Travel Insurance

I started my search at a site "insuremytrip.com" (or something close to that) several years ago when I went onto Medicare which does not provide the coverage I needed. I ended up choosing Travel Guard as I liked their long list of options that can be added to the basic policy. I added an umbrella coverage that covers about everything I could imagine. I can not rate their performance since I have not had to make a claim with them so far, which is a good thing. Good luck in your search and happy travels.

Study 'insuremytrip' carefully. Travelex and Travelguard are popular. If you are an American Express client you can buy medical coverage from them - we thougth it was more reasonable.

Look at http://www.insuremytrip.com/. This site allows you to compare multiple policies and multiple insurance companies, so you can find what suits you best. One important tip: if you want pre-existing conditions to be covered, many policies require that you buy them within 7-15 days of making your first purchase for the trip. Once you have done this, you can buy more coverage if needed. For instance, if the first purchase is your air tickets for $1500, you should buy insurance covering this shortly after buying the tickets. Then, if you later book a nonrefundable accomodation for $1000, you can increase your coverage for this. So, don't wait until you know the whole trip cost, or you may not be covered for pre-existing conditions (and we know how liberally insurance companies like to construe this term).

I like the web foremat that Squaremouth.com has. If I have any questions, and can't put find the exact insurance plan I want, I give them a call. They are great at helping me find a list of "possibles." Don't forget to look at repatriation: coverage for a medical flight that will fly you and your spouse home if you become seriously injured and need to go home for further treatment, etc.

Thanks for all of your responses, especially George in Philadelphia. We called American Express and got very reasonably priced insurance. This forum is fantastic!

Here's some information I think might be useful to many people. The other day I received a benefits guide for my United Mileage Plus Explorer Visa Card. In looking it over, I was surprised to see that it includes trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance, up to $10,000/person. There are a lot more details, which I won't go into. However, it struck me that it behoves everyone to check their own cards to see what benefits they have. No sense in buying insurance if you're already covered. Also, no sense in suffering a loss and not collecting on insurance you have.

Per AMEX website today, "We are not accepting enrollments in Travel Medical Protection at this time."