Best/Cheap travel insurance

[BlueberryPie]

We're doing the Tour du Mont Blanc this summer (10 days, 100 miles through France, Italy and Switzerland).

Since there is always a danger of twisting an ankle, tripping, etc .. and some of it is far enough away from main roads that getting extracted can get expensive, I want to get travel insurance that would cover that.

Any recommendations?

 

[2017ish]

Geo Blue is what we use. Although we have annual policies, they have short term as well: https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/products/single-trip/voyager-5-overview.cfm

We haven't had need for it in the four years we've had it (other than to show proof of insurance to enter some countries), but researched the topic to death before going with this company back in '17.

 

[Chuckanut]

Does your current insurance policy cover any overseas medical needs?

For example, my Medigap policy will pay up to $50,000 for overseas medial care.

 

[njhowie]

In the past, we've used Travelex, AIG, and InsureandGo - primarily for the medical coverage. We fortunately did not have to use any of them, but the price was right, and each was for primary medical coverage.

We always purchase our travel insurance with insuremytrip.com - they offer many plans and provide for easy comparison shopping.

 

[brett]

Many out of country medical insurance plans do not include injuries sustained from certain higher risk activities, including some sports.

You might want to double check that whatever plan you go with does not place your activity in their 'extreme sport/activity' exclusions.

When buying out of country medical/evac over the years we have paid more attention to the policy coverage and exceptions than we have to the cost. We never buy trhough a travel vendor or TA. We find the price/coverage equation is much better when we go direct to the carrier.

 

[OldShooter]

There are specialist brokers for this. If you go to https://www.intltravelnews.com/ and search for the surname "Wirtanen" you will find a series of articles on travel insurance, insurance strategies, and names of some brokers. Recently, ITN has also run a series of traveler reports on actual experiences when the travel insurance was needed. Not sure how you find those with the search function. You may have to jump the $26 paywall and browse magazines. Money well spent IMO.

In our case our regular BCBS policy was specifically selected to cover us outside the country, plus we often buy stand-alone evacuation insurance. Evacuation insurance is a little tricky, though, as much of it is offered by "associations" or other businesses that are not legally insurance companies. I think the last two trips we have used Travelex, which is a real insurance company -- regulated and backed by state insurance guaranty funds.

 

[BlueberryPie]

Thanks for the advice. One of the books were using to plan out trips says that insurance companies qualify what we'll be doing as trekking, and that is needs to be called out in the policy.

 

[Drake3287]

Although it doesn't cover medical evacuation back to the US, but just remember that most better American medical Insurance plans will reimburse you for reasonable medical costs. You simply just need to keep copies of all the bills and receipts and notify them ASAP.

A broken leg in the US might be $25,000 but in France it's a fraction of that. Yes, this travel insurance issue is always a roll of the dice.

 

[LastOfTheBoomers]

We're doing the Tour du Mont Blanc this summer (10 days, 100 miles through France, Italy and Switzerland).



Since there is always a danger of twisting an ankle, tripping, etc .. and some of it is far enough away from main roads that getting extracted can get expensive, I want to get travel insurance that would cover that.



Any recommendations?

I know this is an old post - but it showed up in a search - we did the TMB in August 2021 - we used World Nomads for coverage.
Have a blast!

 

[BlueberryPie]

Thanks, we ended up selecting CSA Custom Luxe, about $140 for 2 people (YMMV depending on age). they have a $250K/person evac policy which our research showed should be more than sufficient on the TMB (it's not high altitude rock climbing or other difficult rescue).

Glad you wer2 able to do it in 2021, looks like many refuges were closed due to the pandemic. 2022 is going to be crowded, but loking forwardto it.

 

[marinauser]

I believe that MedJet is worth a look for medical transportation "insurance". When I was working, the firm added it as a benefit and I have kept it up for spouse and I.

 

[nwsteve]

Does your current insurance policy cover any overseas medical needs?

For example, my Medigap policy will pay up to $50,000 for overseas medial care.

We used the Medicare coverage when DW missed a step on a staircase and fell breaking a kneecap in Vienna. What we learned is you must be prepared to self pay at the time of need (fortunately hospital took CC). Then your coverage will pay 80% of usual and customary US rates and if your bills are not in English, you are on the hook to have them translated. Oh, don't forget before leaving your medical care to get a detailed invoice showing all services. Your cc receipt will not do it. We were using a Blue for Plan B and all documents had to be sent to a central Intl Med Claim Center in Florida
Process took close to 5 Mon to get a check.
We now ALWAYS buy medical only for all our international. If possible, we try to get Primary Med so it pays directly the service provider