getting sick in Israel

are you going to get sick?

will you fall down and break something?

I hope not! I have been traveling for years and have never felt compelled to buy. I am going with my mother through an organized church tour and they are suggesting we buy it.

It's important to have evacuation/repatriation coverage which is included in most travel-medical plans. In the event of something like a severe leg or hip break, getting you home to recuperate could cost between $50,000-$100,000 without coverage.

It is always worth having medical insurance if your own country's system does not cover you.
If you should happen to fall ill, it is not the medical costs which are the greatest, it is the consequential costs of it being in a foreign country. For example, suppose you get a small infection and the doctor bans you from flying for a week. But your flight home is in 2 days. That is extra hotel costs, plus the cost of buying a new ticket at short-term full-fare prices. Plus, does your spouse fly home alone or stay with you ( a second new ticket). Make sure you have all that covered.

If your mother is old enough to be on Medicare, it's important to know that--unless she has additional coverage--she will have no medical insurance while she's in Europe. That's different from the situation of folks like me (possibly about your mom's age) with private policies that work the same in Europe as with out-of-network doctors in the US.

Medical evacuation is a whole different animal, and anyone who travels without it is sort of rolling the dice.

The need for travel insurance to reimburse extra expenses (or trip-cancellation fees) that might result from an illness or injury will vary with how much of the trip cost you have to pay in advance and your tolerance for the possibility of losing that money.

If your mom is old enough to be on Medicare, she might have a Medicare Advantage policy that covers medical emergencies in Europe. Mine does. You both need to check whatever health insurance coverage you have and determine whether or not medical emergencies in a foreign country are covered.

Have a great trip!

You think you will never need it....until you need it. It's really reimbursement and medical evacuation insurance you want. My husband had a medical emergency in Europe and I know 3 people who have had to be medically evacuated from far flung countries. Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Pricey, pricey, pricey if you have to pay yourself...tens of thousands of dollars.

In addition to the medical issues discussed above, there's another consideration. You said you're on a tour. If you have to cancel or interrupt the tour, you will be out a lot of money (more than someone traveling on their own who has not prepaid for meals and can cancel hotels with minimal or no penalty, for instance). So you want to have trip cancellation and trip interruption as well as medical.

As always, read the fine print. Make sure that things you care about are covered. A coworker was concerned that something could happen to her grandson (not traveling with her) that would make her cancel her trip; it turned out that was covered under the regular policy, and she didn't need the very expensive "cancel for any reason" rider.