Health/Accident Insurance questions

You can research a wide variety of travel insurance options on insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com. You'll need to read the policy details very closely, many medical plans are secondary payers. Price will depend on your age, destination, and levels of coverage. Medical evacuation is common insurance.

This post may provide some information about Italy specifically. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/universal-health-care-question

Medical expenses in Europe for routine problems is very reasonable and I am prepared to pay that out of pocket. However for something like a heart attack, stroke, serious accident, etc., I want home and as quick as possible. Medical evac can be very expensive so that is what I want insurance to cover. We carry an annual medical emergency evac policy that covers anytime we are more than 500 miles from home. At 82 that is my main concern regarding medical insurance.

Note-
For pre-existing conditions coverage, you need to buy travel insurance within about two weeks of the first booking for your trip. Good luck and safe travels.

I don't need to buy regular medical insurance for travel since my US policy provides coverage overseas. However, I know there have been several positive comments here from folks who have used GeoBlue. That is not coverage that will get you back to the US in the event of a serious medical problem. << It appears I am wrong about the lack of evacuation coverage, per frzummo87's post below. Do check the details.

I'm reading that the Italian government covers this for tourists to some degree

I have never heard that, ever. You'd better be really sure about it before you depend on it.

Since you are probably past the 14-days of first trip payment to cover pre-existing conditions, you can consider GeoBlue which covers medical and has no pre-existing clause. https://www.geobluetravelinsurance.com/ Don't count on coverage from the country you are visiting; it is for residents.

For medical evacuation, consider Medjet. https://medjetassist.com/ Evacuation can cost $100,000. My neighbor's friend was recently evacuated from Costa Rico to home for brain surgery.

Neither one is comprehensive so will not cover trip delay/cancellation, baggage lost, etc. If you don't need or want to cover pre-existing conditions you can look at comprehensive trip insurance.

The answers to your questions is how much risk are you willing to take? Neither GeoBlue or Medjet coverage is expensive.

Buon Viaggio! I did Village Italy tour in September. It's great!

GeoBlue does offer medical evacutation up to $500,000 coverage.

Frzummo, when I bought an annual GeoBlue medical policy last year, the phone rep said they did not cover med evac except to the nearest facility. That didn’t concern me since I buy Medjet annual policies. Like everything, it pays to read the fine print. Annual and per-trip policies could have different coverage.

I've had good luck finding policies with Trawick International that include medical coverage plus emergency evacuation and some trip interruption features - at reasonable rates.