Serious question: Why does anyone buy trip insurance unless old or tight budget?

[rochelle_s]

You know what, pokerpro, come back and tell us what a bad deal cruise insurance is when you stop taking your $799 NCL cruises and take a longer cruise, in a more faraway area. Sure, most can handle losing money on a cheap cruise in the Caribbean, but it's a whole new poker tournament when you take a cruise on a higher end line, in more exotic ports, for longer than 21 days, where medical care is poor or non-existent. Try booking all, or part, of a world cruise where your fare is 6 digits per person. Try getting sick or injured in a place like Namibia, or Sri Lanka or Cambodia. I'm all in that you'd change your bet when they flip the river card and you're out thousands of dollars, maybe even hundreds of thousands, for medical care and medical flights.

 

Pressing the LIKE button. :)

 

 

 

Rochelle

[donaldsc]

Not trying to be condescending here, but trip insurance is one of the worst value things one can purchase. It's pretty much throwing money away unless you have a high chance of using it.

 

I can only think of three scenarios where it makes sense to purchase trip insurance:

 

1) You are living on a tight budget, and the money you lose by not being able to go would be so financially devastating that you couldn't travel again for a long time.

 

2) You are old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance that something will change for the worse between now and your trip.

 

3) You have a family member who is old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance you will have to attend their funeral or final details, and have to cancel the trip.

 

Otherwise, it's a complete waste of money, yet I see many upper-middle class families waste their money on this garbage.

 

Someone please explain to me why they bother.

 

I totally agree w you in general. We are oldish but not in poor health and we do not take trip insurance. However, what you have left out is the need for medical and evacuation. That is a necessity even if you do not take trip insurance.

 

DON

[RJ2002]

Not trying to be condescending here, but trip insurance is one of the worst value things one can purchase. It's pretty much throwing money away unless you have a high chance of using it.

 

I can only think of three scenarios where it makes sense to purchase trip insurance:

 

1) You are living on a tight budget, and the money you lose by not being able to go would be so financially devastating that you couldn't travel again for a long time.

 

2) You are old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance that something will change for the worse between now and your trip.

 

3) You have a family member who is old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance you will have to attend their funeral or final details, and have to cancel the trip.

 

Otherwise, it's a complete waste of money, yet I see many upper-middle class families waste their money on this garbage.

 

Someone please explain to me why they bother.

 

Travel interruption/cancellation insurance is becoming less important to us, though we do have a situation as you outlined in #3 above. For now, we are insuring overseas trips with over $10K in potential exposure.

 

However, as others have mentioned, accidents can happen anywhere. We certainly insure ourselves for medical evacuation. We are fortunate that our health insurance policy (pre-Medicare) covers us for out of pocket overseas medical costs.

[Donray]

Question for pokerpro5

 

 

Do you carry any insurance? I hope you do not carry home insurance because the chance of you needing it is very low. It would be lower then you getting sick on a cruise and not have any insurance to cover costs.

 

Also, I hope your do not carry car insurance since getting in an accident is also very low risk. Over the years you would pay more for auto insurance than the car is worth after 10 years.

 

Tell us what insurance you carry and why?

 

Also, what vacations have you taken where the per person cost was say $6,000 or greater.

[chrispb]

FYI--I received medical treatment in Canada and got a bill. There was nothing "free" about it. I suspect the same thing would happen in the UK.

 

That is exactly what should happen, but some unscrupulous visitors use false names, addresses, etc. and skip off home. There's talk of them tightening up but I'm not holding my breath.

[dsrdsrdsr]

I can only think of three scenarios where it makes sense to purchase trip insurance:

 

1) You are living on a tight budget, and the money you lose by not being able to go would be so financially devastating that you couldn't travel again for a long time.

 

2) You are old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance that something will change for the worse between now and your trip.

 

3) You have a family member who is old or in poor health, and there is a fair chance you will have to attend their funeral or final details, and have to cancel the trip.

4. Just one more possible scenario - you are one of the 100% of living people who have a beating heart which may have an attack at any moment resulting in a sudden an unexpected bill for $50,000+.

 

Having a heart attack is bad. Having a heart attack while worried about losing your home is worse.

[Algebralovr]

I'm in the camp of never traveling outside the US without trip insurance. We purchase through USAA.

 

It gave us piece of mind in June. We didn't end up needing to use it, but we were glad we had it. My healthy DD got sick in May, and about 2 weeks before the trip was still not up to full health. In fact, she had complications. We were on the way to the airport to fly across the Atlantic and discussing whether we were going on the trip or turning around and going home to call the insurance company. Our solution was to purchase a wheelchair and work out a reduced schedule with her, knowing that if she suffered a severe setback, we could cancel and go back home.

