Ideas for Travel Insurance for a 22 day trip

Others will be able to tell you what companies they have used, but two websites are often recommended as places where you can check policies from many different companies: insuremytrip.com and squaremouth.com.

You didn't mention evacuation insurance. Medical evacuation is very unlikely to be needed, but some unfortunate travelers do require it--often as a result of an accident of some sort. Medical evacuation can cost over $100,000, so you might give serious thought to whether that's something you need to insure against.

Be sure you know what sort of coverage your regular insurance offers. Plain Medicare will not cover you overseas, but some Medicare Advantage plans have some coverage. You may find that you are well-enough covered for garden-variety issues. In general, medical treatment in Europe is less expensive than it is in the US, though obviously handling something like a heart attack or serious automobile accident would not be cheap.

Your budget isn't high enough. Do you want coverage for cancellation? Is the husband on Medicare at the time of the trip? Is the local travel a tour or independent? When was it paid for? Did you buy any coverage from the airline.

We like Travel Guard and they have paid our claims in a full.
The time limit referred to is to cover any pre-existing conditions. And the price you quote is not realistic at all, way too low. Play around with Insuremytrip.com or call Travel Guard for some help.
Book insurance! I know several cases of medical situations that friends had to pay out of pocket for a med jet to the USA, $70,000! One had a stroke, another broke a hip and had complications.

I would agree with acraven's & Suki's take on travel ins. We always purchase the "Gold" package from Travel Guard. This checks all our boxes for coverage. We especially want to have Medical evacuation if needed. Fortunately we have never had to file a claim, but those who have reported positive outcomes.

Keep in mind if you have a pre-existing condition you generally need to purchase within 15 days. Some states charge less for Travel Ins. We live in WA State and it is less. Of course this is dependent on age.

Edit: I am adding a medical evacuation story that bears repeating from a previous post on this subject. A nurse colleagues son had a life threatening accident in Central Europe many years ago. He was a student abroad. He did not have medical evacuation ins. He was hospitalized in Europe for months. When he was able to return home it cost his parents upwards of $100,000 out of pocket. Anything can happen.

Suki and acraven have pinpointed the absolutely critical part of travel Insurance, namely medical evacuation. I can add the experience of a friend who tripped on a curb in Paris and needed to fly home business class after surgery for a double compound fracture of her leg.
You can check on either of the two sites mentioned above to get quotes. If all you are prepaying is airfare, consider passing on trip cancellation. In my experience, that is the feature that runs up the insurance cost the most. Losing the price of airfare is tolerable for most of us, and the airlines usually allow some credit toward future tickets.
The cost of travel insurance varies wildly, as you’ll see if you look on insuremytrip or squaremouth. Partly it depends the features you choose, your age, the length of your trip, and how much you’ve paid out non-refundably. Fyi, we, in our 80’s, paid less than $400 last year to insure a 3 week trip that included a prepaid tour. Some companies wanted $1000’s for the same coverage. The two sites give ratings for each company they list. Better ratings do not correlate with higher prices (!?).

First take a look at what your credit card covers or doesn’t cover regarding trip insurance. A high quality (premium) card may already have the coverage you need. Yours may not cover everything you want, but take a moment to look at the coverage you already have so you know what is , or is not, already covered.

You should check with your current health care plan to see what might be covered when you travel overseas. Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans usually cover overseas travel. Medicare ( if your husband is old enough) does not.

Now you are in a position to start shopping for insurance because you have identified what you actually need.

Additional comments:
At your age (<75) you can get a quote for medical evacuation coverage from MedJet.

Some Medicare supplement policies include medical / dental emergency coverage.
For some premium credit cards which provide travel insurance, you only have to pay for a portion of your trip costs with that card (Chase Sapphire Reserve); for other cards you need to pay for ALL trip costs with that card for the insurance to cover the costs. Read your benefits statement carefully!

Thank you for all the advice that each of you have given! We are looking at Square Mouth right now and still haven't made a decision. We don't have any pre-existing conditions and yes my husband just got on Medi-care (our regular insurance doesn't cover overseas). Our credit card company told us on the phone that they don't have any insurance coverage. We are willing to go up in price. We do want to get covered for medical evacuation. We will continue to look. Has anyone had experience with "Tin Leg" travel insurance?

We are traveling independently.

On Travel Guard insurance you have to purchase within 14 days.

I recommend calling your company of choice and talking to an actual person. When I did this one year to get the "cancel with no restrictions" policy it turned out that my idea of "no restrictions" was not the same as the insurance company, lol!

Be careful about assumptions regarding pre-existing conditions. You may think you do not have any, but if you have consulted a doctor or other medical practitioner for anything within the past 6 months (the usual look-back period) the insurance company can deny coverage for any related condition that occurs on your trip. Is your husband on any kind of medications? That along can constitute a "pre-existing condition." So it is best to get the Travel Insurance policy quickly, within the 15-21 days allowed by most companies for waiver of the pre-existing condition exclusion.

As for credit card coverage, it is no substitute for trip cancellation and medical insurance. My Chase card has travel benefits that include coverage for lost or delayed luggage and "travel accident insurance". The latter has one of those gruesome charts providing for payment of amounts from $500,000 incase of death while traveling by common carrier ( plane, train or boat) down to $100,000 for loss of speech together with loss of one hand or foot, to $50,000 for loss of one hand, foot or eye. . . You get the picture.

