Do you ever NOT get travel insurance for your cruise?

[A Knitter]

Very expensive for non US citizens without insurance for medical care

 

Just today on our news

A lady got a bladder infection while in Florida got meds but had a bad reaction to the drug

was in hospital for 4 days... the bill was about $20,000 :eek:

 

I worked Insurance and Medical Fraud. The bill for $20K is the Norm.

I live in a resort town where many snow birds are from Canada and understand they purchase additional insurance but for a Host/Moderator to make a comment about medical treatment in the US, she should remove her own Post. Sorry Lynn. I have always had trip insurance but that was below the belt. Never having even injured and/or sick abroad, thank goodness, she was out of line. She is the Moderator not the Judge and Jury.

[A Knitter]

It appears Host Sharon removed her anti US post. You did the right thing. :)

[Zoey1]

No, never, as expensive as it is, if you had to cancel or fly home suddenly, while away it would be way more expensive!

[JimandStan]

It appears Host Sharon removed her anti US post. You did the right thing. :)

 

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but my impression was that Host Sharon was reacting in the way that ALL citizens of nations which HAVE Universal Healthcare do when they ponder getting ill outside of their system.

 

While I was having my broken leg tribulations in St. Martin, the German gentleman in the next hospital bed, a chef off of a Windstar cruise ship with a broken hip, was frantically trying to get home where his treatments would be free before the Hospital Bill in St. Martin got too gargantuan.

Nothing sinister or "anti" about it.

[LHT28]

Not to beat a dead horse, but my impression was that Host Sharon was reacting in the way that ALL citizens of nations which HAVE Universal Healthcare do when they ponder getting ill outside of their system.

 

I agree..

That is why most non US citizens do not self insure

We are use to not paying high costs for medical care...

but that is another topic

 

Lyn

[A Knitter]

Not to beat a dead horse, but my impression was that Host Sharon was reacting in the way that ALL citizens of nations which HAVE Universal Healthcare do when they ponder getting ill outside of their system.

 

While I was having my broken leg tribulations in St. Martin, the German gentleman in the next hospital bed, a chef off of a Windstar cruise ship with a broken hip, was frantically trying to get home where his treatments would be free before the Hospital Bill in St. Martin got too gargantuan.

Nothing sinister or "anti" about it.

 

I agree as it would also apply to any US citizen in another country seeking medical care. It is expensive everywhere. If she had an experience worthy of her comment that is one thing but if not I stand behind my comment she was out of line as the Moderator.

[pacheco18]

In Feb 2010, we booked a cruise to South America, Santiago to Buenos Aires.

 

We were flying from Phoenix to Santiago for a pre cruise stay via Atlanta.

 

Atlanta closed down for 4 days due to a freak snowstorm.

 

We had insurance!! and got fully reimbursed (thousands) for the missed cruise. We adjusted our plans, flew to Lima and spend a lot more time in Buenos Aires than originally possible -- it turned out to be better than the cruise would have been.

 

Lesson learned for us. ALWAYS get insurance.

[hypercafe]

If you do not get the insurance from the cruise line you can get cancellation or medical or both together. Since I have found in our case the cancellation part is the largest part of the bill I sometimes just get the medical however I always get the medical as I have seen lots of people air lifted off the ship during the years and I have a friend who had to be flown home from Europe in an air ambulance, not a cheap bill.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

It appears Host Sharon removed her anti US post. You did the right thing. :)

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but my impression was that Host Sharon was reacting in the way that ALL citizens of nations which HAVE Universal Healthcare do when they ponder getting ill outside of their system.

 

I absolutely agree. I do not believe Sharon's remark was anti-US all. It's a fact that medical care in the US is very, very expensive compared to lots of other countries in the developed world. Since our insurance here in Canada only covers the cost of procedures in our own country, we would never travel to the US without travel medical insurance. Snowbirds spend huge amounts of money on this for the privilege of spending their winters (and their money) in the southern US.

