travel insurance

[mn54]

do you buy travel insurance when you are planning a vacation? Going on a cruise this winter and looking at insurance. If you buy insurance, do you buy it from the cruise lines or an independent third party? Any recommendations on third party insurers?

 

[easysurfer]

Going on a cruise in a few months. Seemed like a lot of fine print to me on the insurance that was offered so declined. But I'm opting to sign up for a short term MedjetAssist membership instead of insurance. There's I think a discount on membership for AARP (I know, a four letter word for some here ) members.

If bad weather cancels my trip, I'm out of luck. But if I get hit on the head during the cruise with falling beer bottle and want to get transfered to a hospital near my home, I should be covered.

 

[SteveNU]

I normally get it for trips out of the country for the medical and evacuation coverage. Not so worried about the trip costs as much of that is reimbursable if you cancel and the credit card provides some coverage as well.

 

[Bamaman]

The only reason I would purchase travel insurance is if I was in relatively poor physical health and if there was a chance I couldn't go on the trip due to health issues.

Those that have healthcare that's not in force outside the U.S. should consider getting travel insurance slanted toward medical coverage. I just went on Medicare, but my supplement covers me outside the U.S. Someone with base Medicare is not covered outside the U.S.

 

[point839]

I have very good coverage through work so I've never bought it however I would definitely consider at least health insurance for any trip out of country.

 

[travelover]

I bought it once when FIL was near death. Had to read many policies to find one that paid for a relative's sickness or dying. I used Squaremouth to sort it out.

Have also purchased evacuation insurance when traveling in places with poor medical care.

 

[hnzw_rui]

But I'm opting to sign up for a short term MedjetAssist membership instead of insurance.

This sounds great. Wish I had known about this earlier.

+1 on making sure you have medical coverage at the very least. You can be of fair health, have all the recommended pre-travel vaccinations and still get hit with a sudden, expensive and life-threatening illness.

On the plus side, my dad's US doctors have been very impressed with the level of medical care he received in the Philippines and have told him he's lucky to be alive. Alas, you do need lotsa money to pay for said care. Mom's insurance covers out of country emergency medical but getting reimbursed for my dad's medical bills ($75K) is like pulling teeth.

 

[Moemg]

I always buy it for trips out of the country .I go to "Insure My Trip " . I have had to use it four times so to me it is worth it.

 

[Dash man]

I use TravelInsured.com for my international travel, including cruises. Filed one claim to get reimbursed for using the ship's doctor and got reimbursed quickly. They have different options you can choose for coverage.


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[braumeister]

I have a good medevac policy that costs less than $400 a year for two of us, and is good in the US as well.

Recently booked an expensive trip (river cruise) and they wanted something like 8% of the trip cost for insurance. No way.

The only time I've ever bought such a policy was for a special cruise where we were not given the option -- trip insurance was mandatory.

Over my lifetime, I figure I've probably saved enough by not buying trip insurance that I'll probably break even if I ever need it and don't have it.

 

[athena53]

I bought it for the first time, through insuremytrip.com, and will probably do it again. I was careful to restrict coverage only to the non-refundable portions of the trip; we were flying in Business Class and although we had paid up front for the hotel, it was refundable with 24 hours' notice. My main concerns were that DH might be too unhealthy to travel, which is something we'd probably know by a few days before the trip, and also the costs of medical care in another country plus any extra costs of getting back home. (A friend who fell in her hotel room in Istanbul in the middle of the night and needed major orthopedic surgery described her trip home in Coach as "the seventh circle of hell".) Oh, yeah- and cancellation of flights due to volcanoes since we were going to Iceland!


While DH has a balance problem so a bad fall might have caused a claim, I'm 15 years younger and inclined to hike up moderate-sized mountains, go out for a run in the city, or take a trip down inside a volcano. Really, I'm probably as risky as he is but for different reasons. Well worth the peace of mind.

 

[kaudrey]

We have only used it once, in April for our trip to Portugal. We used www.insuremytrip.com, and they were great. We only wanted a policy that would be in affect if my MIL died while we were on the trip, because she was battling cancer. The agent helped us find a perfect policy. We didn't have to use it (although she did pass - just the day before we were already heading home), so I can't comment on that part, but I would use them again if another situation arose.

 

[Theseus]

Good information, we've got one out of country trip already booked for 2016, and considering a second. Just from the quick quotes available from two of the sites listed, it looks like for about $350 medical and evac coverage for the two of us can be had to cover multiple trips. From the risk/potential loss view, that seems pretty reasonable.

 

[Senator]

A medi-vac insurance plan is good for international travel. My niece had to use it to get air-lifted from the UK to FL, USA last year.

She was at a wedding party and went swimming. She jumped off a large boat, slipped on the jump due to suntan oil, and hit the railing on the deck below. All busted up. She is a stunt model for a few major movies and popular weekly shows too. It can happen to anyone.

