Annual travel insurance policy?

[BarbWire]

Any suggestions for post-Covid era annual travel (medical) insurance policies? I'm planning at least three trips in 2023, each 1-3 months long.

I self-insure for cancellations. My credit card has decent travel protections. I buy an annual MedJet plan for evacuation/transport.

Thus what I am looking for is medical coverage -- emergency or otherwise. In the USA I have Medicare & Plan G.
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EDITED TO ADD: I have found useful information in this thread:

https://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f46/trip-insurance-115397.html

(and if I knew how to delete this redundant thread I would. Sorry about that.)

 

[SoloDrifter]

I'm looking into this as well for various global travel nearly all of next year, only in US for a couple months total at most.

The two I'm considering are Cigna Global and GeoBlue. GeoBlue requires being back every 70 days IIRC so might not work for you. I've heard from people who have made claims from both and are satisfied.

Would be interesting to hear other options.

edit: Just saw in another thread that you've used Cigna Global.

 

[oldie]

I've got "Safe Travels Deluxe Annual" from Trawick International. Each trip duration must not exceed 30 days, which works for me. If you need longer duration, an annual policy wouldn't be cost-effective.

 

[2017ish]

Geoblue main policy is limited to 90 days, but you can buy a rider for days in excess of that. (Basically equivalent to single trip coverage for the excess.)

We've had it for 5+ years and have bought three riders. But we've never had to use it..

 

[FlaMariner]

For Medical travel once out of the USA....we have the Blue Cross Blue Shield Geo Blue Trekker Essentials Annual policy

For Travel stuff....we have the Bank of America Premium Rewards Visa

(no experience with either for claims.......we are fine with the coverage...esp for medical....and we travel enough to make the annual medical policy economical vs buying per trip travel insurance)

 

[cyber888]

Are ALL "annual travel insurance" for International Travel only ?? And does not include Domestic Travels inside the US ? I'm looking at some like GeoBlue, and it all Excludes domestic US travels.

 

[Marita40]

I have an annual travel insurance policy with Allianz.

 

[cyber888]

I have an annual travel insurance policy with Allianz.

Does that cover domestic US travel ? or only outside the US ?

 

[ncbill]

Nationwide sells an annual travel plan that works both domestically & internationally for trips of over 100 miles/30 days or less.

I buy their annual Travel Pro Deluxe Plan, see details here, choose the rightmost tab:

https://travel.nationwide.com/plans/annual

 

[USGrant1962]

Posters are mixing up travel medical insurance (GeoBlue, Cigna) that OP asked about with travel insurance (Allianz, Nationwide). The latter reimburse for trip costs and only include emergency medical. Not what OP is asking about.

 

[truenorth418]

GeoBlue has many options for international medical insurance including single trip, extended trip and annual plans. They have a great website where you run can scenarios and get premium estimates.

I’m a frequent traveler who takes extended trips outside the US, so I’ve been using GeoBlue’s Single Trip - Voyager Choice - which allows up to 183 days on a single trip before returning to the US.

 

[Martlet]

I had considered buying an annual travel insurance policy but I'm currently submitting a claim on the trip insurance for our most recent visit to Mexico, and the experience is giving me pause. Basically, when I submitted the claim (for emergency medical expenses) the adjuster advised that the emergency medical coverage is secondary and I need to submit a reimbursement claim to our US Health Insurance (purchased on the ACA exchange) and then resubmit to them, with the EOB from the US insurer. I'm going to see what happens with this claim before I invest in annual travel insurance. I wasn't aware that my US insurance provides some coverage for urgent and emergency care abroad, but apparently it does.

 

[Martlet]

I had considered buying an annual travel insurance policy but I'm currently submitting a claim on the trip insurance for our most recent visit to Mexico, and the experience is giving me pause. Basically, when I submitted the claim (for emergency medical expenses) the adjuster advised that the emergency medical coverage is secondary and I need to submit a reimbursement claim to our US Health Insurance (purchased on the ACA exchange) and then resubmit to them, with the EOB from the US insurer. I'm going to see what happens with this claim before I invest in annual travel insurance. I wasn't aware that my US insurance provides some coverage for urgent and emergency care abroad, but apparently it does.

To my surprise, the US insurer reimbursed us 100% of what we had paid in Mexico, and issued payment within two weeks of claim submittal. This was a low five figure amount (USD). The process was simple and frictionless. The process with the commercial travel insurer by contrast was slow, complex and annoying (Take a bow, AIG TravelGuard). I'll probably still get an annual travel insurance policy going forward but would be looking for mainly trip cancellation and other risks and less for health cover.
This may all change again when we switch to Medicare in 2026. My understanding though is that Medigap G covers emergency medical expenses incurred during foreign travel.

 

[oldie]

This is normal. Your travel insurance is secondary, and will pay what your primary health insurance won't pay. This policy is there so you wouldn't try to charge the same expense on several insurances. Note that some expenses (i.e. hospital room cost) your primary insurance might not cover, nor it would cover emergency transportation or flight change, so travel insurance would still be useful.

 

[Sunset]

To my surprise, the US insurer reimbursed us 100% of what we had paid in Mexico, and issued payment within two weeks of claim submittal. This was a low five figure amount (USD). The process was simple and frictionless. The process with the commercial travel insurer by contrast was slow, complex and annoying (Take a bow, AIG TravelGuard). I'll probably still get an annual travel insurance policy going forward but would be looking for mainly trip cancellation and other risks and less for health cover.
This may all change again when we switch to Medicare in 2026. My understanding though is that Medigap G covers emergency medical expenses incurred during foreign travel.

I think it covers up to $50K, per lifetime, sounds good unless something really bad happens.

We get $250 annual health coverage, just to be sure, and it's cheap considering it covers all our trips.

 

[brett]

We typically do two international trips, three months each per year plus some shorter ones in between.

Most of our travel in independent land travel. We are fairly spontaneous travelers so we do not book very far in advance. Not concerned about cancellation insurance. Besides, our credit card covers up to a certain amt. for us.

What does concern us is out of country medical and evac. We have always had both included in the same policy. The longest trip we have done so far is just over six months. We had to contact our insurer to add a few days to our policy when we decided to come home a bit later that we planned.

We view out of country medical and evac insurance as our biggest financial risk in travel so we ensure that we get it covered off appropriately.

We do not live in the US and have different carriers. The most important thing we find is dealing with someone who knows the policy inside out. On our six month trip we were offered a 30 percent discount on the premium IF we select a $5000. deductible. I jumped at it. We are happy to self insure for $5K. It is the big numbers that give us hearburn.