travel insurance

Here's some good advice from our host. Here and here are comparison-shopping sites to help you make good choices. They also have good background info on travel insurance.

It's a personal choice and a complex subject, I have no idea what "most people" do. I get insurance when I have to lay out a lot of money ahead of a trip that I won't get back if I cancel unexpectedly -- generally this means I've prepaid for a tour -- and/or when I'll be outside the US for long enough to be concerned about getting seriously sick or hurt, since Medicare won't cover medical costs overseas. Generally speaking, a comprehensive travel policy will cover flight cancellation because of sickness (assuming you bought a non-refundable ticket).

Dick great points you made and I agree it is a personal, not always easy to make decision. I can say that until 2022 I never bought travel insurance but bought a single trip Allianz policy and had to file a claim for a delay duet to a missed connection returning from Spain. After that I bought an annual policy with Allianz and had a claim for a lost/stolen small case with electronic related items. I never check my bag and thought baggage coverage would be the last thing I would have a problem with. Allianz has been great and while I will buy another annual policy, I hope I don't have another claim. For all companies, just read the policy's fine print for what they cover and do not cover.

I think insurance is primarily valuable when there is a huge potential loss -- if you can afford the trip you can afford to lose the money you spent (you don't want to of course and you may want to insure for that -- but it is not ruinous). What IS ruinous is huge medical bills or the cost of flying someone home which can run over 50K. An acquaintance had to mortgage their house to be able to fly their badly injured daughter home from Egypt after a serious accident decade ago.

During our working years my health insurance was excellent and covered international travel and even bringing me back if necessary. When we retired it got more complicated as while medigap insurance covers emergency care abroad it doesn't cover the return home by air ambulance or with medical assistance. And so for many years we bought medjet assist to cover flying us back if medically necessary. We saved thousands over the decades by not buying insurance -- probably paid for a trip.

I now get an annual policy for the two of us and then don't worry about timing (policies cover preexisting conditions if the insurance is purchased immediately when a trip is booked).

We use Alianz. The very first time we bought travel insurance from them I managed to fall in an old castle ruin and break and elbow and require surgery in the South of France. they paid the hospital directly and then covered the physical therapy in the following weeks in Paris that saved our trip and them money (I was in jured in week 5 of a 12 week trip.)

We were happy with their service and so I buy my annual policy from them which I hope to never need again.

Comparison site Squaremouth is useful. Because we're staying in France for 3 months, our medigap will only cover our trip and IMG who we decided to choose, won't cover just the one month. I actually could care less about the medical insurance because healthcare in France is so cheap by comparison to the US. What I wanted was trip interruption insurance without medical insurance and couldn't get it. We lost a lot of money on a trip about 10 years ago because my husband got sick and couldn't fly right before we were to leave. Could we afford to lose the money for the trip? Yeah, maybe, still, it hurt. Medjet told me the most they ever charge for return to US is $50k. That's a chunk of money and the insurance is about $300+ for, I think for a yearly subscription.

Sue. My understanding is that the 60 day limit is for the trip -- so that a 90 day trip is not covered for 60 days but not at all. That is definitely the way it is with private trip insurance. The coverage has to be for the whole trip not part of it. I had once chosen an annual policy with a 60 day per trip limit and the agency told me that my 80 day trip would not be covered at all when I inquired and so I changed the policy to one with a 90 day limit. Don't assume you have 60 days of a longer trip unless you have that confirmed in writing. Insurance companies make their money denying claims.

At the least, strongly consider a good medivac that will get you home.

Did you do a forum search? It's odd that you posted this in a country-specific forum because it's discussed all the time.

Thanks for all your replies. Mine is different because I'm flying on reward miles and my friend paid for hers. Also, we both have Mediare Advantage and when I called them they said Doctor's visits aren't covered but emergencys are and hospital stays and transportation to the hospital with copays as you would pay at home. However transportation home is not covered. So guess you need the whole travel insurance package. I'm still trying to figure out what to do. 2 years ago I got insurance for 3 weeks from Allianz for $100 for 3 weeks. Now it seems to have quatripled. Can 2 years older make that much difference?!

I haven't yet checked out the comparison sites, but I will do that tomorrow.

Age skyrockets travel insurance. My policy is $1000 a year. The biggest financial challenge is being flown back -- so get a med evacuation policy at least.

If you only want med evac coverage, look at https://medjetassist.com/ They will get you home instead of just to the “nearest facility”.

Trip insurance was mandatory on my last trip. I never thought I'd be buying it. I went through this outfit and talked to a live person who was a fantastic rep. Knowledgeable and helped save me some money.

https://www.travelinsurance.com/

You can compare policies based on what you are looking for online or you can call them. I found this site very helpful and bought a policy by doing the online comparison.

Due to crazy things that can happen and the costs of trips rising, to throw some money into insurance isn't a bad thing. I just bought insurance for another trip a year from now--it was mandatory (Snorkel trip to remote locations where helicopter evacuation is the only way out) I was dumb, I should've purchased it the same day I booked the trip and save a few dollars. Looking forward, my husband and I aren't getting any younger, we have to book so far in advance to get on a tour and a seat on the plane, I will probably be using trip insurance more going forward.

And don't forget health insurance!! Once you leave the US most health insurance companies do not cover you! We'd never gamble on what could happen out of the country w/o health insurance!!

Many health insurance policies in the US cover foreign travel, so find out what you are already covered for. For most of our lives my husband and I didn't buy travel insurance because our health insurance covered emergency care abroad; we did buy medjet assist till we aged out and not buy annual insurance. Insurance gets really expensive when you get old, but the odds of needing it go way up.

And health care is much cheaper in France --and generally abroad -- than the US. My accident took 4 nights in the hospital with surgery and cost about $4000 which my travel insurance paid. The specialist in Paris for followup was 80 Euro and my physical therapy was about 30 Euro a session and there was an x-ray for 60 which added up to around $500 j. These are all very affordable. A similar series of experiences in the US would be close to 100K. The outpatient surgery to remove the wires in my elbow cost $18000. My own costs after insurance were about $1500 for that.

Check Square mouth. You put in your very specific information and it will provide you with insurance companies. I live outside the United States so I use World Trips. About Two years ago When I purchased Trip insurance through World trips I believe it was only about four or five dollars more to buy an annual policy then it was for the individual trip that I was planning on taking. So I spent the few bucks on the annual policy and of course then consequently spent thousands on an additional trip since I had the travel insurance!

Thanks to this group I just used Squaremouth and bought an annual policy for the two of us...septenagarians...mostly for medical evacuations. We have two planned international trips and the cost for the annual policy was less than the required policy for one Norwegian Fjord hiking trip last July. Since we now have a young dog and great pet sitters, I think the annual policy will be in our financial calculation for travel for as long as we can do it. We bought Trawick Deluxe. Like all insurance, I hope I never have to report back on claims experience.