Hello Everyone!
Does anyone have a recommendation for travel health insurance? My wife and I are in our 60's and in good health. But we are traveling to UK, Germany, and France for a few weeks starting around Christmas, and for the first time, we're thinking about getting coverage. Mostly concerned about emergency medical and transport back to the U.S. if necessary. Thank You!
Frank
Go to www.insuremytrip.com and you can compare various companies and plans.
If you are a USAA member, they partner with Travel Insured International. We have used them numerous times and never had an issue, even when making one claim and then for changing the trips and needing to adjust the insurance.
One thing to check is if your own health insurance covers you outside of the US or not. Ours does not, so we opt for the plan that is primary coverage and we increase the medical portion since the basic coverage really doesn't cover much.
We have always gotten travel insurance, especially for medical evacuation home.
European medical costs are much lower than in the U.S. but evacuation costs are very high. A friend did not have evacuation insurance and paid $70,000 to be flown home from Spain to his local hospital in the U.S. You especially need medical evacuation insurance!
We have had medical care in many European countries, Africa and one Asian country. It was always fine and helpful. And inexpensive, we paid in full in local currency, payment in CASH was required. Several doctors waited while one of us ran to an ATM. The most expensive charges we had were in Egypt at an outpatient clinic where I had many tests done( CT Scan, etc). Thousands but still much cheaper than a U.S. ER. They took our credit card. This Egyptian clinic was very impressive.
Some doctors came to our apartments.
Once back home we filed claims and always received 100% of our claim within a month. We have mostly used Travel Guard with no problems ever. Once we used Alliance, prompt payment too.
Agree with the post above about USAA. If you’re an AAA member - you can get Allianz thru them or on your own.
We just had to cancel a Xmas market river cruise due to my mom’s emergency surgery and got all our money back.
My brother was killed in a wreck here in the States while we were in Europe many years ago- thankfully we had trip insurance and lost nothing- got all our money back- without it, we’d have been out 1000s of dollars -just to fly back home emergently would have been $5500
Most policies will include some evacutation coverage. However, in many cases they will on cover evacuation to the nearest facility that can treat your problem. There is at least one company that will evacuate you back to you home area if you are more than 150 miles from your home. But it is only evac. insurance -- not medical insurance. The name is MedJet Assist and they are headquartered in Birmingham AL. Google them and check out their various plans. As with all incurance, read the fine print. The devil is always in the details.
Whenever this topic pops up, I think of Amelia's story. We had a several day stay that August in the same hotel as her parents. We were told by hotel staff that Mayo in Rochester had agreed to see her, but while we were there, her travel insurance said if she was healthy enough to transport, that would be back home so they could close the case. I read the cost of the air ambulance back to the UK was around $121K. We watched the parents as they said their tearful goodbyes to the staff who had become good friends to them.
We have great medical insurance that will reimburse us for care worldwide, but we always get comprehensive insurance to cover all the "what-ifs."
I have used Travel Guard for 20 years and have been very happy. We just purchased again for an upcoming trip in May. We inquired about the specifics of the evacuation coverage due to questions raised on this Forum. As I understand, all of their policies cover evacuation to the nearest medical facility, but we got the upgraded one that also covers evacuation to home.
FYI-
Many policies don't cover pre- existing conditions unless you buy the coverage within 2-3 weeks of booking your first reservation.
Travel insurance is discussed here frequently. You can access a wealth of info by doing a Search here.
Good luck!
As with all insurance policies read the fine print carefully. "Medical Insurance" for being treated during overseas travel is frequently not "Emergency Evacuation" insurance to get you home. The previous posts have mentioned several reasonable companies. In our case we have an emergency evacuation/assistance program through our Chase credit card. Check your card issuer, they may have programs that you can subscribe too as well.
I always buy travel insurance covering medical and evacuation insurance with AxEx. It runs about $60 for my wife and self for a 3 or 4 week trip.
