Hi all. As I’m hoping to take several trips in 2024, I wanted to ask for advice about getting trip insurance for each trip vs for a yearly fee. I’ve only booked individually in the past, but thought maybe it would be more cost efficient to get a yearly policy.
I’ve seen people mention yearly policies, but couldn’t find a topic comparing the two. I appreciate any input on this topic. Thank you!
It definitely is more cost effective to have an annual policy. I travel frequently and find it's the best way if you're going to take more than 2-3 trips, but obviously you'll need to work out of it works for you.
A couple of things to bear in mind: if you're taking even a single trip to a more expensive destination in terms of medical care, you'll need to pick the 'world' or similar option. So it may not make sense if most of your trips are to lower cost destinations- for example, in my case cover for Asia is cheaper than Europe or the US. Secondly, while adults in a family policy are covered if they travel separately, minor children are normally not covered of not travelling with parents. So in our case, if the kids went on a school trip or a trip to our home country by themselves, we needed an additional policy for them.
I also found it better economically to get an annual plan. Just read it carefully and make sure it covers what you need--especially how long each individual trip can be. It's limited.
Our experience has been that if you are going to do several trips, the annual policy is more cost effective. When comparing, read the fine print. Such as is it a calender year, or a year from date of purchase? Does the evacuation feature mean to the nearest facility, or back home? Do they pay up front, or do you have to pay and get reimbursed? And ect. The devil is always in the details.
Last year (2022) I bought an annual Allianz AllTrips Premier policy to cover September trip and June 2023 trip. I am doing the same next year (2024) September trip and June 2025 trip. I chose Allianz because of the good reviews I saw on the forum. Although Allianz includes evacuation, I also buy annual Medjet evac insurance so I can get home if sick or injured. Luckily so far I have not had a claim.
A couple things to keep in mind. The medical is not as much as many individual policies, $50,000 per trip and less on cheaper policies. That works for me because my Medicare supplement has $50,000 lifetime international benefit. Some things, like trip cancellation and interruption are for the term of the policy (one year). So if you choose $5000 benefit and take two trips that $5000 is for both not each.
You cannot buy Alliance AllTrips insurance before two months prior to the date you want to start the policy, unlike an individual policy that you buy soon after you pay your first trip deposit/bill. I sign up for RS tour(s) when they open so a year or more prior to the tour. I buy annual insurance a week before I pay the balance of my RS tour. Between the free cancellation date and final payment date, I self-insurance the deposit. I also buy refundable airline tickets because as I get older things happen and getting a credit may not be workable. Plus I book cancellable hotels so no upfront cost. I book hotels that have a cancel-by date from one day to two weeks prior to stay. Both the refundable plane tickets and cancellable hotels cost more but it is minimal compared to the price of the trip and gives me peace of mind.
As with all insurance policies, read the fine print. Do a side-by-side comparison to analyze which type of travel insurance and what company is best for you.
My wife and I carry both the Allianz Alltrips Premier Policy and a MedJet Horizons evacuation policy. Alliamz will get us to a hospital and MedJet will get us home to our own hospital. Your comparison should include not only annual policies, but you should compare a single trip policy. Not only for cost, but also for coverage. Definitely look at the fine print.
Be careful to read and compare the annual plans. I purchased Allianz's annual plan a few years ago. When comparing it to Travel Guard's annual policy recently, I noticed that the Travel Guard annual policy does not indicate that it covers trip cancellation. I was so surprised that I called them and they confirmed that was the case.
Even within the same company there are different annual plans. Allianz has four, each with different levels of benefits.