 

[athena53]

The worst story I heard on the subject was a woman whose husband died on a vacation somewhere in Central America. No insurance, and cremation was illegal. She could either pay to ship the body home, which is horrendously expensive, or bury him there. She chose the latter. DH and I have cheerfully agreed on cremation under such circumstances. Barring that option, I think either of us would get a kick out of being laid to rest in a place we'd enjoyed together, but I could see how that would be hard on some surviving spouses.

 

[ttvjef]

I bought trip insurance via Expedia when I went to Mexico a few years back. I had a moderately serious accident during the trip in that I had to stay in the hospital for two days. It worked out pretty good, in that I didn't have hardly any out of pocket costs. I did need to file paper work and it took about 5- 6 months to wrap up, but they did eventually cover the remaining amount that my regular medical insurance didn't.

 

[Alan]

My BCBS health insurance covers me out of country. I always look up the in-network family physicians, and hospitals in the cities we'll be staying and make copies onto my Google Drive and iPad. For cruises I get inurance that includes medi-vac.

I don't get inurance on cancellations. In 2009 and 2010 I twice had to re-schedule flights back the UK when MIL and then FIL died. In both cases the re-booking costs were greatly reduced by the airline on producing a copy of the death certificate.

 

[Chuckanut]

I do not purchase the usual travel insurance, the kind that pays for lost luggage, cancelled trips, transportation problems, illness before the trip, etc. I prefer to self insure those problems and so far it has worked.

I do purchase emergency evacuation insurance that will get me home from anywhere in the world (including the USA) in case I am very ill an need special care on the way. That is very costly and I prefer not to self insure the big costs.

 

[retiredinnyc]

Health insurance or life insurance ?

 

[Alan]

Health insurance or life insurance ?

We don't buy life insurance when traveling but do buy medical evacuation insurance when on cruises. My existing PPO insurance covers me everywhere we normally travel, although last year while we were in Australia we did a week's vacation in Vanuatu (direct flight to/from Brisbane) and when I looked on the BCBS website I couldn't find any in-network hospitals so we purchased medical insurance for that particular trip.

 

[ohyes]

While we only purchased travel insurance occasionally in the past, I always purchase it now. Between DH and myself, there are three parents in their 80's and 90's.

We booked a Road Scholar trip last February for a September trip to San Francisco. Two days before we were to take off, DH's father became very ill. We cancelled the RS trip and took off for MA instead. (FIL is somewhat better today).

So, for the first time ever, we filed a claim on our travel insurance.

Our policy has no time limit for filing, for which I am grateful. It is taking forever to get one of the forms returned from the hospital. This is with FIL's atty supposedly helping the process along. The Road Scholar policy includes prior existing conditions, so I don't understand all the hoop-la questioning.

Somewhere down the road, I feel certain we will get our $1299 reimbursed and I will be happy we purchased the policy for $167.00.

 

[bearkeley]

We usually don't purchase it for short trips, especially with the Chase Sapphire benefits. However, when traveling with our moms, we've opted for it. When we go on Scuba diving trips, however, DAN insurance is our go to travel insurance (you don't have to be a diver - quick to purchase). Our next trip however is a long trip - 5 months, so also purchased international health....GeoBlue (blue cross) - very reasonable and no pre-existing conditions and key is that it's good for 5 months!


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[explanade]

Do any of these policies provide liability coverage?

Not for damage to a car you rent but any damage or injury you do to some other party with a car you were driving?

I know many members here have umbrella policies to protect their assets. Do those policies provide protection when renting cars in other countries?

 

[audreyh1]

Going on a cruise in a few months. Seemed like a lot of fine print to me on the insurance that was offered so declined. But I'm opting to sign up for a short term MedjetAssist membership instead of insurance. There's I think a discount on membership for AARP (I know, a four letter word for some here ) members.

I've looked at MedjetAssist, and that looks like an OK option.

On the other (non medical, non evacuation) travel/trip insurance: I see the big deposits on cruises, and the long reservation times and how things have to be paid in advance. And I'm not sure I'd be comfortable paying so much far in advance without some decent cancellation insurance.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Currently, we never buy insurance related to the travelling aspect of the trip (cancellation, interruption, delays, lost luggage, etc) as we're willing to take the risk and potential financial hit. But we don't discount the odds either because we have encountered and seen friends and family encounter snags with their trips.
We had to book a new outbound flight after a relative died. Our friends have cancelled their trip when a relative was diagnosed with cancer. Our dentist has their luggage lost on the way to a cruise.

Our primary credit cards provide some coverage.

We currently, don't buy travel health insurance because both our work benefits plans provide coverage. But if we didn't have coverage from work, we'd definitely buy it because the cost of getting you back to North America could run over $100k based on some incidents I've read about; mainly head injuries that require attendants on the flight with you. That's not chump change.

Do any of these policies provide liability coverage?

Not for damage to a car you rent but any damage or injury you do to some other party with a car you were driving?

I know many members here have umbrella policies to protect their assets. Do those policies provide protection when renting cars in other countries?

You local auto coverage may extend third party liability coverage to car rentals in North America.
Also, check your home insurance. It might have coverage for legal liability.