As I am getting in my 50s and with Covid still unabated, I was looking to buy travel medical insurance for my two week trip to Germany. I called my employee insurance and of course they don't cover anything out of the US.
I'm flying solo and I just worry that if I fell and twist my knee or my arm-as my neighbor did in Europe last year and need to fly back home that I need to be covered. Does anyone have any suggestions or websites to look at? Thanks.
This topic has been discussed extensively here on the Forum. Just Search for travel insurance and you'll find a wealth of posts from the last twelve months.
Safe travels!
Insuremytrip.com is a good site to compare policies from different providers.
I happen to use Nationwide for travel insurance and have had very good claims experience with them on other policies, though I've never needed to make a travel claim. They also refunded 100% of my policy payments when my tours and flights were canceled by the suppliers in 2020.
Their insurance for covid quarantine costs, hotels and meals, etc., is not particularly high. A policy marketed by Trawick has higher quarantine limits and is underwritten by Nationwide.
I've also never made a travel claim but I get some insurance each trip. Definitely do research at the link Catherine gave you. You'll also have to decide what you want to cover.
It sounds like you want to cover some medical evacuation issues (which is what I in particular want) so that is the term you want to look for. Do you also want to cover potential medical expenses? Depends on what country you are going to in my opinion. Some countries you may be covered by their health system, some not. Still whatever happens it might not be as expensive as being uncovered here in the US.
Some people want coverage for expenses they might incur if they get Covid on their trips and need to stay longer. This was not important to me...I figured I had enough room on my credit cards to charge an extra 10-15 days if I HAD to so I've not paid for insurance to cover that.
You'll probably be offered insurance from your airline when you purchase your ticket so that might work for you. You also may have some kind of coverage on a credit card so run that down as well.
Take notes because, as they say....it's complicated, lol!!
We used AON and they took forever to reimburse us. We got Covid in Portugal and had to leave tour (another tour company) and we were reimbursed for our hotel and extras. Worth getting insurance, but I would not recommend AON. Good luck!
There have been quite a few complaints about delayed insurance payments on this forum. They have involved several different companies. I know it is very frustrating to have to wait for money you are owed, but that seems to be a very, very common problem right now. I fear there might not be any options left if every company with delayed-payment complaints was eliminated.
The biggest financial risk is that one will need medical evacuation. That could happen after something like a vehicle accident as well as after a serious medical event. As I understand it, one is not expected to front the extremely high cost of medical evacuation (which can be over $100,000) and wait for insurance payment later.
Thanks all. I looked at the insurance and went with Tin Leg. Hopefully won't have to deal with it but as I'm getting old and as many of my friends and family have had to stay because of Covid or had major health issues in Europe-it's always better to be prepared whereas when I was younger I didn't worry.
I always go with American Express and buy a million dollar coverage for medical and medical evacuation for wife and self .
For one month coverage runs about $60.
One thing to look at in whatever policy you choose is whether they cover pre-exiting conditions and under what circumstances. In some policies, they will only cover it if you purchase the policy within a certain time window from when you first book your trip.
look carefully at the medical evacuation language in any such policy. The wording is important. At the lower end, it often says something like "evacuation to the nearest appropriate medical facility". That means, ambulance to the nearest local hospital where you are. The higher level will say something like "evacuation to the medical treatment facility of your choice", which can be home. Subtle but significant.
Stan, that's exactly why I bought a Medjet evac policy in addition to Nationwide travel insurance. Both are annual policies to cover two trips.
This twists and turns of legalese in all policies need to be carefully read.
