Travelers Insurance

Check out Medjet. It will get you home instead of to the nearest facility. Also has annual policies. https://medjetassist.com/
I have not bought Medjet yet, but will buy an annual policy to cover my September 2022 and June 2023 trips. It's been recommended multiple times on the forum (use Search function to research threads since May.) Be sure your medical has international coverage and covers covid.

Edit: if you need medical coverage, Allianz and Nationwide have been recommended. I haven’t decided which I will buy but it will be whomever has the best Covid coverage.

We have an annual policy through Emergency Assistance Plus. Initially marketed through United's FF program. Their marketing hype looks good but have not a clue as to how good they would be if we actually need them. AND that is the problem with most evacuation insurance. Obviously something you need but rarely used.

Are you comfortable that your regular health insurance covers international health care? Also- note that at age 65 Medicare does not include international care.
Safe travels!

GeoBlue sells annual medical/evacuation/repatriation policies. I’ve purchased in the past but never had to make a claim.
https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/mobile/index-2.cfm

Who here has actually collected on a policy?

I recently used Trawick for a medical insurance policy because they specifically state they cover for Covid. I did not have to file a claim, so cannot speak to that. However, we are considering getting one of their annual policies. It includes evacuation and a daily compensation if you have to quarantine while traveling.

https://www.trawickinternational.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-NWs0uGq9QIV9T6tBh17igwYEAAYAyAAEgIQUPD_BwE

One misconception I often see here is about Medicare coverage. My Kaiser Senior Advantage plan covers me “ anywhere in the world”. I have verified this coverage. They quickly reimbursed 100% of my costs for a hospitalization in the UK. They have contact numbers to call from wherever you are, and help you through every step of the process.

A medicare policy and an advantage program are not the same. Yes, the advantage program is built on medicare but the private insurance program is totally responsible for your coverage.

And not all Medicare advantage programs cover international travel. You need to read your contract

Years ago we made a claim on travel guard and it was handled very well. The biggest problem is getting the British healthcare system to actually talk to the insurance company but once we got that taken care of travel guard was great. They flew the injured person home in business class with a nurse in attendance. While the rest of us continued on with our vacation

I imagine that both you and your husband do not have Medicare because I believe you have to be 65. For those with Medicare, while it is true that Medicare will not cover you if you are more than 5 miles outside of the US, if you have supplemental insurance check with your provider. We have United healthcare through AARP which will cover 80% of our expenses for emergencies (defined as anything that Medicare would cover as an emergency if it were in the US) after a $250 deductible. Not for medical evacuation but real good if you have appendicitis or a bad enough case of Covid to be sent to the emergency room. Just saying as many people are not aware of this coverage or that Medicare won't cover you outside of the US.

The cap on out of country Medicare supplement coverage is $50,000 lifetime and then only certain policies. IMHO not enough coverage for a critical illness requiring ICU level care.

James--We have collected on a policy when we had to cancel a trip. They paid for everything, and it was pretty painless. This was in 2015, so fairly recent.

We are not old enough for Medicare, but our medical insurance is military retiree, so we are not covered outside of the US. So we have to make sure to buy policies that cover us, and with decent amounts. That is one thing I notice, people will buy a policy but not realize that the basic medical covers only 50k or so.

mikliz97 can you say who you filed a claim with?

I have been buying medical evacuation insurance for years in addition to any other insurance I thought I might have (as we know at least 2 people that needed this). We are now both on Medicare so I use it for international medical insurance as well.

I am in the process of filing claims for flight delays/cancellations that happened on 12/25 through 12/29 before we gave up and drive home.

It has been eye opening to say the least.

I may start a new topic with our experiences (so far) just to hear what others may have encountered and also to let those who haven't know what our experience has been.

Bottom line: I do not feel confident that anyone is going to reimburse me any of the $1400 I spent getting home after being stranded in LA by Delta.

Kathy—that was Travel Guard we used for that trip. They were easy to deal with and quick in paying.

We purchased annual insurance with Covid coverage, medical expenses and repatriation as top coverage concerns. I looked at many plans, using https://www.insuremytrip.com/ as a starting point. There are many choices but when it comes to annual plans, fewer carriers provide it. We ended up with Allianz travel because they have a rider that includes our criteria mentioned. I also wanted to know what customers' claim experiences were, not just their satisfaction with the sales part of choosing their plan.

I hope this is helpful.

Who here has actually collected on a policy?

I have. Twice. But what is the point of your question? Obviously a small minority of people who purchase travel insurance have to file a claim. That’s how insurance works.

Thank you to everyone who responded with so many good suggestions.
We are in the process of checking out the different policies. Wishing you all some great trips in the not too distant future!