Travel Insurance - Anyone get it, if so, what have you used? Discuss

[Pizza67]

Not sure if there have been a general discussion on this before or not, so I thought I'd get one going. Figured that this is something that everyone can benefit from. This doesn't necessarily have to be for a trip to Mexico, can be for domestic travel, cruise, etc.

I never really thought about insurance before the last couple of years, but given the cost involved with travel now, getting older and having some medical things pop up (again, getting older lol), it's something to consider.

I've gotten insurance through Delta when I booked a trip with them before to Vegas.

Have also gotten the insurance via Vidanta (not theirs, but they offer it, MAPFRE Assistance) when I booked last year. It covers up to 7 or 9 people. Actually had to use it (tried to at least), one of our party needed to see the resort Doctor, but I didn't read the super fine print where it had to be filed within 48 hrs (my fault).

The price for both of the above were about the same, but the Mexican one does cover a large group.

I've seen ads for AIG's Travel Guard, which has three price levels, seems pretty reasonable.

So, for anyone that gets travel insurance, do you have a preferred one?

 

[Eric B]

I accidentally got it from RCI once when I forgot to uncheck the box for an exchange. Not sure what it covered, though. I usually don’t get travel insurance; I’m retired military and have pretty good coverage for medical care through Tricare.

 

[Passepartout]

I strongly suggest you read my thread about foreign travel and insurance. https://www.tugbbs.com/forums/index.php?threads/insurance-for-foreign-travel.276994/ The bottom line takeaway is (and we really bought it accidentally) to make sure that the medical coverage is PRIMARY! This means that a medical provider can bill the travel insurance directly. If your home insurance is listed as primary coverage, you may have to pay upfront then seek reimbursement after you get home. For instance, you may have to provide diagnosis, treatment, test results, and a summary from the treating facility/doctor in English. Difficult to impossible to get.

Primary coverage doesn't cost that much more, but it can be all important.

So far on my emergency heart surgery in Germany, travel insurance has paid (estimated) up to $100,000 and getting us home with a rescue nurse and Business class flights was between $20K and $25,000.

I will summarize the costs when (if) I get the numbers.

Jim

 

[hurnik]

I usually get the travel insurance third party (www.insuremytrip.com). Make sure to get the "comprehensive" policy. When I had my dog, I had to get the "cancel for any reason" policy (ie: Dog got sick, so I can't go, is not a "covered" reason under 99% of policies I've seen).

I usually prefer CSA (more expensive) but have also used MH Ross (now Tripassure).
I can no longer recommend tripassure as they took forever to process the last claim (their website and even the policy says you only needed to submit XYZ and then 3 months later they said they needed copies of the plane tickets). Took 6 months to process the claim.

Also, both the comprehensive and cancel for any reason usually require that you purchase the plan within 14 days of * initial trip payment* in order for the coverages to fully kick in. Especially the pre-existing condition waiver. My mom had cancer, so we had to make sure to get that waived.

I can't speak for Delta, but when I was purchasing a United ticket, they offered a plan for $20. But I didn't go with it because it wasn't clear if it only covered the plane tickets (it even titled the policy something like air travel or something).

The older you are, the more expensive the plan. Like if there's 4 of us, and we're 50 and younger, I could get comprehensive for like $100. Add on my 67/72 year old parents and it'd shoot up to $250.

That being said:

I've had to use the travel insurance 4 times:

1) on a cruise I got sick and got quarantined to my room (lovely) for 2 days. They reimbursed me for the 2 days of the cruise. (CSA)
2) I got sick in Mexico and had a doctor visit. It was $300. They paid that (my insurance won't cover me unless it's an actual Emergency room visit and even then only at specific hospitals).
3) I was delayed by 8+ hours and they covered my meals at the airport (and would've covered a hotel if we had not made the connecting flight). AA refused to do anything, but we did get a glass of water after 3 hours on the tarmac.
4) My travel companion tweaked his back while we were in Hawaii and they paid the $250 (this was the 6 month claim). Neither of our insurances cover anything in Hawaii (well mine has one doctor in the entire state, which was on a diff. island).

With SFX, they now offer a policy through Travel Guard which is comprehensive for $99. Which is very reasonable. It covers up to like $7500 for travel stuff.

You may need to find something with higher medical and air evac (always useful).

Remember:
Insurance isn't a money maker, so don't look at it as "wasted" money. (ie: I spent $200 and didn't even use it). Trust me. You don't *want* to have to use it.

 

[hurnik]

I accidentally got it from RCI once when I forgot to uncheck the box for an exchange. Not sure what it covered, though. I usually don’t get travel insurance; I’m retired military and have pretty good coverage for medical care through Tricare.

Yeah, it wasn't clear on the RCI check out if it's travel insurance or "points protection" type of thing.
I googled for it and found one blog entry that indicated RCI had actual travel insurance, but the link they provided and how to access it, doesn't show up on my RCI (via HGVC) website.

And I get nothing from RCI other than the confirmation email (typically any time I've purchased insurance from say, HGVC when they had it, or SFX, I get a separate email with the CSA/Travel Guard policy information).

