Had to provide copy of original credit card statement showing the pre-payment, documentation from the hotel supporting the credit card charge, proof of illness (they requested a form be completed by attending physician, which I was unable to provide, but I had copies of the all the hospital documentation that my sister received upon discharge), copy of the hotel's cancellation policy, a travel itinerary. I included a translation of the hospital documents as they were in Italian, but the insurance company had to send them out for translation. Had to contact the hotel several times to provide an acceptable proof of loss and proof of their cancellation policy. All in all, I submited about 30 pages of documentation. They were always very courteous when I would call; but I did feel like I had to push a little bit. They liked to give a standard " you'll hear back in 5 business days", to which I would reply "I was told that 7 days ago by your agent XYZ"; after that they would then look into things a little more for me. One of the biggest hurdles was getting the documents I provided translated; that took several weeks of "5 business days" to get it done.

My sister is doing much better; thank you for your kind comment.