Importance of travel insurance

[Sunset]

I have an international trip in a few weeks and called my insurance (Anthem BCBS) if international is covered, and they said yes, and gave me a link to a form to fill out for reimbursement. Also I was given a link where I can search for international hospitals near where I'm going to be that are in 'provider network' that will bill Anthem directly, and there are several where I'm staying (Philippines). I assume this to mean I do not need additional travelers insurance. Is this a valid assumption?

Probably not.
Do they cover evac to hospital ?

I'm not sure, should you get hit by a bus, if you will really have a choice of the hospital you end up in.

 

[Lucie]

The elderly gentleman ( from the original post) left yesterday to pick up his wife’s remains and fly back to the US. It was so sad.

As we were saying goodbye, he looked my husband in the eye and said “Mr. Lucie- you have more money than time, use your time wisely”. Wise words that I needed to hear.

 

[FIYes]

Wise words indeed.

 

[Koolau]

The elderly gentleman ( from the original post) left yesterday to pick up his wife’s remains and fly back to the US. It was so sad.

As we were saying goodbye, he looked my husband in the eye and said “Mr. Lucie- you have more money than time, use your time wisely”. Wise words that I needed to hear.

Wow. That is powerful advice. We all need to hear and head it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[sengsational]

I wonder what fraction of the $35K is the repatriation. For me, I'd say burn me there and toss me into your suitcase.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I think what makes this so challenging is that "travel insurance" is a much broader topic than most people realize. It can include:

- reimbursement for trip delays, missed flights, cancellations for any number of reasons, baggage delays, etc.

- medical coverage in another country

- medical evacuation from another country

- security evacuation from another country

- repatriation of remains

- possibly much more

I have recent experience with the first one and I will say it is all but utterly worthless! There are so may restrictions and conditions that it is almost impossible to collect.

Geoblue offers secondary medical coverage in most countries for about $200 per person per year. I buy this but strongly suspect it is unnecessary because most primary insurance does cover you overseas after jumping through hoops.

Geoblue covers repatriations of remains.

We also buy Global Rescue to be medically evacuated to a competent hospital if needed. We will be adding the security option for a trip to a riskier region this spring but hop it is a waste of money like I hope for all insurance.

Overall, I buy "travel insurance" to cover major losses but I think it is not needed for most people for inconveniences like trip delays, missed flights, and so forth. If you are going to pay $200 to insure against a missed cruise departure why not fly in a day early and stay an extra night and enjoy your departure city? Cruise lines make a ton of money off your fear!

 

[athena53]

Overall, I buy "travel insurance" to cover major losses but I think it is not needed for most people for inconveniences like trip delays, missed flights, and so forth. If you are going to pay $200 to insure against a missed cruise departure why not fly in a day early and stay an extra night and enjoy your departure city? Cruise lines make a ton of money off your fear!

An additional day is a luxury many people don't have, for either financial reasons or limited vacation days. I agree with you, though- I want my insurance to cover the scary stuff, not loss of luggage, and I do like to get in a day early to adjust to any time differences and do some sightseeing on my own or allow for delays. On my last trip I arrived in London 3+ hours late and would have missed my connection to Stockholm. Fortunately I'd scheduled an overnight in London.

 

[FlaMariner]

We also buy Global Rescue to be medically evacuated to a competent hospital if needed.

Have you checked your existing Geo Global policy? Is that the same as GeoBlue?

If so,

We have the GeoBlue Trekker Essential plan and it includes $250,000 in medical evacuation along with the $500,000 in medical.....And they have a plan with higher coverages also.

 

[OldShooter]

... I buy "travel insurance" to cover major losses but I think it is not needed for most people for inconveniences like trip delays, missed flights, and so forth. ...

Agree. We buy insurance to transfer risks where the risk is bigger than we want to bear or we want to offload a risk for some other reason. That's why we buy fire insurance on our house. So I scratch my head a little bit when reading threads like this where people are concerned with insuring small risks --- a few thousand dollars for a cancelled trip or a few hundred dollars for lost luggage.