But HGVC no longer has the Travel Guard policy for HGVC points (or at least it's not offered in New York any more). But that was points specific only, not really travel insurance.

That's the other thing I should mention:

Almost nobody has a policy for reimbursement of your points/MF.
If I book a Hilton timeshare and it costs me 7000 points (my MF are almost $1,000) the only thing I'd be reimbursed for would be the $59 booking fee. I'd loose my points and the $1,000. (Hilton has a cancellation protection you can buy that would redeposit your points up until I think the day of arrival?)

RCI would be similar:
I'd only be reimbursed by my travel insurance for the $239 booking fee. (Unless I purchase the RCI protection).

Same with any frequent flier/award travel points/miles. Insurance typically will cover non-refundable costs. Most airlines would let you re-deposit the points for a $200 fee (for example). Not sure about amtrak or Southwest/Jet Blue.

Just saying.

 

[silentg]

We have travel insurance for our vacation to France in October. As we get older and into Medicare we will probably get travel insurance for all trips out of the USA
It’s not that much and it is a safety net that hopefully we will never use.
Silentg

 

[easyrider]

For our next trip to Mexico we used "Insure my trip " using the filters for a policy that included pre-existing conditions and payment for trip 6 months ago. There was only three. I then called insure my trip and the representative explained that if my condition was stable for 60 days that I didn't need the pre-existing coverage. When I took the filter off there was a full page of policies.

I ended up picking a Nation Wide policy that made the medical benefits primary. It doesn't matter when I made the first payment for this trip. I didn't really care about the other trip costs but they are also insured as secondary.

Bill

 

[bankr63]

From the Canadian perspective, we have a full-time family travel medical insurance policy. Covers any medical situations when travelling out of our own province (in province, everything is covered by the provincial plan). Interestingly, the only time I have used travel medical was before I started getting travel medical. My ex was pregnant with our first (mid second trimester; safe to travel) when she ran into some difficulty in PV. I had insurance through work, and through the credit card I made the booking with. My work insurance was impossible to get a hold of. My credit card carrier was great; and responded immediately with what help they could.

DXW ended up spending 2 days in hospital, and my unborn daughter was saved. Mother-to-be was also restricted to bed rest for the remainder of our two week vacation, and for the remainder of the pregnancy when we returned. I did have to pay cash OOP for the hospital stay and tests, with later full reimbursement by the insurance company. Had to go to two bank machines to scrape together the cash; the hospital did not accept credit cards. Don't remember the exact cost, but do remember that it was actually less expensive than the two nights we missed at the Fiesta Americana. We actually thanked the PV doctor in DD's birth announcement.

Now with my son (who is T1 Diabetic) in varsity track and travelling to meets all over the US and Canada, I am more comfortable with a full time policy. I was very careful in evaluating plans and actually reading the coverage terms for this one. Had a prior carrier that I found out after careful reading had really left us completely uncovered on many of our travels. However, knock on wood, now that I have had the coverage for several years, I have never actually had to claim or test the quality of the coverage I have.

We do not generally get travel cancellation/interruption insurance unless we see a high probability of cancelling. If I paid for this coverage on every booking I made, I would soon outstrip the reimbursable cost (generally just the cost of points for most of our trips) of one trip. Just not worth it IMO.

 

[Karen G]

I have had to use trip insurance twice and was so glad I had it both times. Both times I had to cancel a cruise because of injuries sustained before the cruise even started. Everything was covered that related to the cruises including airfare, hotel stays before/after cruises, and the costs of the cruises.

 

[Passepartout]

We've filed several claims over and above the recent medical and evacuation claims- that so far, we don't know how will work out. We have an upcoming reservation for an independent trip to Italy with flights, hotels and rental cars. My doc has said he isn't thrilled with my flying long hauls with the recent heart work, so we cancelled the upcoming trip. The tour company (Gate 1) has already refunded half the cost, but because the trip is only 30 days out, there was no refund of the airfare. The unrefunded amount will be submitted to the travel insurance. We expect the claim to be honored.

 

[WinniWoman]

We actually use Generali for our domestic timeshare weeks, mainly for the cancellation component because they cover maintenance fees. We would never travel anywhere without insurance.

We have a credit card with insurance included- but it is only up to $1500 per trip. So often times I will use it for- let's say- just our rental lodging and then purchase more insurance for the rest of the trip. The credit card also has insurance for the car rental.

As Jim has said- overseas is a whole 'nother ballgame and you need more extensive coverage there because of the medical component.

 

[jehb2]

We got insurance for our trip to Europe mainly for medical evacuations. Really wasn’t much for a family of four for a 35 day trip. About 1/2 an hour from Paris Myferrylink workers burned truck tires on the Eurostar tracks. Our train had to return to London.

Eurostar wouldn’t tell us why we were returning but DH found out immediately on the internet. Then I quickly booked tickets on British Air. We had to spend an extra day in London. Travel insurance reimbursed us for our food, lodging, and transportation. The reimbursement more than exceeded the cost of the insurance.

