Travel insurance questions

[ivinsfan]

Actually the person I had in mind is my son-in-law, my daughter's husband.

So sorry to hear this, you can buy a cancel for any reason policy they are pretty expensive try going to insuremytrip and using their filters on cancellation policies

 

[mystang52]

Actually the person I had in mind is my son-in-law, my daughter's husband.

I'm 99% certain this would qualify as a death in family, and thus covered by trip cancellation. Just make sure you buy the policy for all traveling companions, and double-check the policy wording.

 

[JustCurious]

We have bought Medjet Assist for medical evacuation only. It was around 300-400 for a year for two of us. The one thing I like is that they say (at least as of a couple of years ago) that they will fly you to the hospital "of your choice" in the US. Of course this is only for extremely serious conditions.

I wonder who decides what is an "extremely serious condition?"

 

[PawPrint53]

We bought trip insurance through Travel Insured International for a wilderness hiking trip last summer. The wilderness adventure company had a no refund policy. We ended up not going because forest fires created poor air quality, and we were worried about my husband's asthma issue. Got all our money back in a timely manner.

 

[Moemg]

Actually the person I had in mind is my son-in-law, my daughter's husband.

I have had to cancel three trips because of death's in the family and standard travel insurance policies have always covered it . I also had to interrupt a trip because of My Mother's illness and it was covered .

 

[Scuba]

Most policies I researched cover death or serious illness of family members including in-laws. They do not cover death or illness of close friends or pets however, unless you have “cancel for any reason” coverage, which is much more expensive and isn’t offered on all policies.

 

[Scuba]

Are you saying each trip is $25-$30k , or are you saying your annual traveling costs are $25-$30k ?

You might only need $5-$8K cancellation coverage for the one trip affected, in a year of traveling.

Annual costs of $25-$30K. Good point re not needing to cover it all. Cruises and tours need to be covered for sure, but many hotels could be changed on short notice and air can usually be rescheduled for a fee. Many VRBO’s and airbnb rentals are non-refundable.

 

[Scuba]

Some credit cards cover trip cancellation and have a list of reasons that qualify. (illness, death of family member, house uninhabitable, etc.. )

We just go with (this time) Barclay arrival +, it covers up to $5K cancellation cost, but remember some costs will be partially recoverable anyways, so I don't need full coverage.

Some credit cards cover a huge amount, a lot more than $5K, so it maybe be more cost effective to pay for a travel CC than to pay for insurance, as the card come with a lot of other benefits.

Great point, thanks for this. I should research this. Our main concern is cancellation due to illness or death of an elderly family member.

 

[OldShooter]

I've discovered that if you stay on the site [ https://www.intltravelnews.com/ ] "a while", it will start prompting you to subscribe (without showing you content), so hit the most important topic first!!

Oh, sorry about that. I didn't know. But if you just pop the $25 for a subscription I don't think you'll regret it. The magazine is a lot more genuine in its content than the "big" travel magazines.

There have been a couple of mentions of wilderness-type trips and concerns. One additional type of "insurance" for that is a personal locator beacon (PLB) like this one: https://www.mcmurdogroup.com/mcmurdo-products/mcmurdo-fastfind-220/ A PLB gives you immediate access to the worldwide Search & Rescue satellite system. (NOAA - Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking - Welcome)

 

[Bestwifeever]

Actually the person I had in mind is my son-in-law, my daughter's husband.

We just bought an Allianz Horizon policy and the trip-cancellation/interruption coverage includes life-threatening illness or worse of these “family members”:

Any of the following people, whether or not they’re traveling with you:
 spouses and common-law, civil union and domestic partners;
 parents and step-parents;
 children and step-children (including adopted or soon to be
adopted children);
 siblings;
 grandparents and grandchildren;
 the following in-laws: mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister;
 aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews;
 legal guardians and wards;
 business partners;
 paid, live-in caregivers; and
 service animals (as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act).

The trip cost just under $2700 per person and the insurance cost $171 per person.

