing this year. The state’s new regulations for travel insurance take effect Aug. 7.
The Travel Insurance Model Act, signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis in April, applies to travel insurance that covers Colorado residents and any travel insurance company doing business in the state. The act implements multiple consumer protections, including a refund requirement, prohibition of opt-out tactics, and disclosure requirements for policy exclusions.
Colorado’s legislation largely follows a travel insurance model proposed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The act defines travel insurance as coverage for personal, planned travel that covers:
Interruption or cancellation of a trip
Lost baggage or personal effects
Damage to accommodations or rental vehicles
Health coverage for illness, accident, disability, or death while traveling
Emergency evacuation
Return of a traveler’s remains to their home country
Under the new legislation, travel insurance companies must disclose if a policy excludes a pre-existing health condition, and use forms, policies, certificates of insurance, and other documentation that follow the legislation’s requirements. Insurers must also provide full refunds for canceled policies, as long as the covered trip hasn’t begun and the policyholder hasn’t filed a claim.
Travel insurers can no longer market blanket travel insurance coverage as free and can’t require travelers to deselect coverage in order to opt out of buying it.
Generally, several types of travel insurance are available: travel (or trip) cancellation, travel medical and major medical insurance, emergency medical evacuation/repatriation coverage, accidental death and dismemberment, baggage loss, and cancel-for-any-reason (CFAR) policies, according to the NAIC.
But many travel insurance policies have specific exclusions that consumers might not realize. For example, policies often exclude trip cancellations or interruptions that occur due to a foreseeable or expected event. That exclusion meant many people who had to cancel trips because they caught COVID-19 during the pandemic had their travel insurance claims denied.
The new legislation also sets ground rules for who can sell travel insurance, the type of licensing they must have, and penalties for travel insurance producers who violate the law. Regulations take effect on Aug. 7.
At Insurify, our goal is to help customers compare insurance products and find the best policy for them. We strive to provide open, honest, and unbiased information about the insurance products and services we review. Our hard-working team of data analysts, insurance experts, insurance agents, editors and writers, has put in thousands of hours of research to create the content found on our site.
We do receive compensation when a sale or referral occurs from many of the insurance providers and marketing partners on our site. That may impact which products we display and where they appear on our site. But it does not influence our meticulously researched editorial content, what we write about, or any reviews or recommendations we may make. We do not guarantee favorable reviews or any coverage at all in exchange for compensation.