Travel insurance recommendation

Please see this recent discussion for more information:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/anyone-here-ever-purchased-medical-travel-insurance

We get ours through Allianz. It has three different options, basic, standard, and premium. There are also plans through Travel Guard/AIG and other companies. When you book your airline tickets insurance is offered for purchase. While we always buy insurance in case of lost luggage or delay, the main reason is in case medical evacuation is needed. We’ve never needed to file a claim.

Not sure why you want travel insurance and the solutions may vary. If you want to be able to cancel, you can make reservations that are cancellable for a time being. We make all our flights and hotels cancellable/refundable, and you can usually cancel up to about a week or 10 days ahead, or in some cases to the last minute. I don't like buying flights, hotels, airbnb, cars etc 6 months+ in advanced and cannot refund/cancel. Read the fine print on policies if you choose to go that route, Covid is no longer considered a covered event by many of them. If you are looking for medical evacuation type of insurance, be careful in choosing. Many will take you to the closest facility. Medjet is very good and will take you home if you are in a hospital in a foreign country. My father used this service and it was excellent, they flew him and my mother to Michigan on a private medical plane from France.

You need to understand that your requirements conflict with each other. It is impossible to make recommendations that are precisely right for another person. That's because coverage for pre-existing health conditions, aging parents, risky sports, existing overseas health coverage (or non-coverage), refundable and non-refundable costs vary ENORMOUSLY.

Your age is also a factor. Because we are both over 65, I chose to buy changeable air fares for our last trip, because (with high fares to Asia ... ) the incremental cost was less than buying insurance for those costs.

A lot of people have a dream that every dollar of their payments will be refunded to them if their parent goes into the hospital, or they break a leg during the trip. The reality can be different, even with good coverage.

I have used https://www.insuremytrip.com/ many times. You can be very specific and tailor a policy to your needs. Their customer service is excellent and the phone agents are top notch.

I second Insure my trip. I’ve used them for several trips.

Squaremouth is another web broker
Has good filters to narrow down choices

Whatever policy you select make sure to read the actual certificate.

You need to insure only non refundable part of the trip.

Most airline tickets nowadays are changeable and only 1 night of hotel at a time is nonrefundable with most corporate or elite rates.

International medical, evacuation, missed connection, interruption are useful features. Delayed luggage or travel delays are not that useful or critical.

I get insurance for all international trips, travel is expensive and if something happens (before or during) it can mean a lot of money. (A friend once told me they budgeted about 10% of trip cost for high-coverage insurance, and needed it a few times. It pays to shop around and read the fine print.) It doesn't necessarily just cover cancellations, but can also help once youre traveling, with transportation cancellations or delays, baggage loss, medical evacuation, etc. It depends on the coverage you choose, read the whole contract/proposal, and determine how much you are willing to lose. Certainly it's possible to pay more and book some things that are easily cancelled/changed like airfare and hotels, but tours and cruises typically don't offer full cancellation coverage up to the day of a trip. And you don't know if you'll break an ankle or get Covid or something else (both of which have happened to traveling friends).

Like @jaimeelsabio I insure through Allianz. In addition to the 3 levels of coverage for single trips, they also offer an annual plan which covers anything foreign or domestic for an entire year (up to the maximum coverage of course). I've purchased single-trip plans in the past, and the price does go up as your age goes up. I've gotten the annual plan for the first time this year since I have two foreign trips as well as several domestic flying/driving trips; it was quite reasonable. In the event I end up needing to use it I will report back on my experience.