 

[CardsFan]

This thread, and an event on a recent cruise, has caused me to re-think buying travel insurance. In the past I have only thought about the cancellation part, and figured that we were mostly covered with our credit card and could afford to self insure for the rest. On our cruise in February, one of the men in our group came down with a severe leg infection, requiring intravenous fluids and antibiotics while on the ship, and ambulance service upon return. The couple had purchased the insurance, and all was fully covered.

After that event, and reading some of the above, I will look more carefully at medical and med-evac coverage in the future.

 

[OldShooter]

... I will look more carefully at medical and med-evac coverage in the future.

Yeah. As I mentioned in an earlier post, most of my interest is in the insuror's ability to provide logistical support and make the right things happen quickly. We could stand the cost of an evacuation, though it would be painful, but self-insuring means we could be on our own to figure out how to deal with a dynamic and possibly dangerous situation.

 

[Luvdogs]

I just called our insurance BC/BS (I know there are many versions) and was told that overseas our insurance pays just like it does here--and all places are in network.

I asked about cruises. She said that the cruise line will likely make me front the money but just to forward the bills to them and they will reimburse me, again all in-network.

I requested her to forward that to me in writing and she says she will. I had also contacted them a few years ago and asked the same questions and was told the same thing so I feel pretty confident that what I have been told is accurate.

So you may want to contact your insurance company for info. Of course Medicare doesn't pay--even with Plan F it's only 50K which can run up very quickly.

OTOH-unrelated vent--DD went to urgent care for a sore throat, just got our EOB today and it was $200 out of our pocket-- a couple over the counter things prescribed and that's it. No deductible to go to a specialist, just a straight 20% off the approved price but $200 for for 15 minutes at urgent care applied to deductible.

 

[Sunset]

I just called our insurance BC/BS (I know there are many versions) and was told that overseas our insurance pays just like it does here--and all places are in network.

I asked about cruises. She said that the cruise line will likely make me front the money but just to forward the bills to them and they will reimburse me, again all in-network.

I requested her to forward that to me in writing and she says she will. I had also contacted them a few years ago and asked the same questions and was told the same thing so I feel pretty confident that what I have been told is accurate.

So you may want to contact your insurance company for info. Of course Medicare doesn't pay--even with Plan F it's only 50K which can run up very quickly.

OTOH-unrelated vent--DD went to urgent care for a sore throat, just got our EOB today and it was $200 out of our pocket-- a couple over the counter things prescribed and that's it. No deductible to go to a specialist, just a straight 20% off the approved price but $200 for for 15 minutes at urgent care applied to deductible.

We have BC/BS (but there are lot of diff plans)
They probably won't cover medical evacuation, and frankly we figured they would classify out of the Country coverage as out of network !!
So we bought GeoBlue at insureMyTrip.com , which was only $200 per yr for 2 people, multiple trip, and it covers whatever our main insurance does not plus medical evacuation.

We were on a cruise ship and watched some young 40 yr old fellow get lifted off (cruise ship has to veer closer to FL) by helicopter and flown to Jacksonville hospital.
I'll bet that expense was more than the price of a new car !
Now I will buy travel insurance, whereas before I never did.

 

[Sunset]

Yeah. As I mentioned in an earlier post, most of my interest is in the insuror's ability to provide logistical support and make the right things happen quickly. We could stand the cost of an evacuation, though it would be painful, but self-insuring means we could be on our own to figure out how to deal with a dynamic and possibly dangerous situation.

My only hope is the insurance company would play honest and fair (I am suspicious about insurance companies on this when the payout is large).

Here is a fellow who had insurance, and they canceled it on him claiming he lied on the application, which I'm not sure had much to do with his falling, but who knows.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3944773/...n-hospital-no-toronto-hospital-bed-guarantee/

 

[braumeister]

While we were deep in the heart of Denali NP a few years ago, one of our party developed a back problem that left him in extreme pain and unable to do anything but lie flat on the floor. With 100 miles of dirt road to the nearest town, he would have been in utter agony and probably would have become even more injured.