 

Then, on the way home, our flight experienced a delay and we missed our connection back to the US. Air Canada took care of us, very well in fact, but knowing that I could invoke the trip delay part meant I didn't have to worry.

 

By comparison, a friend ended up with a nightmare on a trip to Bermuda. They flew rather than cruised, and had to transfer planes in Atlanta. They left their home airport at 6 am, and the flight in Atlanta took off without them. Delta didn't provide food vouchers in spite of a multi - hour delay, ended up rerouting them in a strange way, and they spent one night sleeping on the floor in an airport. They finally arrived in Bermuda more than a day delayed. If they had bought travel insurance, they would have been reimbursed for meals, and when it became apparent that it was going to be such a delay, could have booked their own replacement air tickets on another airline with the insurance company's concierge assistance.

[ducklite]

That is exactly what should happen, but some unscrupulous visitors use false names, addresses, etc. and skip off home. There's talk of them tightening up but I'm not holding my breath.

 

 

I gladly paid that bill, by the way. The care was fantastic and compassionate, and I felt the bill was entirely reasonable. They patched me up until I could get to my regular doc back home. I was in Thunder Bay at the time.

[ducklite]

the cg does not bill...in which command is she?

 

 

No idea of the "command." She's based out if a base in NE.

[ducklite]

True story.. My last cruise had been paid in full three week see arlier. Airfare was booked. Hotels were booked. And then I had a medical situation with two different doctors telling me to cancel. One said cancer, another said immediate surgery. I saw another doctor who said none of the above, surgery "eventually." But had it been cancer, I would have been out $10K without insurance. I am not old nor infirm, and was actually training to run a marathon at the time. I had no symptoms, the situation was discovered by accident while I was being treated for something completely unrelated. Life comes at you fast...

Edited July 28, 2014 by ducklite

[pokerpro5]

Question for pokerpro5

 

 

Do you carry any insurance? I hope you do not carry home insurance because the chance of you needing it is very low. It would be lower then you getting sick on a cruise and not have any insurance to cover costs.

 

Also, I hope your do not carry car insurance since getting in an accident is also very low risk. Over the years you would pay more for auto insurance than the car is worth after 10 years.

 

Tell us what insurance you carry and why?

 

Also, what vacations have you taken where the per person cost was say $6,000 or greater.

 

ANSWERS:

 

1) I carry auto, home, and health insurances.

 

2) I have not taken any vacations where the per person cost is more than $6000.

 

So why do I carry those three insurances?

 

The main reason is that all three of these would result in STAGGERING losses of 6 or 7 figures in the worst case.

 

I own my home outright. If it burns down and I have no insurance, I am out the entire value of the rebuilding cost.

 

Health insurance is now required by law. Even when it wasn't, it is possible to have 7-figure medical bills if you come down with a very serious illness. Therefore, again, not having insurance is catastrophic.

 

Auto insurance covers me in case I hit someone, it's my fault, and I owe them money for my liability. Again, this can end up in the 7 figures (and often the 6 figures), so again, having no auto insurance (or having too little) is catastrophic.

 

I do not insure my trips. Why? Because if I can't make my trip, I lose a few thousand dollars. Even on my more expensive trips, I lose around $10,000. That isn't something I would be happy about, but it would not be catastrophic, nor would it change my lifestyle. Therefore, I am not going to waste my money on a policy with a TERRIBLE VALUE for the average consumer, just to save myself a few thousand (or even ten thousand) in the "best" case of needing it.

 

In addition, it is important to understand that the value to the consumer (the percentage of premiums returned as payout to the average policy holder) is MUCH higher in auto/home/health than in trip interruption. It's not even close. All insurance companies are run for-profit, but trip insurance has insane profit margins, while the other forms are highly competitive with one another and do not.

 

Next time I take a trip out of the country (my cruise in a week is to Alaska, so that doesn't apply here), I will indeed look into foreign medical insurance. But I haven't been criticizing foreign medical insurance. I have been criticizing trip interruption insurance.

 

Once again, anyone who wants to beat the drum of, "Trip interruption insurance is a good idea", ask yourself if you would pay double or triple for the same coverage (if there were no cheaper options). If the answer is "no", ask yourself why not. If your response would be, "The value wouldn't be there. It wouldn't be worth it", well guess what? It's already a horrible value.

 

That's the point I've been trying to make.