As I mentioned in a prior post upthread, we buy evacuation insurance where we might otherwise end up in a situation where in the event of injury or sickness we would otherwise have no logistical support. Most commonly we'll buy in second or third world countries where English is not commonly spoken. We don't bother in first world countries or situations like Road Scholar or NatGeo where experienced logistical support is available. We never buy the trip cancellation or other features; just the evacuation insurance. Our BCBS Advantage plan includes health insurance outside the US, so we don't need anything there.

 

[mystang52]

Due to a couple of "pre existing conditions" I've been buying comprehensive travel insurance for years. I finally "discovered" annual insurance that costs less than the individual plans I would get, now that we travel 2 to 4 times a year. As an aside, but very related: DW and I just got back from a cruise. At Puerta Plata in Dominican Republic a passenger was taken away by ambulance. As one with some cardiac issues, right or wrong I realized I'd be very concerned about medical treatment there. I'm glad I have insurance that could cover the costs to go elsewhere for serious care. But it also speaks to only going to those places where quality of medical care is not a concern.

 

[brett]

Due to a couple of "pre existing conditions" I've been buying comprehensive travel insurance for years. I finally "discovered" annual insurance that costs less than the individual plans I would get, now that we travel 2 to 4 times a year. As an aside, but very related: DW and I just got back from a cruise. At Puerta Plata in Dominican Republic a passenger was taken away by ambulance. As one with some cardiac issues, right or wrong I realized I'd be very concerned about medical treatment there. I'm glad I have insurance that could cover the costs to go elsewhere for serious care. But it also speaks to only going to those places where quality of medical care is not a concern.

One of the suites we have rented a number of winters on an island in southern Thailand is owned by a Swiss retiree and his Thai wife.

He told me that living there was a concern to him. If he had a medical emergency that the local hospital could not handle he would be sent to a regional facility on the mainland. And then perhaps flown on to Bangkok for first class medical treatment. It was becoming a concern to him. To much delay if it was a time critical event. He seemed at peace with it though.

But it is the much the same way for almost all of the places we have spent winters in during the past 13 years. Fortunately neither of us have serious pre existing conditions however that does not preclude our need for fairly immediate specialized medical attention at some point.

My spouse, a nurse, did require hospital attention in Kuala Lumper a number of years ago. Her comment was that the facility and the physician and specialists were top notch and incredibly throrough.

 

[fosterscik]

We do a lot of diving in remote locales. We carry specialized dive insurance (DAN) with 24 hour on call doctors to consult with any local physician unfamilar with diving emergencies, Medjet evacaution insurance if remote hospitals aren't up to the standards we want, and GeoBlue for general medical coverage (it has no preexisting condition exclusions unlike many other plans).

All are annual plans. In total they cost us $500/person/year.
Given how much we spend travelling it's a minor additional cost (~1.5%).

Edited to add: We don't buy separate trip cancellation/interruption insurance. That's covered by our pricey credit card (Sapphire Reserve). The credit card also covers evacuation insurance but I think it will be harder to get approved for a transfer than MedJet, so we have added that as well.

 

[Sunset]

One of the suites we have rented a number of times on an island in southern Thailand is owned by a Swiss retiree and his Thai wife.

....

....

I have a family cabin on an island, the simple fact is in case of emergency, one better hope they can live for a minimum of 45 minutes at best, more likely over an hour.

That's how long it would take to get to a hospital, and then the hospital might even be closed ! So it would be a 3 hour drive to another hospital.

My Mom died from heart attack up there.

I figure I'll probably go that way or stop going there. This year I'll have 2 boats that work, in case one doesn't work in an emergency.

 

[mystang52]

For those who have yearly medical travel insurance including evac - what is the price and who is your insurer?
Did you use it? if yes, how easy it was to get help?
We plan to beef up our travel and that is something I need to look into.

I bought Allianz "Annual Premier Plan." Very quick and easy to BUY the plan Fortunately, haven't had to file a claim so I can't speak to how that somewhat important aspect will be.

 

[brett]

Our tavel insurance is part of my DB benefits.

I do review it each January for changes because these benefits are included at my former employer's discretion.

I check for exceptions, which there are for certain activiites, and I check it for applicable individual trip limitations. Also for evac coverage, etc. and cost limitations.

I do the same with our premium credit cards. One recently removed rental car insurance.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Have you checked your existing Geo Global policy? Is that the same as GeoBlue?

