Cancel for Any Reason insurance not available?

Hi Ruth,
We just purchased Travel Guard for our upcoming trips. The "cancel for any reason" option did not appear online while booking so we called the 1-800 number. The Travel Guard representative took our information over the phone to sign us up. Try calling Squaremouth directly for assistance. Good luck.

@gtj

Can you tell us how the price of cancel for any reason compares to their regular policies?

What percent do you get back? I've heard anywhere from 50% to 75%.

I've been pretty much self insuring my travels for years with the exception of evacuation insurance. I get a yearly policy for that - about $260. My Medicare supplement insurance pays 50 grand for care outside the USA. And my health is good, though one never knows at my age

I am tempted to buy some extra medical insurance for my next tour, but they don't sell that this early. I will look at it again in 6 months. I fear medical expenses far more than the cost of replacing lost luggage and such.

As far as getting back my non-refundable payments, I have probably saved enough over the past 15 years to pay myself double what I might lose on the next trip. I've only cancelled one trip in my life and it was for reasons that would not trigger an insurance payment. My thoughts are if I can't afford to lose the non-refundable money, then I probably can't afford the trip and should stay home and look for part-time work so I can afford it next year.

"My thoughts are if I can't afford to lose the non-refundable money, then I probably can't afford the trip and should stay home and look for part-time work so I can afford it next year."

One of the best comments made on the RS Forum.

Travel Guard's CFAR was an additional $189.28 for the two of us. 50% covered.

i suspect it is not included because there is too high an overall risk in this time of COVID that many more people will
"cancel for any reason" and the total premiums will not cover the total expenses to the insurance company.
Or it would be prohibitively expensive.

What do you think? If we assume worst case scenario global disaster #2 not covered under standard trip insurance, and we assume I'm a lot more cautious this time around (not purchasing any pre-paid hotels) and we assume most airlines would at least provide a voucher and RS would refund money in the event of such a disaster, under standard trip insurance I would most likely only completely lose the amount pre-paid for a few tours/admissions during the pre/post RS part of our tour, as well as relatively inexpensive train reservations within Italy. So maybe $600-$700 for the two of us. If "cancel for any reason" adds $200 to the cost of insurance, but would only reimburse 50% of our costs ($300-$350) is it worth it? After Covid, I really really wanted to be more careful about trip insurance this next time around. But maybe standard trip insurance is as good as it gets? Plus maybe consider paying more for flights so that they are refundable?

Ruth, I follow the dictum of only insuring for things that are low probability but high cost. I don’t consider the cost of a tour, train, flight in that category. I insure for health care, evacuation, automobile liability, that sort of thing. If you buy up for refundable flights you’ve basically used that additional money to buy insurance of sorts. So, do the math and see whether that’s the way to go or buy CFAR and get 50-75% back. A trend I’m seeing on this board at least is many folks choosing to self insure for much of the trip cost and insuring for catastrophes.

"I live in New York state, if that matters"

It does. At least pre-Covid, cancel for any reason policies were not available to residents of New York State. I have no idea what's available now.

I found this out by talking to an agent at Insure My Trip. So if you have questions that aren't answered on Squaremouth's website, call them.

Ruth,
You brought up that RS refunds money we paid for a RS tour for trip interruption? For example, I have paid in full for the tour and I’m not able to complete the tour for whatever reason? Where is this stated on the website? Also, how much is refunded and under what circumstances? I didn’t know this and am seeking to be educated.
Thanks.

Judy B -- sorry, I left out a lot of my thinking process. I was ONLY considering a scenario like Covid.....something completely unforeseen that shuts everything down. When Covid happened, RS refunded the money people had paid for their tours. That is not standard policy at all.....and it's another good reason to purchase some sort of travel insurance. The only reason I started this thread is that I always felt "covered" by travel insurance, but Covid showed that wasn't true, since most travel insurance did not cover global pandemics (and prior to 2020 I would never have even thought to worry about something like that). Now I'm thinking "what else is out there that I haven't ever considered. Probably not a good way to go, and I'll probably end up with the standard travel insurance like that I've purchased in the past.

Ruth,
Thanks for this clarification, I wasn’t sure if this is what you meant.