Fortunately, he had medical evacuation insurance, so a 170 mile helicopter ride to Anchorage cost him nothing at all. I don't even want to think about what that would have cost otherwise.

He was fortunate that another of our party was a doctor who could certify the need for it. But it could have been done over the phone if that hadn't been the case.

 

[SoReady]

The bad back example is what I'm hesitant about in getting nationwide travel insurance. They will not cover a pre-existing condition for any thing 90 days prior to signing up for insurance. I've been struggling with a bad back for the last 4 months with another steroid injection next week. I fear another episode like the guy in Denali. If that happens they may not cover any treatment i need.

I may need to review the Allianz that we've had for last year to see if they have such a clause.

Our next trip is coming up soon and I'll need to decide quickly.

 

[braumeister]

The bad back example is what I'm hesitant about in getting nationwide travel insurance. They will not cover a pre-existing condition for any thing 90 days prior to signing up for insurance.

Look at the link in my previous post (#50). MASA has no pre-existing condition exclusion, and their coverage is on an annual basis.

 

[SoReady]

Thanks. I did look at MASA and it is cost prohibitive. I double checked Allianz and they don't have pre-existing condition exclusion. But Allianz is $250/yr, where nationwide is $79/yr. I just need to determine if i think my back is going to give me a problem or not.

 

[nwsteve]

For med evacuation, here is an option we found--airambulancecard.com. We chose it since there is no precondition limit and no requirement for a physician to rule on "medical necessity". You do need to be admitted to a hospital over 150 miles from home. A very important criteria. If you get injured enough to be hospitalized, all you have to do is to call and tell them you want to come home.
Annual fee is 385/family/year and covers domestic as well as international.
We have not had to use but with regular RV trips and 2 intl trips/year offers good value. I thought we might use when wife broke kneecap in Vienna but failed to insure she was hospitalize before calling. Doc stabilized the knee and signed docs for travel but I failed to insist on hospitalization--not even clear he would have since she need 3-5 days for swelling to reduce prior to surgery. Her surgery was done as an out-patient after we returned to States on day of travel booking in BC so there was room for her cast--ouch.

 

[FIYes]

This has been an informative thread for me. I will check out the medical evacuation only...good for one year type insurance. I have been purchasing travel insurance for international travel and cruises on a per trip basis lately. Fortunately I have never needed to use the insurance. However, I have two friends who were injured in Europe. One had travel insurance and it really made a huge difference. She was hospitalized and had surgery. Her insurance even paid for a nurse to accompany her on the flight home (single traveler).
The other did not have travel insurance. Fortunately her health insurance did cover her overseas, but she had to pay many thousands upfront. It added stress to an already stressful situation.

 

[OldShooter]

This is kind of a heads-up.

One thing that I have noticed in reviewing providers is that most of them scrupulously avoid using the word "insurance." They are "associations" etc. I am certain that this is to avoid being regulated as insurance companies and coming under the various state rules.

Certainly this means that their ability to pay is theoretically questionable, but I don't know whether this is a practical concern or not. I also don't know what other practical effects there might be from their not legally being insurance companies.

Hopefully someone with insurance/regulatory expertise can comment.

 

[Sunset]

Thanks. I did look at MASA and it is cost prohibitive. I double checked Allianz and they don't have pre-existing condition exclusion. But Allianz is $250/yr, where nationwide is $79/yr. I just need to determine if i think my back is going to give me a problem or not.

In my searching, I notice Nationwide is cheap, but the annual plan is limited to 30 day trips.

 

[SoReady]

You are correct. Although 3 weeks is about the most we travel in one trip. We do that 2-4 times a year.

I did call my BCBS insurance and found that we already are covered by blue cross global core. Essentially the same coverage we have here in the states we get internationally. Although, I did go to their site (bluecrossglobalcore.com) and put in one of the countries we are planning to go to soon and BCBS does not have coverage there.

So for $79/yr coverage I think we are going to get Nationwide. It will end up being secondary coverage for what ever BCBS can't/won't cover.

Hopefully neither will be needed!

Bob