Trip insurance

[Tailgate]

River cruise on American Empress this fall.. just Colombia and Snake rivers for 9 days. Any tips or suggestions for how to approach trip insurance...from what I see online, it's pretty expensive.


Both of us are over 60... looking a plans starting around 1k for both. Can I buy ala carte vs bundled for all possible contingencies?


Thanks...

 

[MichaelB]

I’ve used World Nomads and found them less expensive than other options.

Moved the thread to the travel forum.

 

[COcheesehead]

Insuremytrip.com is where we start, but that is for overseas trips. What are you concerned about insuring and might it just be better to self insure? Anything domestic, we don't bother. Our credit card offers some protection.

 

[CardsFan]

We have never bought trip insurance, until now.

Our credit card covers up to $5k cancellation, but not any medical, airlift, etc.

Went on a cruise last year, where one of our companions required medical help for several days. They had insurance, but the cost would have been over $10k, and if medivac was needed, that could be 10's of thousands.

So, for our upcoming trip to the caribbean, we paid about 6% extra for the insurance.

Good value? I don't know. But peace of mind for DW.

 

[Plantman]

I only buy trip insurance for international travel not for domestic.

 

[COcheesehead]

We always buy insurance for overseas because our medical is void, but I am not sure about the value prop for a domestic trip.

 

[brett]

We buy out of country medical if our stay exceeds the number of days that my retirement benefits package covers.

Our credit card has trip cancellation insurance attached to it.

We view out of country medical as a major financial risk that needs to be shielded. Especially when we travel to the US.

 

[Sunset]

We buy year long trip insurance, it only covers out of the country for up to 70 days per trip. It cost around $200, and you have to have regular health insurance as it only will cover what the medical doesn't (acts as secondary medical). It also have evacuation and dental coverage, etc.

In the USA we don't have any, just pay with CC for travel.

The only big issue for us would be falling down a cliff (for example) and having to get medivac'd out by helicopter. There is basically a "scam" going on with those, in that they are recommended to people who could be driven out of a place, but nobody tells the person the cost will be around $90,000 and insurance will only pay a few thousand, leaving the patient to pay many tens of thousands for a quick unneeded helicopter ride.
However, if you need to be medivac'd and that really is the only way, time to suck it up.

 

[MichaelB]

I looked over a number of policies for travel this year, including some annual travel coverage. Unfortunately, most don’t give you the detailed T&Cs until you buy the policy. They do have 30 day full refund cancellation, so I did that to read them.

Many of the MediVac policies require prior authorization and are pretty clear that they won’t pay without it. That really makes the coveage less valuable for me. I ended up getting a new Chase credit card that has comprehensive travel coverage. It has a high annual fee but will more than pay for itself in travel insurance benefits.

 

[brett]

Our first trip post retirement was six months out of country.

We were able to secure a policy that gave us a thirty percent premium reduction for a 3K deductable. It is the big numbers that concern us so I jumped on that offer. We could also add days to it it case we were longer than anticipated...which we ultimately did.

 

[Gotadimple]

Adding to this discussion, Citi Credit card is now pulling the Trip Cancellation and Interruption benefit from it's Costco Anywhere Visa cards. But still a great card for travel as there is no foreign exchange fee.



Effective September 22, 2019, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection and Citi Price Rewind will be discontinued and will no longer be provided for purchases made on or after that date. Coverage for purchases made before that date will continue to be available, and you may continue to file for benefits in accordance with the current benefit terms. We are making these changes so that we can continue providing the key benefits that our customers use and value most at no additional cost.