There is a specific exclusion of coverage for any mental or physical illness, disease cause by bacterial or viral infection, "bodily malfunction", and medical or surgical diagnosis or treatment. The exclusion does not apply, however, to bacterial infection caused by Accident. (Isn't bacterial infection always an accident? I can't imagine taking that on intentionally). In any case, it won't cover a heart attack, stroke, or any major illness; things that people our age want coverage for.

The OP asked about Tin Leg. I did buy one of their policies for an upcoming trip to Italy where we need medical and evacuation coverage only. No trip cancellation as our non-refundable expenses are very low and we can self-Insure that. It is a Berkshire Hathaway company and highly rated, at least on Squaremouth.

The additional information that your husband is on Medicare and you are not complicates the research that you need to do; i.e., you need to get the details of what each of you is insured for, separately. First check out your own insurance regarding medical expenses while traveling. It is indisputable that Medicare does not cover anyone outside the U.S., but our Medicare Advantage supplement does, for example. Does he have a supplement ? Get the specifics on what is/is not included.

Regarding the suggestion that you talk to a live person: The first time I bought travel insurance I did talk to a rep at squaremouth, because I was so mystified by what looked to be an incredible range of prices. He was very helpful. So I suggest you try that, too.
Another advantage of using either of the sites mentioned above is that they have links to each policy you consider, with all the definitions and exclusions spelled out. (I will say, however, that the insurance company prose may leave you wondering how you ever passed reading comprehension in school. Lol)

Lola, I always think of those lists as "Pirate Lists"! You know, 4 "Pieces of Eight" for a left hand 6 for a right...yikes.

I'll also comment that I think your budget is low. You may get it at that cost but I'll bet your husband's is more.

The reason I asked if you were independent is that you may not have made all your arrangements yet. That is, you don't know what your non-refundable costs are. The reason that matters is that many plans (including the excellent Travelex and Travelguard) tend to require that you insure "The Full Cost of your Trip" in order to get every bit of coverage. That is, even if your lost money turns out to be within the value you insured, they might pay less than that if they find out that your actual exposure was more than the amount you insured.. (I mean, for example, if the airline accepted a hospital statement and graciously gave you a partial or full credit against future travel. That has happened to me. So if you used the "bonus" coverage to refund hotels you booked after buying the insurance, they might wonder why you didn't ask for airline reimbursement and find out everything.)

I know that sounds paranoid, but it's how most insurance companies operate! The one time I tried to get a small medical payment paid for by Travel insurance, they demanded a "denied claim" from Medicare, even though they admitted that they knew that Medicare wouldn't cover me outside the USA. They made it harder to collect on the insurance I had actually bought.

The carrier I buy my travel insurance policies from has a 10 day window from initial booking to cover preexisting conditions. Similarly, if I book additional non refundable travel, I have 10 days to add those to the policy.

Check each carrier's terms carefully.

Since you are under 70 years old, you might want to try World Nomads. Their coverage is very similar to Travelguard, etc. but less expensive. They do not cover pre-existing conditions, so be sure to look at what might be disqualifying for you. I agree with others that medical evacuation is really important!

Many travel policies include medical and evacuation insurance, However, read the fine print!! Many policies will only evacuate one to the nearest suitable facility. There is a company called MedJet Assist that will evacuate one all the way back home and they do have short term policies. Just google them to see what you think.

Take a look at the RS article titled "Do I need travel insurance?" There's a link there to Travel Guard.

I also get the Gold policy. I upgrade the Medical Coverage and the Emergency Evacuation & Repatriation of Remains. And I sign up within the time limit to get the preexisting condition waiver. The older you get, the more expensive insurance gets.

There is also a time limit on adding to the coverage as each additional cost is paid for. When I pay the balance on my 2020 RS tour, I'll add the coverage for that.

I agree that your price for peace of mind is quite low. I hope that you take to heart the examples of people who have had huge costs related to the unexpected medical issues they have faced.

The cost of insurance is such a small percentage of the overall cost of any European trip, I can't imagine doing without it.

I bought a cheap medical-only plan from TinLeg through Squaremouth for our trip to Cabo last June. We had to make a claim after my husband needed to visit a hospital ER. Our Medicare supplemental plan covers a portion, and TinLeg the rest. We had to pay cash at the ER. My husband was so sick by the time we got home, he spent three weeks in the hospital. Once he was home, I sent the claims to both companies. I must say that TinLeg was the easiest and fastest company I have ever worked with. One week after I faxed the paperwork, I had a check in hand. Six months later, we still don’t have a refund from Mutual of Omaha!

I will also tell you that the WORST company I ever made a claim with was CSA. We had full coverage for a cruise and vacation in Europe for four, that we had to cancel one month ahead, because my husband was diagnosed with cancer. That was a nightmare. I had to send them 72 pages of documentation, some parts several times because they claimed they didn’t get it. It took many phone calls and much time to get it done and I will never use them again.

The claim I made many years ago with Travelguard went very well, no problems and reasonably fast. I don’t use them now, because they cost so much.

As for the credit card, they too made it difficult. Clearly their job is to pay as little as possible as slowly as they can. I have a premium card, and still ONLY things you put on the card are covered. If you have an accident in a rental car, they will only pay if you call the police and get a copy of the report.