Trip Cancellation Insurance

You can find a good discussion here in the forum for travel tips https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/budget-tips/travel-insurance-question-1ec89ac6-e492-40fd-9497-3a349704c6fe

There are probably other threads in that forum too, if you hunt around.

It has been covered quite a bit in other posts. In your case, you say an upcoming trip and “health uncertainties”. What you want is a policy with a pre-existing condition waiver. Usually those need to be purchased within a short time of making your initial payment towards that trip. I would call https://www.insuremytrip.com. The customer service reps are all licensed insurance brokers. They are not beholden to any one company and can help you choose based on your needs.

Just remember to get the insurance very soon after you make any payment on your trip, so that you don't get caught by a "pre-existing conditions" clause. If you are already worried about health uncertainties, you probably have something in mind. Read the policy restrictions to find out exactly how many days you have, and what "look-back" period the insurer can use to prove you knew of a condition before you bought the insurance.

The value of cancellation insurance depends a lot on how much you have prepaid. E.g., we have never gotten it for our independent trips, because typically the only non-refundable outlay is for plane tickets. When we did a tour, however, we did buy cancellation insurance.

There are a couple of caveats. First, you should go to a site like insuremytrip.com or squaremouth.com. You’ll be able to compare the offerings of many companies, along with their official ratings and consumer ratings. What is mind-boggling to me is how widely prices vary among companies for the same coverage, like $200 - $800/pp. Be especially careful about pre-existing conditions provisos. It sounds as if you may have some.

The most important part of travel insurance is medical treatment and evacuation. If your health insurance doesn’t cover you outside the U.S., you should get this. Besides illness, anyone can suffer an accident.

We use Allianz for our trip insurance. As others stated, check to see what the valid reasons for cancelling include.

Also, know well what type of insurance you are getting.

Trip cancellation covers costs to you for cancelling a trip - lost deposits, bookings and flights. Is your trip the type that you would be out of pocket a significant amount if you cancel at the last minute? Something like a cruise for example. A more standard trip might have some lost costs, but compare that with the cost of the insurance - it might not be worth it.

Trip health insurance covers medical costs if you get sick or injured while on vacation. This can include medical evacuation costs, but that is often an extra coverage. For someone with health concerns, this can be a good thing to have. You'll want to compare to any health insurance you might already have, and be sure you aren't already covered in some way.

And as others have noted, be careful to read and understand the fine print, especially about pre-existing conditions. You don't want to buy something and then be denied coverage later if you need it.

I've used TravelGuard before. Never had to file a claim. It's not in-expensive frankly, but at least TravelGuard gives you the option to declare the expenses you want covered. So don't list things that don't have cancellation penalties, or those with minimal cancellation costs.

I use a company called Travel Insured, which has a "cancel for any reason" policy. The one time I had to use it, I was able to get 75% of my airfare reimbursed with some fairly simple paperwork. Of course with more valid reasons, the coverage is better.
https://www.travelinsured.com/benefits/cancel-for-any-reason/

Thank you all so much - for the threads and the caveats. I haven't paid anything yet, so will take time to do the research. This is such a generous community!

I use a company called Travel Insured, which has a "cancel for any reason" policy. The one time I had to use it, I was able to get 75% of my airfare reimbursed with some fairly simple paperwork.

For the benefit of others, it is worth mentioning that you also need to look at Airline policies in case you need to cancel. Most airlines, for "Non-Refundable" airfare do allow you to change or hold the ticket for a fee. So if you have to cancel on a trip and have a $1500 airfare, you can use that ticket for a future flight, paying usually about $250 plus any difference in ticket cost. Even if you do not have immediate plans, you can work with the airline to "hold" that airfare for use within a year or so.

Bottom line is, I do not think I would buy trip insurance just to cover air travel, as others have said, it comes more into play if you have hefty tour fees you have paid with poor cancellation policies.

Yes this was a case in which the trip was not going to be rescheduled. The point is there are many options and you should know what you are getting and how easy (or not) it will be to get reimbursement. Some policies must be purchased within a brief window of time after booking.

One thing to which you should pay close attention is medical evacuation insurance. Most travel policies have medical evacuation coverage. But they USUALLY will only evacuate you to the nearest hospital than can treat you, but there are exceptions. On the other hand, 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.