travel insurance

If a company’s around long enough, there will always be a few negative reviews from some customers. They often never understood the mechanics of the policy they decided to purchase.

Forbes Magazine this year placed Generali Global Assistance among its picks for the Top Ten travel insurance companies. This was based on opinions of industry experts Forbes contacted. Others in the Top 5 were Nationwide, IMG, WorldTrips, Starr and Seven Corners.

Notably, Allianz and TravelGuard did not make the list.

You can read about the various trips of policies on offer at www.InsureMyTrip.com

Thanks. I'd also that many people only comment when they have a complaint. That's just human nature. We'll check out the website you mentioned.

Had an excellent experience recently with Allianz; came down with latest flu on a cruise, was isolated for 3 days, needed IV's and other meds. Received a 5 figure bill charged to my CC. Contacted Allianz on return, sent documentation, and received a check for the total amount in 14 business days! Bill was 6 times my premium.

Broke my elbow in southern France a few years ago and had an Allianz trip policy -- they paid the hospital directly for my surgery and stay (about $4000) and they reimbursed me for the follow up medical appointment and then PT in Paris the last 5 weeks of my trip. Very satisfied.

As a result of that experience we now have an annual Allianz policy that covers us for up to 90 days a trip -- hope to never test how good it is.

One thing I learned is that there are all different kinds of insurance.

• Trip cancellation
• Medical
• Medical evacuation (which may include medical coverage, as well)
• Flight cancellation, missed flights and baggage loss

From Rick’s article in this website, I thought I wanted cancellation insurance.

After I posed my question to the forum four months ago - without knowing much of what I then learned - I ended up taking a very different path than the one I first contemplated.

See https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/travel-in-urance

(Travel In$urance)

My post to the forum links other forum posts and other sources that I considered credible (Forbes, US News & World Report and others). Ultimately, I decided the risk to benefit ratio on cancellation insurance wasn’t worth it. The coverage is spendy.

We’re in good heath, though over 70 yo. Since we will be cycling 13 of our 30 days in Europe this September, and we experienced falls cycling in the rain in Puglia last year (without the need for medical care, fortunately), I was persuaded that the best bang for the buck was with a med-evac policy that included health insurance coverage in Europe as an added benefit.

So, what’s your concern? A missed flight? Last minute cancellation on your part due to family emergency here at home? War breaking out (and would that even be covered, or subject to an exclusion in the policy terms and conditions?)? Getting hurt on your journey and needing medical care in Europe?

A final observation. Four months ago, I thought Rick’s article on this subject didn’t explore the issues adequately. As I look at it again today (29 June 2025), it doesn’t seem so bad to me. Perhaps he and his team have expanded it; perhaps I had not read it carefully enough and just seized on his comment about the value of trip cancellation coverage.

In any event, hopefully his article https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/trip-planning/travel-insurance plus my forum post with replies and links there will be useful.

yes the question for insurance is for me about insuring for catastrophic costs. If I can afford the trip I can afford to lose the money (I won't like it, but I can afford it); if my luggage is stolen or lost it is a big PITA BUT not a catastrophe -- I can buy clothes and toiletries. But if I have to be airlifted home the costs can easily exceed 100K and that can be disastrous. I knew of someone who had to mortgage their home to fly their daughter home from a hospital in Cairo after she was hit by a car; her medical care nearly bankrupted her family. And a personal friend had to be airlifted out of Myanmar to Bangkok and then a flight home accompanied by a nurse. He was lucky to have good coverage.

for years I relied on my work insurance which covered emergency care abroad and then my Medicare gap policy which also covered emergency care for up to 60K. But I also had a medevac policy to get us home if we had a serious injury or illness that required a specialized flight home. (lots of travel insurance just covers getting to you a hospital not necessarily back home. )

Now we have an annual travel policy including medical coverage and a medevac policy.

Figure out what the biggest risk is and insure for that. If you travel a lot consider annual policies. And FWIW. if you have say a medigap policy that covers you for 60 days and your trip is 70 -- it will not cover you for the first 60 days -- you have to have coverage for the length of the trip. i.e. it is not for 60 days, it is for trips of 60 days or less.

Unfortunatly Forbes has become a lot like Conde Nast in that they sell products under the guise of news or information. Always worth reading but also know the context. I like Alianz as well.

Allianz really came through for us on the one time we needed it; a trip policy which paid for my 4 nights in a Menton hospital for surgery on my elbow. They paid the hospital directly and reimbursed us for follow up care in Paris saving our trip. the total cost was about $5000 most of it for the hospital and surgery. Imagine those prices in the US where the costs would have probably topped $50,000. I hope not to ever find out if the annual policy works as well, but that is what we now have with Alianz.