Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) Extensive travel insurance-Anyone have first hand experience w/ medical emergency , transportaion, and/or repatriation ?

[winger]

We have never purchased travel insurance yet - but with so many things going on including getting wiser every year, I am starting to look into possibly getting insurance, specifically if an emergency medical event occurs and possible transportation-related costs (like to a different medical facility, and even back home).

We signed up for the CSR Visa years ago because we travel a decent amount (gotta make use of them timeshares, right ?!?) and like the CSR's primary loss/damage coverage on rental vehicles as well as Select Priority Pass benefits for our airport visits. Based on recent planning considerations for my elderly MIL, it got me looking into travel insurance and came across CSR's other benefits and see it also covers "Emergency Evacuation and Transportation" (includes repatriation of remains) and "Emergency Medical and Dental ". I provided a link below if anyone is interested in reading. A couple of things I saw - Transportation covers up to $100,000.00, but there is also a fine print that this must be a "Covered Trip" which is defined as:

– arrangements that are made by a commercial licensed travel establishment consisting of travel agencies and/or common carrier organizations for which the expense has been charged to an Eligible account and for trips that are not less than five (5) days and/or do not exceed sixty (60) days

I really do not know if we arranged our timeshare stays with any timeshare company through our ownership (e.g. Marriott), booked stays directly with hotel, and/or booked our flights directly through the airlines directly if this would be considered a "Covered Trip".


Anyways, has anyone used either one (or both) of these benefits offered by the CSR card? I am wondering if this coverage will be sufficient for the a "normal couple" going on a "normal vacation" (domestic and international travels) or we should consider looking at something with one of the other leading travel insurance companies (like Allianz, etc.) - for either supplementing this CSR benefits or entirely new, standalone coverage ? How funny as we age, we consider risks more - it seemed just yesterday we took the kids on several overseas vacations and did not even consider travel insurance !

https://www.chasebenefits dot com/sapphirereserve2

 

[TheHolleys87]

We have the CSR as well, but when we were planning our more recent overseas trips I felt the medical expense coverage and limits might be too low in the case of a serious illness. We bought additional coverage from American Express (do not have to have an AmEx card) for medical only at a very low price. Fortunately we’ve never had to use travel insurance for our own health related issues (had to cancel a trip once due to son’s health issue, no problems with CSR’s reimbursement).

 

[JudyH]

When I pay my MF or pay the exchange fee with my CSR card, I get reward points. Maybe it would cover if the resort cancelled on me.
I have gotten reimbursed easily for delayed plane flight and resulting hotel stay.
i was also carrying coverage with Med Jet Assist for international flights home, which thankfully we never had to use.

 

[VacationForever]

The cost of your travel - flight and hotels must be paid using CSR Visa. You can book directly with the airline or hotel, that is not an issue. You just need to pay using CSR Visa.

We have filed claims with CSR and gotten paid in each instance because our trips were paid using CSR Visa.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I haven't had personal experience but use the card for coverage. I have interpreted that trips made with the card for airfare (common carrier) and hotel (if applicable) would be covered. I believe they are trying to avoid paying you if you drive and stay with a relative and want reimbursement for that trip because there is no standard rate.

It becomes grey for coverage like evacuation benefits. For example, if you pay for airfare (common carrier) using CSR but stay in a timeshare on points or with friends. Would the evac coverage cover you? I would hope so.

This is why I don't trust insurance companies. They put vague wording into their policies by design. As one Tugger once said, "You don't know if your insurance covers you until you file a claim."

For international trips we always buy a medical policy to be safe. For Mexico its cheap - we paid $15 per person for a week. Not so much for Europe but am considering annual options since they seem to be more cost effective.

 

[JudyH]

When I had to stay over in Argentina last year cause of airplane issues CSR reimbursed for hotel and meals. I booked the air fare with British Air Avios on American Airlines. I only used the CSR card to pay for upgrade from basic to premium economy. Like $100. I have always heard that paying part of the cost with CSR covers you with card benefits.
I pay MF and exchange fees with CRS so it should cover for TS issues or cancellations.

 

[Snazzylass]

I haven't had personal experience but use the card for coverage. I have interpreted that trips made with the card for airfare (common carrier) and hotel (if applicable) would be covered. I believe they are trying to avoid paying you if you drive and stay with a relative and want reimbursement for that trip because there is no standard rate.

It becomes grey for coverage like evacuation benefits. For example, if you pay for airfare (common carrier) using CSR but stay in a timeshare on points or with friends. Would the evac coverage cover you? I would hope so.

This is why I don't trust insurance companies. They put vague wording into their policies by design. As one Tugger once said, "You don't know if your insurance covers you until you file a claim."

For international trips we always buy a medical policy to be safe. For Mexico its cheap - we paid $15 per person for a week. Not so much for Europe but am considering annual options since they seem to be more cost effective.

May I ask, what medical policy do you buy?

 

[bendadin]

We bought Allianz annual plan in January. Such great timing. Two parents, two adult children, two minors. I want to say $410 for the year. We typically go on a few cruises each year. I got pretty sick coming out of Rome in May. $2100 ship medical bill. I normally don't buy flights. Rental car insurance is part of the annual plan and we wanted that. We could have made a claim in February when Disney wouldn't let hubby cruise because he had been in China 21 days prior. At first they were offering to pay for flights home for his cabin but everyone in his cabin flies for free. My cabin had my daughter and grandbabies who don't fly free. So he just flew home and left us to sail back to New Orleans.

So we never made a claim on the annual plan. I made a claim from a Disney cruise medical visit that we purchased through Allianz. That bill got paid quickly.

 

[Jimster]

i did collect on my CSR card for a delayed luggage incident in the amount of over 700 dollars. I will also say the paperwork was oppressive.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

May I ask, what medical policy do you buy?

I have been buying trip polices via the squaremouth portal. The plan we purchased for European skiing had special provisions for ski rental, and pass losses due to injury or illness and included fees to pay for moving injured off the mountain. This policy was $300 less expensive per person than other policies on the portal.

Once we start traveling internationally again. I am going to explore annual policies such as Garmin below because they were less expensive that the one trip policy and they covered active sports.

Annual Travel Insurance Options

When we travel internationally again. There are some annual options such as Garmin, Seven Corners and an Allianz $60 bare bones plan that I had not heard of but appear competitively priced, if not less than, trip specific insurance...

tugbbs.com

 

[isisdave]

I've used CSP coverage for car damage twice ... a scraped wheel in UK and $1700 cracked windshield (only time that's happened in 55 years driving) in NZ. We had to pay and get reimbursed, of course, so we even got points on the windshield as the reimbursement was by check.

I agree that the wording on the medical coverage is vague. I noticed that the definition of Covered Trip was different from that in the other coverages.