travel insurance (when to buy)

Many times you must buy the insurance within 7 or 10 days of your initial trip purchase in order to be covered for preexisting conditions. I know that's the case for Travel Guard, the company that I use. My initial trip purchase is always the flight, and it sounds as though it's the same for you. I would advise you to take care of the insurance immediately to make sure that you have the preexisting coverage.

It is tedious but possible to pay additional premiums later when you buy additional things. But I just add up a reasonable budget and buy all the insurance at once. This is not an investment account, it's an insurance purchase. There is no substitute for reading every word of a 20 or 25 page policy. It's essential.

I once had to call to make sure, but I was pleased to learn (at one particular insurer) that "preexisting conditions" exclusions only apply to the TRAVELERS, and not to our elderly parents - who were a more likely reason for our cancelling, of course.

This product is extremely complex, and every policy is different. It is not something to be careless about. Another example, when I tried to make a claim for a $100 visit to the ship's doctor, they demanded a Medicare refusal before they would pay the claim. Both parties that Medicare would refuse an out-of-US claim but this was an obstacle to collecting on what I paid for. It's much more tedious to make a manual Medicare claim than when your US doctor does it for you!

I'd say the pre-existing conditions issue is the deciding factor to me. I do not have any pre-existing conditions and will probably wait to get my travel insurance when I make the final payment on my tour for next spring. My airfare is thru Delta and is cancellable. My hotels are all cancellable. I've bought a Eurostar ticket and a Museum ticket but they would not be a terrible out of pocket loss.

I've also waited up until the week before I traveled to purchase insurance as everything was cancellable.

If you've not bought insurance before it's good to do research on exactly what you want to cover. Over the last year a lot of people have been worried about possibly getting Covid and having to stay longer in Europe due to Quarantine/Isolation. I decided early on that I had enough room on my CCs to be able to charge 2 weeks worth of hotel nights. I book thru Delta and they've had generous cancellation/change policies so I was not worried about that. I've looked at Cancel for Any Reason policies before Covid but the "reasons" I thought I might cancel were not covered (so really it is Cancel for Any Reason The Insurance Company specifies, lol).

I do want med-evac insurance and some medical even though my Medicare Supplement has some International Medical coverage.

If I take a tour with Rick Steves and have to cancel I feel sure they will let me transfer to another program. Another company is not as good so if I travel with them I want insurance for having to cancel a tour. I'm going with a new small company next spring so will probably get cancellation insurance for that tour amount.

Lots of research!!

I do not buy all of my insurance at once. I buy it in chunks, as I purchase non-refundable travel. My insurance company (with whom I have an account) has my credit card on file. To increase the coverage, I simply email them with the new trip cost and my authorization to bill the additional premium.

If I have zero (or minimal) non-refundable travel costs - and since my health insurance covers me internationally - then I will wait until near the date of the trip to purchase insurance.

re: cancelling a Rick Steves tour
This past spring I had to cancel a Rick Steves tour 1 week before the first day, and 1 day before flying to Europe when I tested positive. RS gave me a credit for 50% that I used for the same tour about 5 weeks later.

Depends on what you mean by travel insurance - some on this thread seem to be just talking about insuring non-refundable bookings?

My partner has pre-existing conditions and sometimes needs sign off from his dr- his dr won't give that sign off until quite near us leaving - I've been running around getting insurance within 10- days of leaving home. Its annoying. In my country if you don't declare every non-trivial pre-existing they will deny medical cover. We don't do much pre-booking so the medical cover is the real risk for us - a few $1000 in airfares is nothing compared to paying for medical care in the US or medivac 1/2 way around the world

Another aspect is to determine what travel insurance you may already have available to you through your credit cards. I generally rely on my insurance through Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, my Medicare Advantage Policy, and a Medical evacuation insurance I purchase

I use Travel Insured and they state within 2 weeks of my initial purchase. To the best of my knowledge your honor :) . I usually purchase my airline tickets before everything else, so i make it a habit of purchasing my insurance the same day. By then I have already figured out an estimate of my out of pocket costs prior to arriving to my location(s).

Within a day of making first booking, as the company I use requires fast for any reason, pre existing conditions, etc. Then I up insurance amount as I book more and have more of an exact # I’m trying to insure trip wise.

Do your homework- many care when you make any payment and should you try and get a payment for cancellation and they find you don’t qualify (because you purchased later) it could affect payment.