 

All of the anecdotes in the world of, "I bought trip insurance and I couldn't make it because of XXXXX and now I'm sooooo happy I did!" is just a matter of circumstance and does not answer whether or not it's a good or terrible idea to buy trip insurance. It just means in your individual case it worked out due to the way things fell, but not whether it was a good idea in the first place.

Edited July 28, 2014 by pokerpro5

[calliopecruiser]

I have been criticizing trip interruption insurance.

 

Well.......you never actually said that. You questioned "trip insurance", which could be a lot of things -- trip medical, trip cancellation, trip property losses, etc. I took it to mean any insurance purchased specifically for your trip.

[cruisead]

Your posts never said trip interruption insurance specifically, you only kept pounding on "travel insurance". Perhaps if you had started this thread specifically stating trip cancellation, this thread would not have gone on forever.

[ducklite]

Adding on interruption, etc. to a medical/evac policy costs pennies. $2 or so per $10K of cover. Those are pretty good odds where I learned math. The evac/medical is the most likely to be claimed and has the highest limits of cover--the actuaries take that into account when pricing policies. PS--I have a brokers licens e(although I have never used it) but worked for a major insurance company for years (who underwrites a variety of ABL and PC products), so I do have a clue about the industry and what I am talking about.

 

BTW--you carry auto because it's a crime not to in every state. I just wish that was prosecuted in all states like it is in NJ.

[John1928]

Once again, anyone who wants to beat the drum of, "Trip interruption insurance is a good idea", ask yourself if you would pay double or triple for the same coverage (if there were no cheaper options). If the answer is "no", ask yourself why not. If your response would be, "The value wouldn't be there. It wouldn't be worth it", well guess what? It's already a horrible value.

 

That's the point I've been trying to make.

 

Do you fly down a day early to make sure you catch the boat? Do you select more expensive airfare that's either non-stop or closer to your home or the port to reduce the risk of missing the boat? Do you leave for the airport early or with just enough time to catch your plane if all of the TSA gates are open with no waiting? All of those are forms of insurance by another name and all have their own cost in time or dollars while covering a more limited set of circumstances (flat tire, weather delay, plane breakdown, etc.). All also reduce stress, hassle, and check a box off the "do I need to worry about XYZ" list.

 

Typically with our family the costs associated with the above (and we typically do at least 2 of the 3) would be at least comparable and potentially significantly more expensive than a trip insurance policy which also provides evacuation, emergency medical, weather, strike, airline bankruptcy, and other benefits... I think you've convinced me we SHOULD be buying trip insurance and flying down the morning of departure? ;)

[chrispb]

I gladly paid that bill, by the way. The care was fantastic and compassionate, and I felt the bill was entirely reasonable. They patched me up until I could get to my regular doc back home. I was in Thunder Bay at the time.

 

Thank you. I wish all visitors to the UK were like you:)

[ducklite]

Thank you. I wish all visitors to the UK were like you:)

 

 

I am spending two weeks in the UK early next year, and have purchased travel insurance which includes health care. I take personal responsibility seriously, it's unfortunate that some gamble with these things and the expect others to foot the bill due to their lack of morals and a sense of entitlement.

Edited July 28, 2014 by ducklite

[ghstudio]

For those over 65 and living in the US (Medicare), there is no medicare coverage by Part A or Part B outside the united states if you are on a trip. You can purchase a medicare advantage plan that replaces medicare and may have coverage outside the US....or you can purchase a medigap C,D,F,G,M N policy which will cover emergency medical care outside the US (up to a $ limit).

 

Evacuation from the ship to a hospital that can treat you varies from "free" if you are transported by the US Coast Guard to $many if you are transported by some other means in other parts of the world. It certainly can exceed $25000.

 

Then there is the cost of a flight home, perhaps with a doctor next to you. That's where the big bucks come in...costs can be over $100,000. It is generally much cheaper to be deceased, riding in a box, than to fly home with a doctor and medical equipment....and given the cost, some probably consider the option (just kidding, of course).

 

If you want to cover this flight home cost, there are a few companies that insure just that service such as MedJet on a trip or annual basis. There are other reasons why you may (should) have medjet, even if you carry separate travel insurance but that's a different topic.

 

Those are the big cost items...as long as you are willing to insure the cost of the cruise, the cost of catching up with the cruise, the full cost of lost luggage and so on.

 

We would not consider travelling overseas without MedJet and Medigap coverage...but on some cruises, that's all we carry. We always fly in at least a day early and we're prepared to eat the cruise fare if we have to cancel at the last minute.

 

Generally speaking Travel insurance costs about 8-10% of the trip cost....(excluding medigap/medjet). The decision to buy is of course up to you.

Edited July 29, 2014 by ghstudio