Travel Insurance

Travel insurance is like all insurance in that you hope you don't need it. But if you do, it's better to have it than not have it. There are many variations so you can probably get coverage pretty close to what you need for your particular situation depending on what your current insurance covers. There are several sites that allow you to compare different plans. Can't remember the names just now -- no coffee yet -- but perhaps someone else can give you the names. We had one claim with Travel Guard that was handled quickly and efficiently. In addition, you might want to consider this: Most travel policies have medical evacuation coverage. But they USUALLY will only evacuate you to the nearest hospital than can treat you. There is a company named "Med Jet Assist" that has a number of different membership plans. It in NOT medical insurance -- just med evacuation coverage. As long as you are more than 150 miles from home, they will, if medically necessary, fly you back to your home hospital in a medical jet with medical personnel. Google them and see what you think.

Priceless. Especially the medical portion. Medical evacuation or repatriation of remains can run 10's of thousands. With no details of your previous experience it is hard to say why it was a hassle. Read the fine print and follow the requirements it works like a charm.

In 30+ years of European travel, I've never bought any form of travel insurance. While I have no plans to buy it for any upcoming trips, eventually that might change. The one thing that I would never consider is trip cancellation insurance. If we ever had to cancel a trip, about all we'd lose is airfare, and maybe a house rental or 2, and that's easy to pay out-of-pocket. Medical insurance is a different issue, and it's one I'd consider.

Travel Insurance is too broad of a category. Are you talking about trip cancellation, evacuation, medical, trip interruption, baggage loss? How much do you have to pre-pay for your trip and how much would you lose?

It all depends on where you are going, how long, how distant from a competent medical facility, pre-existing conditions that may or may not be covered, do you have persons or obligations at home that could interrupt your trip and make you have to get an emergency ticket home?

So could you be more precise in what coverage you may consider?

TC is thinking of: insuremytrip.com

Hard question to answer. I generally do not buy travel insurance but did once when my mother was ailing (and she is elderly) but nothing anyone could diagnose. So I was worried. Of course, the insurance itself will vary in cost....you get what you pay for. In terms of the trip I think of all the times I travel and if I paid out money for travel insurance on each one, that would cover the cost of missing one.....so in a way I am "self insuring." Luckily, my medical insurance does pay for overseas treatment but not repatriation. So that is a bit of a risk. Only you can decide whether it is right for you.

We started buying medical insurance when my husband reached Medicare age. And then it just seemed easier for me to obtain a primary health insurance policy for travel, as well. We also made sure we had med-flight insurance for back to the states. We never were concerned with luggage or trip cancellation, but sometimes the policy we chose threw that in. My husband's uncle went on the trip of his lifetime...he waited to long. He always wanted to see the Canadian Rockies. He didn't quite make it and had to be flown back to the east coast to a local hospital. Fortunately, for that family, he'd purchased insurance, which ultimately paid for the specialized plane home. However, in the meantime the family, who has their own plane, had connections, etc. to move ahead before the insurance agreed to pay. I would not have been so lucky. My next trip I have obtained medical insurance, and before I go I will get MedJetAssist insurance. These are expenses that could be very costly so I insure for them (My background is casualty insurance/risk management). I did look at trip cancellation as I am taking an RS tour, usually I travel independently, but I still did not find it worthwhile. A cancelled trip is not money that would break the bank, not to say it wouldn't hurt, but it wouldn't break me. A cancelled trip or lost luggage is something for which I self insure. Having worked in the casualty insurance field I know what can go wrong and plan accordingly. Wray

Until recently we never bought travel insurance. My work provided insurance covered care abroad even the ambulance flight home if necessary. And now that we are retired our Medicare gap insurance covers 60 days of international travel emergency care. When we travel for more than 60 days we now buy health insurance for travel and I have an annual Medjet Assist policy that will fly you from any hospital in the world to a hospital of our choice in Chicago where we live. I think these are not available after age 80 or so, but we are not quite there yet.

