Trip Insurance

Marte, probably the most costly potential event would be if you or yours were seriously injured or became very ill while traveling-or if there were to be a death, and remains need to be brought back to the U.S. Medical flights, evacuation, and repatriation are all extremely expensive and are covered by many travel insurance providers. Also, trip expenses, flights, etc can qualify for reimbursement in the event of cancellation. It is not very expensive, in my experience, for the peace of mind it can provide.

note: the sooner you buy, generally speaking, the cheaper travel insurance is.

In 2013 I was all signed up for a RS tour and made plans for an extra week post tour. One month before departure, I had a serious illness and had to cancel. Trip insurance more than paid for itself. This year I signed up again for that RS tour. Actually got to Europe and had to turn around and go home the next day because of a sudden illness and death in the family. Although the airfare was lost, again the trip insurance will more than pay for itself. You can bet I will take out trip insurance for 2016 when I make a third attempt at taking this tour. Found a reasonable plan on "Insure My Trip."

It depends on your age, health, risk tolerance, and or the price of having to potentially cut a trip short or make a cancellation altogether. I'm not sure what this statement has to do with insurance, can you clarify?.. "I think today's Europe is different than 40 years ago". If you never thought of it, why are you thinking of it now? You have to ask yourself what you would need it for and what the value would be to you of having it.

We never go to Europe without it. As Dave said, it's not very expensive if you consider the cost of needing it and not having it. You do need to be careful if you have a pre-existing condition as most policies won't cover those without an additional add-on (for a higher price). And if you need to cut your trip short because a relative at home has a crisis involving a pre-existing condition, it usually won't cover that either.

We buy Travelguard. It was recommended by the owner of a travel agency who buys it for her own (many) trips abroad.

" I'm not sure what this statement has to do with insurance, can you clarify?.. "I think today's Europe is different than 40 years ago"."

I took that only as an age indicator, and for me, that spells trip insurance. Of course, college kids are less likely to have health issues than older folk, and generally have less financial responsibility/impact should something go wrong. Perhaps OP meant something more, but it's all about perception and peace of mind with regards to insurance, imo.

I don't think Europe is different now than 40 years ago in any way that matters for trip insurance. If you are worried about some new threat...don't. But just like 40 years ago, you could get sick or otherwise have a trip problem that the insurance covers.

I always have it for two reasons. 1. is pre-trip cancellation (if someone gets sick or some other emergency forcing me to cancel all prepaid expenses would be reimbursed. Hotels, flights, trains, etc). I have used this for an illness that happened shortly before a trip.
2. is in case of getting seriously ill over there. My health insurance technically covers international travel, but it's spotty. If there's some sort of incident I will be covered. Same types of things that could happen here - falling and breaking a leg, getting hit by a bus, getting a severe flu or food poisioning that requires a hospital stay. It also covers evacuation and such, in a more extreme case.

My plan also covers things like flight delays (pays for extra hotels or rebooking increases), lost luggage, etc. In general, I think it's a good idea to have insurance unless you can easily absorb the costs that may occur.

Check trip coverage on your credit card first, many credit cards cover some aspects of the trip (always read the small print).

I agree with Agnes' suggestion. A premium or gold card may have most of the coverage that you will need for you and your family. You will need to read the fine print to see what is covered and what is not and there is usually about 15 days maximum coverage. Not all cards are the same. And you may have to purchase your airline tickets and maybe your hotel on that card to qualify for coverage. The cheapest source i found to top up my coverage (e.g. Add additional days over 15 days) was through my auto association.

The major value of insurance is for medical issues. If you've paid for a ticket and lose it, you are not out more than the value of the ticket. But if you need medical care, that cost can skyrocket well beyond your ability to pay for it. Similarly, even if you're in good health, if you think you may need to cancel due to the health of someone else (as in Nancy's example), make sure your insurance will cover this.

Do understand exactly what's covered, so you don't buy more than you need. A coworker thought she needed a "cancel for any reason" policy, because she wanted to be able to cancel if her grandson got sick. A review of a cheaper policy showed that it would cover this without needing the "cancel for any reason" rider - saving her over $100. Cancel for any reason usually refers to changing your mind, not to illness of family members, but again, you have to check each policy's specific language.

In order to get coverage for pre-existing conditions, you usually have to buy insurance within 7-14 days after buying the first item of the trip (such as airfare, or the first paid hotel or apartment reservation). You can increase your coverage amount later if you need more.

Be sure to get a definition from the insurance carrier for "pre-existing condition." One carrier I spoke with stated that a person would actually had to have symptoms requiring treatment in the specified time period. History of a diagnosis outside that specified time period and routine current medication would not constitute a reason for a "pre-existing condition" exclusion.

Thank you all for your advice.

In terms of the timing for purchasing insurance, you don't have to wait until you know exactly what your costs for the trip are. The companies I've used just need an estimate.

There was an article in this week's Time magazine on the benefits of travel insurance as well as recommendations on companies that allow you to select "al-la-carte" options.