[hrprof]

Interesting! We have travelled widely - been to all 7 continents at least twice - were active divers all over the world for 35 years - now 79 years old and leaving tomorrow for 7 weeks on NG Explorer for a cruise on NE coast of South America - back to Africa in February, a month in the Arctic next summer and scheduled for a 3rd visit to the Antarctic in 2015. How many times have we bought insurance over 50 years of intensive travel? Twice. Once for a month long cruise along the West Coast of Africa last year and the 7 weeks we leave on tomorrrow. We have never had to cancel at a loss and always felt that having insurance provides too easy an out! Also, we have saved enough on premiums to pay for a few trips.

 

When we hit 80 next year, this may change abruptly!

 

I should have made it clear that we have medicare suplement coverage

[doubledobles]

We always buy insurance that includes cancellation insurance. I've used it once for some injury on the ship (my back). I am in my 70's and my husband is 89. Since Medicare doesn't pay if something happends out of the country, it's wise to have a policy that does. I just purchased it from our travel agent (for our next trip in December) who has fabulous rates. It also covers your air fare in case you need to cancel your trip.

 

We just had a friend who didn't buy cancellation insurance, had a very bad car accident a week before a trip. They lost all their money when she was hospitalized for two weeks.

[ronrick1943]

I always wondered why I buy the insurance after the cruise is done and everything was OK. Well this January we booked a cruise to Tahiti on "O" in the Owners Suite, First Class Air (discounted, non refundable) and hotel 4 nights before the cruise. Two days before the trip at a routine doctors appointment, that put me in the hospital for 4 nights and not to travel for 30 days till everything worked out. Now I know why I buy travel insurance. Took a few weeks but I got every penny back.

Rick

[wripro]

JimandStan is absolutely correct. Travel insurance may seem like an unwarranted extra expense UNTIL you need it. Then it's cheap compared to what you'd have to shell out.

[potterhill]

We never buy travel insurance. This was on another thread recently and DH pointed out that his work insurance was more than happy to pay for transportation home because then their commitment is complete and we are on our own "free" system.

 

The premiums we would have paid over the years old would be well into tens of thousands(or not, as we likely would have stayed home) and would easily cover any costs we will encounter.

 

Insurance is a racket. We had a couple of legitimate claims on our house, had another from road widening that we sued for rather than put through our insurer and they cancelled us with almost no notice. Wish we had taken them for the one we sued on. It was HUGE.

 

Mo

 

 

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[orchestrapal]

The premiums we would have paid over the years old would be well into tens of thousands(or not, as we likely would have stayed home) and would easily cover any costs we will encounter.

Insurance is a racket. We had a couple of legitimate claims on our house, had another from road widening that we sued for rather than put through our insurer and they cancelled us with almost no notice.

 

We also have self insured over 40 years of travel

but do have yearly health and evacuation insurance for out of the USA.

All the money saved would cover just about any cancellation.

[NC&KY]

It's actually the people who buy insurance that are the gamblers.

It's purely a timing gamble. For those who self-insure, if you never have problems for many years, you've "won" in that you've saved the premiums you would have paid. Assuming you've also put that money aside in a self-insurance fund (rather than splurging on an additional vacation), you have the money to cover any future loss. If, however, you suffer that catastrophic loss in the first couple of years of your self-insurance plan, then you will not have an "insurance fund" to cover your losses. Those of us who buy the insurance are unwilling to gamble on the first big loss not coming until our self-insurance fund has built up big enough to cover it.

[Hawaiidan]

We never buy travel insurance. This was on another thread recently and DH pointed out that his work insurance was more than happy to pay for transportation home because then their commitment is complete and we are on our own "free" system.

 

The premiums we would have paid over the years old would be well into tens of thousands(or not, as we likely would have stayed home) and would easily cover any costs we will encounter.

 

Insurance is a racket. Mo

 

 

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I am in the same position... and saved in a brokerage account as do the insurance companies. This is something you have to start out doing in the beginning planning for the future... I started in my late 30's and today could take a hit of tens of thousands and still plenty in reserve. Then when I quit traveling... the money is still there and can be used for other things

I was amazed at the insurance industry in UK... they sell, vacation insurance, ski insurance, hiking insurance, swimming insurance, cave exploring insurance, camping insurance, mountain climbing insurance, sport insurance..... The industry has sold their public that the sky stands a real chance of falling....... and you better act fast.:eek: As I said before fear of the unknown sells.

