Another Medical/Evac Insurance question. And have you actually used it?

We filed a claim with GeoBlue after an urgent care equivalent experience while in France last year. We paid the facility, doctor and pharmacy bills and kept copies of all receipts. Filed the claim when we returned home (submitting all documents online) and were reimbursed within a couple of weeks. Were the medical costs less than the insurance policy? Yes. But we purchased in the event of a bigger event.

The difficult part of our experience was we had just arrived via train in Rennes. We weren't staying in Rennes, just picking up a rental car. We truly had an urgent situation, though not life threatening emergency. Our car rental agent tried to help give us a suggested medical facility ("urgent care" made no sense to him, but thankfully he spoke English.) We drove to the suggested place who couldn't help us, then we drove to a huge medical hospital campus. (I wasn't even planning on driving during the trip. Here I am driving in a new city, foreign country; the gps is speaking French because obviously we were distracted with a bigger problem. Pulling over and trying to google medical facilities on my phone.) They couldn't help us. Think of the largest university hospital campus in your state and they tell you sorry, you can't come here...ack! They pointed us in the direction of what we in the US would think of as an urgent care, where we thankfully found a compassionate caring English speaking French doctor who helped our situation. So not knowing how medical facilities operate in other countries was the most stressful part of the process; trying to find a facility that could help us. I suppose you could call the insurance company for a suggestion, but at the time your head is spinning. So in an emergency situation...it would be tough, no doubt about it.

Hard to imagine the cost of a policy to cover travel partners extended stay and last minute tickets home, if it even exists.

Any recommendations for Travel/medical insurance companies.
Thanks

You're going to find complaints about every insurance company. Like airlines, hotels, etc... everyone loves to trash them on the Internet, but rarely praises them when things go smoothly.

You really have to read the specific policies you're thinking about. I start by comparing plans on Insure my Trip. They are very good about answering questions via chat.

What makes it harder is every state governs what policies can be sold in that state.

While I purchase insurance, I have not had a claim.

I want primarily medical and evacuation insurance. I pay for any nonrefundable tickets, hotels ..with a travel credit card that will take care of any delay or cancellation. This way the "cost" of my trip is quite low.

I used IMG last spring. The policy I chose included reasonable additional expenses incurred up to policy limits if my travel companion was hospitalized for at least 3 days. And after a covered event it would cover my return home with the usual caveats.

Have you looked at AAA? Don't need to be a policy holder. you can go online and even call to speak with a specialist who just handles their insurance.