 

[ragdoll]

This website has very clear information about buying trip insurance: tripinsurancestore.com. They offer policies from several comapnies and has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. I have not used them myself, but I am about to.

 

[Kazy]

Now that we are on Medicare, we buy travel insurance for every trip that we take out of the US. We don't normally take cruises but stumbled across tripinsurancestore on Cruise Critic. It is highly recommended there. We have used them every since finding them about 5 years ago. We have never had to use the insurance luckily but we have been very happy with the level of their customer service for general questions and help. It gives us an extra layer of security as we can actually talk to a live person who listens and could help expedite things if needed. Highly recommend Steve, the owner, and his staff. With all that being said, we still do price comparisons with AAA or the tour operator if not traveling independently. We are doing a Viking river cruise for the first time in the fall and the coverage and price was better than any of the insurance store's plans.

 

[Passepartout]

Now that we are on Medicare, we buy travel insurance for every trip that we take out of the US. We don't normally take cruises but stumbled across tripinsurancestore on Cruise Critic.

Just be SURE that the medical component is PRIMARY. You do not want to have to pay upfront, then submit a claim to your Medicare providor, then submit yet another claim to the travel insurance. With Primary coverage, they pay the medical care directly. If you read my posts under '''foreign travel insurance" you will understand why.

Jim

 

[bobpark56]

We usually buy one of the annual, GeoBlue Trekker packages, as they cover us for a full year over multiple trips and for stays in all types of units. Unfortunately they sell only to folks under 84 years of age, and this will be the final year I can purchase this insurance. Does anyone know of a good annual replacement plan that would cover those of us 84 and older?

 

[Deb from NC]

I have started buying travel insurance when we travel overseas or take a cruise. I use InsureMyTrip.com and bought Travelex for my last two trips. Haven’t had to use it yet, but it’s worth it for the peace of mind. We had a family tragedy last year where my brother in law had a heart attack and died while traveling overseas. Thank God he and his companion had travel insurance, they took care of everything and were wonderful throughout....
Now I never travel without insurance.

 

[easyrider]

We actually use Generali for our domestic timeshare weeks, mainly for the cancellation component because they cover maintenance fees. We would never travel anywhere without insurance.

We have a credit card with insurance included- but it is only up to $1500 per trip. So often times I will use it for- let's say- just our rental lodging and then purchase more insurance for the rest of the trip. The credit card also has insurance for the car rental.

As Jim has said- overseas is a whole 'nother ballgame and you need more extensive coverage there because of the medical component.

I thought about purchasing the Generali prime because it has a lot to offer. Then after going through the policy I decided to go with a different policy because most of the overages with the Generali prime are secondary meaning I would have to deal with my insurance and wait to see what wasn't covered before the travel insurance reimbursed me. Too me this is fine regarding trip costs but it isn't something I want to do regarding medical concerns while on a trip. That is why I bought a travel policy that has medical as primary and travel costs as secondary.

Bill

 

[Passepartout]

I thought about purchasing the Generali prime because it has a lot to offer. Then after going through the policy I decided to go with a different policy because most of the overages with the Generali prime are secondary meaning I would have to deal with my insurance and wait to see what wasn't covered before the travel insurance reimbursed me. Too me this is fine regarding trip costs but it isn't something I want to do regarding medical concerns while on a trip. That is why I bought a travel policy that has medical as primary and travel costs as secondary.

Bill

Good thinking, Bill. If this thread accomplished one thing, it was to emphasize and educate about the difference between PRIMARY and SECONDARY coverage. In many cases, secondary coverage is tantamount to no coverage to your loss.

READ those policies and make sure you are really insuring against very real loss that the carrier can't just refuse to cover.

Jim

 

[VacationForever]

We usually buy one of the annual, GeoBlue Trekker packages, as they cover us for a full year over multiple trips and for stays in all types of units. Unfortunately they sell only to folks under 84 years of age, and this will be the final year I can purchase this insurance. Does anyone know of a good annual replacement plan that would cover those of us 84 and older?

This is also what we started purchasing this year. GeoBlue Trekker Choice annual plan for overseas multi trip.

 

[barongan]

Subscribed to this one

 

[WinniWoman]

I thought about purchasing the Generali prime because it has a lot to offer. Then after going through the policy I decided to go with a different policy because most of the overages with the Generali prime are secondary meaning I would have to deal with my insurance and wait to see what wasn't covered before the travel insurance reimbursed me. Too me this is fine regarding trip costs but it isn't something I want to do regarding medical concerns while on a trip. That is why I bought a travel policy that has medical as primary and travel costs as secondary.

Bill

Yes, right. We buy it for the trip costs as we have health insurance right now through our jobs and we essentially only travel domestically anyway.

Once we are on Medicare or/and retired- and if we travel outside the country -we will have to do the same as you. (Though when we went to Scotland a few years ago we did only buy CSA Travel insurance).

 

[Pizza67]

Lots of great information/insight here. Thank you everyone!!

 

[Pizza67]

Lots of great information/insight here. Thank you everyone!!

 

[Sandra Huston]

NO, I don't have travel insurance.