Annual travel insurance

I mentioned in another recent post on my experience with GeoBlue. I took out the annual policy for 2 years and, yes, the premium charge was well below other options. Keep in mind the plan offered when you start to conclude your flight transactions are usually way overpriced as the airline and insurance company partner up to max out their profits as most consumers don’t bother to shop around for these products.

For me, I paid $100 for an annual plan. I liked the idea that I had automatic coverage without having to call in to review and purchase each time I holiday out of the country. I assume premiums increase quite a bit for folks that are of a certain age. For me, I am still on the south side of 50, so that no doubt factored into the reasonable premium. I have not had to use this policy, so I cannot comment on the actual service or claims paying ability of GeoBlue.

In years when we make multiple trips, I’ve purchased the annual policy from GeoBlue and fortunately never had to make a claim. If you go to SquareMouth and look for annual insurance options, GeoBlue will probably come up as one of the options. You can read reviews there from people who have made claims. As I’m sure you know GeoBlue is only medical/evacuation insurance not cancellation. Adding in cancellation and/or trip interruption insurance will run the cost up fast.

GeoBlue is medical and evacuation only; no trip cancellation coverage. And you must have primary medical insurance. But it sounds like this is what you want, and you do qualify.

Just out of curiosity, I entered our zip code and ages to get a quote, and we are not eligible. I don't know if that is based on our ages (72 and 75), or our residency in Washington state. I suspect the former, as theybreferred me to a different company (HTH) but they offer single-trip coverage only.

Lola, after reading your post I used my zip code and age 75. I did receive a quote, so I'm not sure what the issue was when you tried.
Thanks for the replies! This insurance thing is a recurring dilemma for me...

I am in the same boat as you...in my 60's, BCBS in the U.S., and I have an annual travel policy as well.

I am currently with Allianz. I have never had to make a claim so I can't respond to that. I also carry a separate Medical Evacuation policy with Medjet Assist. (You can get a discount if you belong to AARP.) My Allianz policy have evacuation insurance but only to the nearest major hospital. Medjet Assist will transport me to any hospital I want to go to in the world.

I used to be with Travel Guard but liked what Allianz had to offer. And yes, annual policies are sometimes cheaper than single trip policies. My Allianz policy kicks in as long as I am 150 miles or more from home.

There's a lot of BCBS plans. My BCBS plan includes overseas coverage. Check your policy.

Does anyone have experience or comments about RoamRight annual policy that includes med evac and more?

JKL, thanks for checking, as that answers my question. I have encountered other insurance policies that were not offered to Washington residents—-Allianz was one. My state has laws that are highly protective of consumers when it comes to insurance, and not all providers choose to adjust their policies to meet the state requirements.

“There's a lot of BCBS plans. My BCBS plan includes overseas coverage. Check your policy.”

Yes, BCBS would cover medical needs. But that doesn’t cover medical evacuation which can be tens of thousands of dollars...or more. In addition to the cost, I can’t imagine having to make those plans while in an unfamiliar country where I probably don’t speak the language. It happened to a friend and it was a nightmare for her when her husband suffered a severe stroke.
I may be willing to go without trip cancellation insurance, but not medical evacuation. Ah, the things we didn’t consider when we were young and oblivious!!

JKL, As I read your opening post, you have BCBS so all you need is evacuation coverage. My health care also covers me overseas, so my only concern is evacuation. I do as Frank II does, and have a yearly policy with Medjet Assist. This gives me control of to which hospital I am transported and when. As soon as I'm stabilized I get flown home to a Boston hospital. Most of the other combined health insurance/evacuation policies don't assure this...it's on their timeline instead, which increases the medical cost portion, etc.

My BCBS policy is so bad about the only thing it covers is allowing me to say I have health insurance. Yes, they would cover a medical issue overseas but it would not be in network and cost plenty.

I used to get an annual policy with Travelguard but I don't think they offer it anymore. It was so convenient when traveling out of the country more than one a year and cost was pretty equivalent to one trip cost. Nice to know that Geo Blue and Allianz (which I have used for one trip policy) still offer an annual one.

There are many BCBS policies, so each must check their own coverage. My BCBS does not have a 'network', I can treat wherever I want. So indeed it is good to know one's coverage type.

Geo Blue and med jet seem like viable options for what I’m looking for, thank you for responding so quickly. Remember when BCBS was primo insurance? Sigh...

I had a GeoBlue policy for several years when I was traveling a lot. The policy I had was only good for trips 31 days in length or less...there are limits on some of these annual policies that you need to be aware of.

When you find policies that meet your needs, if you are seeking recommendations of which to buy, the only recommendations that will do you any good are from those who have actually filed a claim and can tell you exactly of their experience about how easy & quick the insurance company was in processing and reimbursing the person who filed the claim.

If somebody hasn’t had any experience dealing with an insurance company when a medical event has happened, how can advice be given about how good that insurance company is?

So seek advice about an insurance company ONLY from those who have had direct experience filing a claim when a medical event has happened.

I don’t disagree and would love to hear from anyone who has filed a claim, but really I just asked for what’s available and appreciate the responses and discussion. I have read reviews and heard stories first hand of good and bad experiences with general travel insurance, and have to believe it would be similar with this type as well. A friend recently made a claim with Allianz for trip delays on both ends of a trip... they reimbursed something like $20. Needless to say she wasn’t pleased.