We have traveled abroad nearly every year for 30 plus years. The costs of insurance that would have covered all those trips would have paid for several of the trips. If you can afford to travel then you can afford to lose the costs of travel (it isn't pleasant but it won't ruin you financially) However the cost of emergency evacuation home or the medical costs for very severe injury or illness can ruin you financially, so that is what we focus on making sure is covered.

I did insure the most recent trip where we have a cruise as well as apartment rentals and such. We are now old and more at risk for bad things derailing a trip.

Bottom line -- make sure you have medical insurance (your own policy probably covers you) and consider evacuation insurance as that can be costly. We had an acquaintance who had to mortgage their home to fly their college age daughter home after she was hit by a car in the middle east. Whether you cover trip costs is a cost benefit analysis you have to make.

The first time I got travel insurance was in 2006 when I was planning to visit Eastern Europe. Two of the countries (I think it was Hungary and the Czech Republic) required proof of medical insurance so I got it, although I was never asked for it on that trip. Ever since that trip, I have purchased travel insurance before leaving the country. Luckily, I've never had to use it.

Whenever this question comes up, invariably someone will write that they've never bought insurance and have never needed it. WRONG thinking. Not relevant. As some of the posters have pointed out, it's the medical evacuation part that can ruin you financially. Read carefully the bit about people needing to mortgage their house to fly their daughter home after an accident.
I also am doubtful that when it comes to travel insurance, "you get what you pay for.". If you look on insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com, you can compare many, many insurance offerings. The prices vary widely for the same coverage by companies with the same ratings. The first time we bought insurance, I asked a squaremouth agent if I were missing something about policies that ranged from $100 to $700. He told me that for what I wanted, the lowest price one was just fine. If you are a AAA member, check their rates, too.

I consider travel insurance a cost of traveling now. It is a small price to pay in case something really bad happens.

For us, we are a large family (5 people including 2 adults and three almost teens who tend to make poor decisions. We will be purchasing the insurance both for incidents that may occur and cancellation. Taking five near-adults to Europe is a bucket-list item and we don't want to take any chances.

You may not plan on canceling your trip, but stuff happens. I failed to purchase travel insurance until well after I had already spent $3,000 on airfare, not anticipating that I might need to cancel and would not be covered because I waited too long. I was more focused on the medical part of the insurance. Then I was called for jury duty that was scheduled to begin just after my scheduled departure for Italy. Fortunately, I was able to be excused from jury duty and my trip went off as planned. But it could just have easily gone the other way. For a subsequent trip, I made sure to purchase the insurance as soon as I booked my flights. Some people may be able to give up that much money, but I am not in a position to do that. It's really a matter of your willingness or ability to take the risk, even if it is a small one.

You are insuring your trip one way or another.
If you don't purchase specific insurance, you are "self-insuring." This means that you are willing to accept any financial losses that may come as a result of an unexpected event. This works well for some people. Either they feel that they have enough money to absorb the $50,000-60,000 cost of a medical evacuation without financial hardship, or they are absolutely convinced that they are invincible and the statistical probability of this is so low they are not worried.

The other way to insure is purchase trip insurance specific to the needs that you don't want to self-insure for. Most people will agree that Medical Evacuation is probably the most expensive risk that a traveler faces. Others like to have trip cancellation or medical costs.

It all gets down to a personal decision for each traveler. What are you willing to self-insure for? How much of a loss could you sustain without it impacting your life in a serious manner? Do you have any known risk factors?

I get mine through AAA separately and buy the "cancel for any reason" rider. I have found that it is easier to get reimbursed than the standard check the box with your travel package provider.

That being said - I didn't use this until I developed medical issues that can turn on a dime for me. Just found that not having "any reason" made things difficult. I may not be hospitalized but I still shouldn't leave the country and my doctor just then. Until that point I just booked everything separately so I could cancel within 48 hours notice.