Travelers Insurance

Hi Donna,

After 9 trips trips to Europe, we've never bought insurance for our travels. As Steve mentioned, we never have anything pre-paid except for airfare. I have read that www.travelguard.com is reasonable though.

Paul

Most of the regulars here are quick to recommend travel insurance for EVERY trip, most especially med evac insurance that could get you (or your remains) home. In general, your medical insurance here at home probably doesn't cover that, or cover it enough. I always shop through www.insuremytrip.com, and I buy just the coverage I think I need for that particular trip. For my prepaid China trip, I bought cancellation insurance as well as med evac (I'm fortunate to work for a company that has very generous insurance benefits, including med evac, but I supplement it). I would not travel without travel insurance.

Look for the boldface topic "Getting More Answers to Your Question" and search the archives for prior discussions about this topic. Despite what you might have seen recently, we have had many discussions about this topic previously.

Some people will tell you that they don't buy travel insurance because they are in good health generally, or have insurance from home. Anyone can have an accident, though. If you have employer health insurance, check to make sure that it covers you while traveling. You will probably still need med evac, but it's not expensive. WWW.insuremytrip.com allows you to compare policies from lots of companies to get just the coverage you need without anything you don't want.

Thanks. I appreciate all your responses. More food for thought! Donna

Maybe I'm a reckless idiot (wouldn't be the first time I've been called that...) but I really just don't get the need for medivac insurance - or any extra insurance, for that matter.

My medical insurance is fully in effect overseas - I've checked. I have at least as much confidence in European medical care than I do in hospitals back home (in some respects, more). In fact, if I have to have my appendix out on short notice, I'd be just fine with having that done in Europe - although I'm sure it would mess with my plans for climbing castles and visiting museums. Hey, if nothing else, I'd expect that the food in the hospital would probably be better - and my out-of-pocket costs might even be less.

If I fall off the Eiffel Tower and meet my demise, well, they can just cremate me there and sprinkle the ashes - I can think of worse ways to end up.

I'm not trying to be flippant (really) but Europe is hardly some undeveloped backwater where you take your life in your hands if you go to see a doctor - far from it. There's a lot we could learn from them, but that's another discussion.

Now, when I do head off to some real remote corner of the globe to engage in risky behaviors, then that's different. In fact, when I go off to some backwater to go scuba diving, which I do once in a while (remote islands in Indonesia, for example), I definitely do purchase specialty insurance (and that does include the full medivac coverage), but that seems crazy for someplace so highly developed as most of Europe.

But that's just me - YMMV.

The reason to have medivac insurance is not so you get medical care in the US versus Europe; it's in case you are not fit to take a regular flight back to the US when it's time to leave. One of my colleagues suffered a severe leg break in South America and had to be medivaced back. She got treated in Brazil just fine, but she was not able to fly back home on her return date and the Brazilian government was for some reason unwilling to support her presence there indefinitely.

I'm lucky that my employer has a comprehensive policy that includes medivac coverage. I'd buy it for sure if that weren't the case.

...and had that friend not had evacuation coverage, it would have cost at least $50,000USD to be medivaced back to the US.
Also, if one does fall off the Eiffel Tower to their demise, it will coast many thousands of dollars to have you remains shipped back to the US. David, would you really want to burden your family with that? BTW evacuation policies typically cover the handling of remains overseas.

Well my husband & I never ever thought about travel insurance especially medivac until one of us has had major medical problems & then when travelling overseas suddenly you start thinking about the "what ifs".
The last cruise we were on a lady died on board the cruise ship & we were told that just about every cruise someone dies so that is more food for thought.

Steve, it isn't about being young. If you need to be medivaced home, it will cost you everything you have and everything you are likely to have in the future. Do you think only old people break limbs? Or need emergency appendectomies? Or get hit by cars? Or slip and fall and get badly hurt while hiking? Trip cancellation insurance is of marginal utility to independent travelers, though of great value to package tourists or cruisers. But medivac insurance is important for anyone who can't stand to lose tens of thousands of dollars if bad things happen to them. I would no more dream of leaving the country without it than I would drive without automobile insurance.