I have an Allianz policy and so far they are payingbpretty good. For evac look at MedJet. I've bought their policies for years but thank G-d haven't made a claim.
If you get Medjet, AARP has a nice discount.
Allianz. I had purchased the lowest cost medical policy for my son and his wife. We didn't end up having a medical claim, but it also covered $369 in costs due to a trip delay. Filing a claim was easy and payment was prompt. I would use them again.
I also have Medjet for medical evacuation coverage. It is a policy you hope you never use, but will be thankful you have it if you need it.
My husband has always bought Medjet and fortunately has never had to use it. Funny story: I believe Medjet was the insurance which flew someone who had a stroke from a hospital in Georgia(neighboring state) to the hospital at University of Alabama at Birmingham because the hospital in Georgia was not considered to have the necessary level of care!
We purchased GeoBlue (associated with BlueCross) for a recent multi-country/multi-continent trip. Pricing was excellent, all considering. Someone on the Forum had recommended. If you are doing anything considered extreme (hang gliding/hot air balloon, etc.) their rider to cover that is "chump change" in cost.
@Suki -was your friend's experience recently? Honestly, $70,000 sounds low for a med-evac flight.
I usually get $500,000 for med-evac to cover in case I need an air ambulance with medical staff on board. On my first trip back to Europe after Covid I got $1 million coverage but that was when a lot of people were still winding up on ventilators from Covid and I wanted to cover that very slight chance.
So yes, I am in favor of med-evac insurance even though I've never had to make a claim!
WOW!!! Thanks everyone... I went with GEOBLUE (Blue Cross Blue Shield) - I only need medical insurance - not "travel" insurance for delays, bags, etc.
This is the coverage - for two people in their 60's - $230...
24/7/365 toll free or collect call assistance around the world
The Voyager Choice plan coverage includes any pre-existing conditions present before your trip. Pre-existing condition coverage includes both medical services and medical evacuation. Primary health plan required.
Coverage for length of trip - Up to 182 days
Maximum benefit per insured person per policy period - $1,000,000
Deductible per insured person per policy period - $0
Professional services - Surgery, anesthesia, in-hospital doctor visits, diagnostic X-ray and lab - 100%
Office visits: including X-rays and lab work billed by the attending physician - 100%
Inpatient hospital services, Surgery, X-rays, in-hospital doctor visits - 100%
Inpatient medical emergency - 100%
Ambulatory surgical center - 100%
Ambulance services (non-Medical evacuation) - 100% up to $1,000
Prescription drugs - 100% of reasonable charges up to $5,000
Physical and occupational therapy - 6 visits per Period of Insurance, $100 Maximum payment per visit
Dental Care Required Due to an injury - 100% of Reasonable Charges with a maximum benefit of $500 per Trip Period
Healthcare services to test for, diagnose, and treat COVID-19.
Medical Evacuation to U.S. up to $500,000
Accidental Death and Dismemberment AD&D
Emergency family travel arrangements
Hazardous activities - Maximum benefit up to $25,000 for claims resulting from downhill (alpine) skiing and scuba diving
Lost baggage and personal effects coverage - Maximum benefit of $500 per trip
Post-departure trip interruption transportation - Maximum benefit of $1,000 per trip period
Repatriation of remains - Maximum benefit up to $25,000
That's what I do ~ only the medical part of "travel insurance" because I can usually deal with cancellations and rebooking costs myself. I also have Amex Plat with some trip cost insurances and evac. KNOW THAT most evac is only to "nearest acceptable" hospital, if you read the fine print, so I also have Medjet to get moved home because it doesn't require "acceptable" or "medical necessity" to move. I mostly travel alone so have the evac home + security response one: Medjet Horizon. Nice choice on GeoBlue, I hear good things about that one ~ maybe for my next trip!
Very Sheri you are correct that most travel insurance policies don't evac back to home country and hospital. As retired critical care nurse I know how crazy expensive that can be. I think for piece of mind we will buy the additional separate med evac policy that covers a year.