[RachelG]

We never buy trip insurance. Over the years, I calculate that we have saved in excess of $20,000 by not buying insurance. My regular medical insurance covers us even out of the country (though getting reimbursed can take a while--my husband did have to go to the ER in Canada once, and we did have to pay upfront, but they took AmEx). If we do have to cancel a trip someday for an unexpected reason, I would be upset for having to cancel, but I know I have saved more than the cost of the cancellation over the years.

 

Now if we were going on a world cruise lasting many months, I might change my mind.

[Smbruner]

As long as our parents are still alive (all 4 are 89) we buy trip insurance whenever we travel. Two of them have been in and out of hospitals this year, so it can be dicey. But not from the cruise companies.

 

When we went to Africa a few years back the tour operator insisted we have trip insurance and we have not traveled without it since.

 

Probably in a few years we will forgo the insurance but for now it's necessary at this time in our lives.

[calvin81]

I bought insurance for my first cruise, as my parents are elderly and have pre-existing conditions. And I got food poisoning on the flight there. I was (relatively) young and in good health -- I never expected to use the insurance myself. The first couple of days I thought it was just an upset stomach, but ended up seeing the doctor when things got worse. Two days of IV antibiotics and all the lab work was close to $2000. My health insurance has a $5000 deductible, so I was thrilled to get a check for the total bill within weeks of coming home. So the idea of investing the premiums over future years of travel will never make sense for me. And let's face it, with travel insurance I just don't worry. You could underinsure your house and "save" the premiums and invest those too! Like the OP said, who is a gambler? Once you've had a good payout you won't go without.

[hondorner]

The idea of self insurance is beguiling...until you have an early claim that prevents ,you from catching up. I had stroke 2 days before a 24 day cruise only 4 years after we began to cruise in earnest. We were insured. That payoff has covered all of my insurance since. The only time I have noticed insurec was a 5 day cruise between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh :).

 

Now we're booked on the O World Cruise, and the first thing I did was buy trip insurance. I only insured for the $250 for which we are at risk before cinal payment, but that was to cover pre-existing conditions. When final pmt1 is due I will pony up for the entire amount. It'll cost over $14,000 for the insurance, but we can't afford to leave $100,000 at risk for 6 months. I fit all of Dan's parameters - advanced age, medical conditions, no out of country health insurance, etc.

 

I look at it as just part of the cost of the trip, like excursions, wine, etc.

 

 

sent from Galaxy Note 8

[hawkeye3d]

I always buy insurance but not the cancel for any reason part. I’ve had several small claims the last one took almost 4 months to collect but I always got reimbursed. My Dr has told me of instances where unpaid treatment has resulted in lawsuits which the hospitals have won. The costs of treatment, never mind the lawsuits, could bankrupt a person.

Bob

[LHT28]

I always buy insurance but not the cancel for any reason part.

Bob

I agree

 

Just wanted to Howdy Neighbour ;)

 

Lyn

[Host Sharon]

Your point?

 

Purely that we hear horror stories here in the UK of the very high costs of US medical care so I need to know I would be insured to cover them if, God forbid, I needed them.

 

But from some of the posts - insurance appears to be a lot cheaper here anyway - I pay around £90 for annual insurance including my pre-existing conditions, and this gives me worldwide cover and up to £10 million medical & repatriation costs.

Edited September 18, 2013 by Host Sharon

[Tutuma]

We always buy trip insurance (for cancellation) + medjetassist.

 

My husband has heart challenges and after an air medical evacuation (before we were with medjetassist) from Lanai to Honolulu for $25,000 for the flight (we paid a significant deductable/co-pay) we don't leave home without it.

 

On a cruise there are multiple opportunities for accident/illness for both of us while on the ship and on shore. We enjoy trips to less than developed countries...if needed, medjetassist will help us deal with the local hospital ie language barriers/financial arrangements and assist us out of there and home to our excellent medical care.

 

You just can not put a dollar value on peace of mind. Agree that everyone has different situations and priorities but we try and make our life stress free and sometimes that takes spending a little money.