We reluctantly purchased Travel insurance for a 15 day trip to Ireland this past August from Travel Ex about 30 hours before we left. (24 hours is the cut-off) It cost $149.00 Our airline tickets were already covered when purchased for $29 each. On day 6 of our trip, my wife stepped on a flat rock, and it tilted sideways and she fell into a rock wall, and broke her arm right below her shoulder, and also chipped a bone on top of the shoulder. Travel Ex upgraded her to 1st class as per the Doctors request, their cost: $3,000.00 They didn't offer me an upgrade, but offered to make the arrangements for me to also upgrade for $3,000.00 I declined. They have also agreed to pay all out of pocket expenses as a result of the accident, all we have to do is submit the reciepts with the claim form.

We didn't need to come home early, as the Drs. felt that the healing that took place in Ireland during the following 9 days would make the evential trip easier than going right away, with all the bruising and swelling. If we would have needed to go sooner, they would have covered the cost.

At our age, mid 50's, we felt that we were in good enough health we shouldn't need the extra insurance, but as it turned out, it was the right decision. Without it, the cost of our vacation would have been nearly double. On future trips, it is a no-brainer....we will have travel insurance! Dan

It's $250 on my carrier. The math is quite simple…a $76 policy is cheap compared to $1000 in change fees plus the difference in fare. I agree that the much more likely scenario is illness. If it weren’t for H1N1 spreading like wildfire in my community right now, I wouldn’t consider purchasing travel insurance. As it is, I’m about to click on the buy button as I have an upcoming trip to my favorite continent very soon. Getting vaccinated would make a lot more sense, but I suppose our local, state, and federal governments would actually have to supply our health department with the vaccine first. That’s a topic for another day!

BTW, where are you getting your information? The last time I checked, the big 3 European carriers all had change fees of $250…BA, Lufthansa, and Air France.

On our trip to England and France last month, my wife and I bought travel insurance through American Express. It cost $138 for the two of us, and covered just about everything.... Medical expenses, repatriation of remains, missing flights due to illness or accident, etc.
I was very pleased with the value and the coverage, and will buy it when we go on our next trip in the spring.

Part of pre-trip planning that is often forgotten is what to do in case of an emergency.

This is a really good time to review your health plan to find out the rules for using services out of your area. Most plans pay at least some of your costs, but require you to call them immediately. If you don't call right away, they may be legally able to deny your claim (read your policy).

Know what your policy covers; know what your requirements are. Based on that you can make an educated decision about what insurance you might need to augment your plan.

Many people buy insurance without first finding out what they already have, which may be a waste of money.

That's true Brad, but in the event of something major, I doubt most insurance policies over here would cover everything. I know my health plan in the States is a ripoff as it is, and though they would cover some "emergencies", one needs to be authorise first, and go to contracted hospital/doctors. If someone were to die (God forbid) on the trip, whatever we have here won't cover bringing the remains back.

A friend's husband had a heart attack and subsequently died (in Mexico), and they did not have travel insurance. I won't waste time with the cost and horror story here, but once you determine what type of coverage you have in the US that might apply abroad, please do consider the small amount that you need to put out to cover something really big!

If a person dies aboard, it is VERY expensive to have the body prepared for transport back to their home country.

It is also VERY expensive for medical evacuation back to their home country.

For that reason, I always buy travel insurance that will cover those costs.

Even if you normally never purchase travel insurance (I never have), you may wish to consider a very basic and inexpensive plan that will reimburse you should you not be able to travel for something as simple & common as H1N1 – Swine Flu. For example, you can buy a Travelex Basic policy that covers a family of four for $76 (kids under 18 are covered at no extra charge). When you consider many airlines have change fees of $250 per ticket plus the difference in airfare, it might prove to be money well spent should something happen. If you fall ill with H1N1 a couple of days before your trip, you’re not going to want to get on an airplane headed for Spain…same thing if you get sick while on the trip and need to delay your return.

Oh, and I’ll second the recommendation to use www.insuremytrip.com

Michael, is that similar to Travelguard?

I agree with what the last posters said too! There are so many things that could go wrong with a trip these days. What about a terrorist attack while abroad? Very possible.

Yes, it's similar, but Travel Guard is another insurance company. I know there are policies that include terrorist event, but others may require it to be added at an extra cost, and others probably exclude it altogether.

There are lots of reasons for buying travel insurance. One of them that we consider is the health of our parents as well as our own. We made sure the travel insurance would cover our return expenses in the case of the death of a parent.