Insurance

[cala8]

Hi All

I would like opinions about travel insurance,I know it is subjective but any feedback would help

[sparks1093]

I get it primarily because I don't have $30k to $50k lying around for a medevac flight. While I could buy a policy dedicated just to that issue I find the package deals to be affordable. Our insurance for our upcoming trip cost about $30 per person when we bought it this time last year (15 months before the trip). We travel without passports so we make sure that we choose a policy that does not exclude coverage if proper travel documentation contributes to the loss.

[CruiserBruce]

You insure what you can't afford to lose. So if you have $10K invested, and you can't afford to lose that, you insure it. Additionally, as mentioned, the possible medical costs outside of the US can be considerable, and may not be covered by your insurance. This assumes you are a US citizen, different circumstances apply in other countries.

 

There is huge volumes of good info on the Cruise/Travel Insurance board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

Edited March 4, 2014 by CruiserBruce

[LHT28]

lots of opinions/advice on the cruise insurance forum

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

 

We do not travel without it

[ducklite]

I can't imagine cruising without it. The chances of losing everything you've worked your entire life to have due to an accident or incident isn't worth the small cost of insurance.

[cala8]

Thanks to everyone for your help,I guess the question I should have asked is do you pay for insurance at time of deposit.Our insurance is more than our deposit so I don't know if I want to wait and take a chance,we have to sign up now to avoid pre existing condition issues Thanks Again

[sparks1093]

Thanks to everyone for your help,I guess the question I should have asked is do you pay for insurance at time of deposit.Our insurance is more than our deposit so I don't know if I want to wait and take a chance,we have to sign up now to avoid pre existing condition issues Thanks Again

 

Your policy will of course dictate but by buying our insurance a year ago we received 1) pre-existing condition waiver and 2) our travel insurance will be primary for medical instead of our regular health insurance. Another benefit- if we bought the same policy today it would be double the cost.

[SparkleBee]

my credit card gives me plenty of travel insurance. check with yours.

[cala8]

Thanks to everyone.Good information.

[Hlitner]

We "preach" this all the time (after over 30 years in the Healthcare Insurance industry) so here goes again. Folks need to divide so-called "travel insurance" into 3 categories. 1. Trip Cancellation, 2. Medical and 3. Trip evacuation! Next you need to carefully assess your own medical insurance as to whether you have any coverage that extends outside the US (including Medical Evacuation) and how good that coverage might be. Travel Medical insurance is actually quite inexpensive (we ourselves carry an Annual Policy that covers every trip (up to 70 days per trip) for an entire year. And that annual policy, which only costs us about $350 for a senior couple, gives us $250,000 of medical coverage and $500,000 of Med Evac.

 

As to Trip Cancellation, keep in mind that your maximum liability is limited to the cost of the trip! Also keep in mind that your medical liability is essentially unlimited! So given this set of circumstances, we are always amazed that folks will pay lots of money for Trip Cancellation (where there maximum loss is known) and not worry about Med and Med Evac where you could be on the hook for easily over $100,000 for a single medical emergency.

 

We have a lot of issues with the policies sold by cruise lines (which usually have very limited medical coverage). Once you have assessed your needs, then shop around for the best policy to fit your situation. Web sites like insuremytrip.com and squaremouth.com are good starting points. Also, if you are an AMEX card holder they offer a very reasonable annual med policy (this is not trip cancellation).

 

Hank

[Krazy Kruizers]

We definitely get insurance.

Have had to use it a few times.

Most recently when winter storm PAX cost us to miss our cruise.

[Kartgv]

my credit card gives me plenty of travel insurance. check with yours.

 

I had read in the past that American Express offered a good, reasonably priced annual travel medical plan. Just tried to find it online and came up with "We are not accepting enrollments in Travel Medical Protection at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience." I'll check Visa and MasterCard and see if they offer anything.

 

We're currently looking for insurance for a 28 day trip. While the cruise line plan offers some good things and convenience (if something happens, they'll be there immediately to handle almost everything), at our age it's far too low in total medical and evacuation coverage. We're currently thinking about doing the cruise line coverage and adding a supplementary medical/evacuation plan. Expensive, but the cost of having a heart attack or stoke, or even a bad fall, in a foreign country without adequate coverage could wipe out much of our hard-earned retirement savings.

[SPacificbound]

I had read in the past that American Express offered a good, reasonably priced annual travel medical plan. Just tried to find it online and came up with "We are not accepting enrollments in Travel Medical Protection at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience." I'll check Visa and MasterCard and see if they offer anything.

 

We're currently looking for insurance for a 28 day trip. While the cruise line plan offers some good things and convenience (if something happens, they'll be there immediately to handle almost everything), at our age it's far too low in total medical and evacuation coverage. We're currently thinking about doing the cruise line coverage and adding a supplementary medical/evacuation plan. Expensive, but the cost of having a heart attack or stoke, or even a bad fall, in a foreign country without adequate coverage could wipe out much of our hard-earned retirement savings.

 

We travel a fair amount in addition to cruise, so we keep the annual Medjet Assist for medical evacuation.

 

http://medjetassist.com/

[buggins0402]

New Chase United card has a decent trip cancellation (covers a provider bankruptcy which some plans do not) as a benefit and no foreign transaction fees. Medical - we'll purchase a GeoBlue single trip. When we're retired and traveling more - a yearly Geo Blue. Now, for the two of us, I'm worried about about covering high end medical expenses that might arise on a trip.

 

Everyone's situation is different - so everyone must assess their risk. I used to buy cancel for any reason insurance when our very elderly mothers, between them with every pre-existing condition imaginable, were alive. At that time, the chance of cancelling for a medical issue arising with one of them was almost as likely than not. If you have elderly parents in frail condition, read the policies, think how difficult it would be to gather medical documents as a third party to cancel under standard policies, and it will become evident that cancel for any reason might be the route to go in this limited circumstance.

Edited March 5, 2014 by buggins0402

[alexspepa]

1. Trip Cancellation, 2. Medical and 3. Trip evacuation!

Hank

 

I would echo this post except to reverse the priority:

 

Trip Evacuation

Medical

Trip Cancellation

[Hlitner]

I had read in the past that American Express offered a good, reasonably priced annual travel medical plan. Just tried to find it online and came up with "We are not accepting enrollments in Travel Medical Protection at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience." I'll check Visa and MasterCard and see if they offer anything.

 

We're currently looking for insurance for a 28 day trip. While the cruise line plan offers some good things and convenience (if something happens, they'll be there immediately to handle almost everything), at our age it's far too low in total medical and evacuation coverage. We're currently thinking about doing the cruise line coverage and adding a supplementary medical/evacuation plan. Expensive, but the cost of having a heart attack or stoke, or even a bad fall, in a foreign country without adequate coverage could wipe out much of our hard-earned retirement savings.

 

We were not aware that AMEX discontinued that program (we stopped buying it about 3 years ago). These days we prefer to annual GeoBlue Plan (part of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Network) which you can find on Google. Their plan is also sold via HTH (another travel insurance provider). The Geoblue plan is similar to the old AMEX plan (about the same price) except it covers the first 70 days of each trip where AMEX used to only cover the first 60 days.

 

Hank