If so,

We have the GeoBlue Trekker Essential plan and it includes $250,000 in medical evacuation along with the $500,000 in medical.....And they have a plan with higher coverages also.

Yes, I've looked and it does seem we are paying for some overlap. I'm comfortable with the cost of keeping both for the non-overlapping features, at least for now.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I have a family cabin on an island, the simple fact is in case of emergency, one better hope they can live for a minimum of 45 minutes at best, more likely over an hour.

That's how long it would take to get to a hospital, and then the hospital might even be closed ! So it would be a 3 hour drive to another hospital.

My Mom died from heart attack up there.

I figure I'll probably go that way or stop going there. This year I'll have 2 boats that work, in case one doesn't work in an emergency.

Where we live in South Kona Hawaii, the ambulance is at least half an hour away and 40 minutes back to the hospital which is a minimal hospital. They might restart your heart or administer heparin for a stroke but you are likely to wake up at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu. It's not just the third world with medical challenges as you say.

 

[FIYes]

Here is a data point for the Allianz annual travel insurance plan. DH and I were recently on a cruise. While in port we stopped at a restaurant for a snack. DH cracked a tooth. We had to get back to the ship and couldn’t do anything about the cracked tooth. We stopped in a pharmacy on the way back to the ship, but they didn’t have anything. The next day was a sea day so we went to the medical center to get his tooth temporarily cemented because just air on the tooth hurt. This was a temporary fix until we got home and saw our regular dentist. I filed a claim with Allianz for this temporary fix and Allianz paid.

Now this small expense was not what I bought the insurance for, but since I had it I filed. I buy the insurance in case of a large expense. It is a relief to know that Allianz will pay. I was able to submit the claim on line.

I Hope never to need to use the insurance for another claim, but it is good to know that I have it.

 

[Teacher Terry]

In 2015 we booked a 2 week cruise with another couple. We all bought travel insurance. By the time the trip was going to occur his cancer returned and he was too sick to go because he was dying. His wife couldn’t go without him because she had Alzheimer’s.

I submitted the paperwork 3 times for them to be reimbursed 1500 which was the price of the cruise. They kept saying they didn’t receive it. At that point I told his son I was done trying to help and it was up to him to pursue or not. I don’t think they ever got the money.

 

[OldShooter]

In 2015 we booked a 2 week cruise with another couple. We all bought travel insurance. By the time the trip was going to occur his cancer returned and he was too sick to go because he was dying. His wife couldn’t go without him because she had Alzheimer’s.

I submitted the paperwork 3 times for them to be reimbursed 1500 which was the price of the cruise. They kept saying they didn’t receive it. At that point I told his son I was done trying to help and it was up to him to pursue or not. I don’t think they ever got the money.

Who was the carrier?

 

[pacergal]

We have purchased travel insurance for big trips, usually Allianz.
We had to cancel our "sibling cruise" at the last minute (two weeks prior) last year due to BIL cancer got worse. We all received reimbursement except for about $200.
I was impressed at how quickly it was processed, within a week we had the credit.

 

[athena53]

I check for exceptions, which there are for certain activities, and I check it for applicable individual trip limitations. Also for evac coverage, etc. and cost limitations.

Check the wording carefully on evacuation coverage. The good plans (I realize some, such as MedJetAssist, are not insurance) won't just take you off the remote island to the nearest hospital but to the hospital of your choice, which may be much further away if you're in a developing country.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Who was the carrier?

It was 10 years ago so I have no clue.

 

[rodi]

What do you do if your trip is longer? We are doing a transatlantic cruise followed by 70 days in Florence Italy. I'm mainly worried about the cruise. Does it just cover the first 60 days, or do they decline payment if you make a claim prior to 69 days because your plan was longer than 60 days?

 

[brett]

We had to cancel a China trip. On the off chance I checked our credit card. We had cancel insurance. MC put me in touch with the carrier.

Got the forms, completed them along with a physcians letter. Provided proof of cancellation from the tour company.

I was shocked. Never heard a thing back, not one follow up question, until three weeks or so later when we rec'd a cheque for the full amount of the claim.

It was the only time that we have had to cancel a trip.