Travel Insurance

We used Travel-Ex in Aug of 09 for a trip to Ireland. My wife had an accident and broke her arm and shoulder. They covered all the out of pocket expenses, and upgaded her to 1st class on the way home. We were pleased with this company. Dan

We always buy travel health insurance. We buy from HTH Worldwide based on the recommendation of others. Unlike Dan, we've never had a claim. We wouldn't travel without it. www.hthtravelinsurance.com/

I always use it. Make sure you buy it before or very soon after you begin to make purchases for your trip or it will not cover pre existing conditions. In the case of a package trip, make sure you are paying for the insurance when you make your down payment (not when you make your final payment) or the same thing will occur. ** I make it a point to buy the insurance from the package tour operator (in the case of an adventure travel company we like) even if it might be a little more expensive than buying it elsewhere. I think it simplifies the paperwork if you do have a problem. ** Most recently I have used Access America. I do purchase separate coverage for the expenses and time period when I am not with the package operator. ** Two examples: 1) On an adventure travel trip a woman had to be evacuated from an island off Panama while snorkeling. She did have insurance but it was not from the operator. You get caught up in making upfront payments, I think. 2) My wife developed a kidney problem and we had to cancel a trip after we had paid for everything. Got all the money back (except the cost of insurance) with little hassle. ** Some people say it is expensive (around 7% of the trip cost), but check what a medivac costs, more like $25,000 and up.

I bought through Travelex and actually found it pretty reasonably priced. I did not get the medical coverage, because my health insurance covers medical overseas, but my coverage is for: cancellation, evacuation, emergency dental, and vehicle coverage. People my husband knew through work had an accident in Europe: the wife fell and hit her head, the evacuation was going to be 70K, and while they were trying to have fundraisers over here to raise the costs, she passed away. I don't even know what they did to bring her body back- assuming the money raised for the evacuation paid for that. It was a real-life example for me of stuff that can happen on vacation.

I always buy insurance. On an upcoming trip to Italy I just paid $300 on about a %6,000 trip and that covers pre-existing conditions. The insurance was about 5% of the trip cost. I've never yet had to make a claim but I still would never go without insurance.

We are going to buy travel insurance from USAA which will cover not only our trip but also the CDW on our rental car. Not sure if you have to be a member in order to buy the insurance.

I believe USAA is only available to people with a link to the military.

Dee, YES, I absolutely use Travel Insurance! However, I think it's important to clarify WHICH type of Travel Insurance you're referring to. For example, there's travel medical insurance, baggage insurance and trip cancellation insurance. I ALWAYS get medical insurance when I travel, including to the U.S. or "out of province". As I recall, there's some good information on travel insurance in "Europe Through The Back Door", if you have a copy of that on hand. Cheers!

You can compare policies from many companies at one time at www.insuremytrip.com. Then you can buy only the coverage you need without anything you don't want.

this comes up about every 5 days. Look thru older posts to see what people have said.

I never use travel insurance. I haven't yet had a time when I would have needed it and it seems too expensive...... If you buy insurance remember it's a contract, you get exactly what the policy provides for; no more, no less. Many people get in trouble with insurance because they think they're buying blanket coverage then discover every policy covers a limited set of events - as described in the contract. Read your policy carefully. Know what it does and doesn't cover and your responsibilities (e.g. contacting the company within a certain number of days from the time you realize you have a claim).

I never purchased travel insurance until last year. Thankfully we did not need it but it was offered through Travelocity with my plane ticket purchase and it was a reasonable cost. You might check out their website. I love Sarasota [INVALID]- I'm a former resident.

Are we talking about Medical Insurance, or Travel Insurance?? I always get extra travel Medical Insurance, I only have gotten travel insurance when I have cruised and paid entire fare up front, and once when I took my dd on a RS Tour,, as once again, you have paid it all upfront. I can cancel my hotels easily with one days notice usually, sometimes they take a booking fee, but never the whole amount as I never pay upfront. Check each places policy regarding that carefully. My airfare is always transferable( change dates) , but not usually refundable.

I am planning on buying travel insurance for the first time for next years trip to Europe since I recently lost emergency evacuation coverage thru my medical plan. I take a RS tour most years that I am in Europe and in the materials I receive from them is a flyer from Travel Guard (www.TravelGuard.com). Their basic policy covers most everything you could ever need and seems competitively priced. As others have posted, make sure you read ALL of the fine print because there seems to be exceptions, qualifications, and requirements for all policies.

I use Travel Guard (platinum). It covers both travel and medical aspects. It gives excellent coverage and offers optional upgrades.

We bought HTH medical insurance for the very first time this year, and my husband spent 3 1/2 days in the hospital in France. We are in the process of submitting our claim. In all the years we've been traveling, this is the first time either of us has gotten sick and thank goodness I had purchased the insurance for this trip.