Trip insurance

[fshagan]

Just a note on primary vs. secondary medical coverage: primary isn't always the best choice.

 

We use both insuremytrip.com and tripinsurancestore.com. Tripinsurancestore has a page where they explain why primary medical coverage isn't always better.

 

The math works out this way if you have a trip insurance medical policy of $50,000 and larger medical costs of $70,000:

 

Trip insurance as primary:

- Trip insurance pays $50,000 of your $70,000

- Your health insurance has a $5,000 deductible and 20% copay; it pays $12,000 of the $20,000 left

- You pay $8,000

 

Trip insurance as secondary:

- Your health insurance pays $51,000, the $70k less the $5k deductible and 20% copay of $14k

- You owe $19,000 still, your deductible plus the co-pay

- You submit the balance to the travel insurance policy. Because the $19,000 is less than the policy amount, they reimburse you.

- You pay $0

 

In my case my health insurance only covers me in the US. Your policy may cover you in other countries, but not while at sea. Or it may cover you everywhere. If you have coverage while traveling abroad the question of primary vs. secondary is important. Then you have to look at what your copay and deductibles are.

 

Because my insurance doesn't cover me out of the country the choice of primary or secondary has no effect at all. My health insurance would just deny the entire claim, and my trip insurance would consider the rest of the claim up to the policy limits. Most Americans are in my situation. Everyone on Social Security is, unless their "medi-gap" insurance includes travel insurance. I've heard Australians are not covered out of the country, even while "on the high seas" between ports in Australia.

[moki'smommy]

An interesting example, but as you noted it is irrelevant to those of us who have policies that specifically exclude coverage for anything outside the US.

 

The medical insurance coverage is my main reason for purchasing travel insurance. If necessary, I could afford to lose the cost of the trip (I wouldn't be happy, but .....) On the other hand, a large medical bill with no coverage could be devastating.

[Flatbush Flyer]

Just a note on primary vs. secondary medical coverage: primary isn't always the best choice.

 

We use both insuremytrip.com and tripinsurancestore.com. Tripinsurancestore has a page where they explain why primary medical coverage isn't always better.

 

The math works out this way if you have a trip insurance medical policy of $50,000 and larger medical costs of $70,000:

 

Trip insurance as primary:

- Trip insurance pays $50,000 of your $70,000

- Your health insurance has a $5,000 deductible and 20% copay; it pays $12,000 of the $20,000 left

- You pay $8,000

 

Trip insurance as secondary:

- Your health insurance pays $51,000, the $70k less the $5k deductible and 20% copay of $14k

- You owe $19,000 still, your deductible plus the co-pay

- You submit the balance to the travel insurance policy. Because the $19,000 is less than the policy amount, they reimburse you.

- You pay $0

 

In my case my health insurance only covers me in the US. Your policy may cover you in other countries, but not while at sea. Or it may cover you everywhere. If you have coverage while traveling abroad the question of primary vs. secondary is important. Then you have to look at what your copay and deductibles are.

 

Because my insurance doesn't cover me out of the country the choice of primary or secondary has no effect at all. My health insurance would just deny the entire claim, and my trip insurance would consider the rest of the claim up to the policy limits. Most Americans are in my situation. Everyone on Social Security is, unless their "medi-gap" insurance includes travel insurance. I've heard Australians are not covered out of the country, even while "on the high seas" between ports in Australia.

 

 

If someone's regular policy has a $5k deductible(!) and would still expect a copay (of any amount) after the primary travel insurance had covered far more than the copay on that claim, s/he should be looking for a new regular health insurance carrier. The same goes for restrictive Medicare supplements: choose one whose coverage transfers to a "basic policy" with international coverage whenever traveling outside the US.

 

That said, please understand that I'd still pick up a comprehensive travel policy with waiver of preexisting conditions (in my case, preferably as primary) and make all travel related purchases on a travel savvy credit card (actually two from the same company [e.g., United Explorer Visa] to effectively double the card's coverage limit). Perhaps a touch of overkill but, also, tremendous peace of mind.

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

I looked at the coverage provided by my credit card after we experienced a 24 hour delay of trip due to fog (which was 100% covered by my travel insurance). The interesting part was that claims had to be made within 7 days of the event. This would have required us to start a claim before the end of our trip.

 

Just a note for others to check if you have any need to use this coverage! Our privately purchased trip insurance stated that we needed to start a claim within 90 days of the event--much more sensible!

[cyclenut]

While everyone here has advocated for trip insurance, we doin't always purchase it. We evaluate each cruise to decide if we need trip insurance or not. Much of the time we opt out. If it is just my wife and I and we can drive to the port, the chances are much lower that we'd miss the cruise. If we are just planning on being beach bums, the risk of injury is pretty low too. We are rolling the dice a bit. That's the thing about insurance. It reduces your risk. We decided to purchase the trip insurance for our 14 day Panama Canal because we booked so far in advance and we'll have to fly to and from two different ports.

[moki'smommy]

I fully concur that trip insurance is not a good investment. If it were, the insurance company wouldn't make any money! Over the years, we've had two relatively small claims--one for a minor visit to the medical center during a 24 night cruise and one recent for the trip delay due to fog. However, I don't feel that I can risk what could be a large medical bill outside of the US.

[firegal2539]

I disagree with moki"smom and others will disagree with me. Trip insurance is necessary. There is more than trip delay and a ship doctor visit. The last cruise I was on (4 days) a woman in her 30s slipped and fell and broke her leg on the third day. She saw ship doctor first, then in Nassau the hospital where they just wrapped her leg until we got to Miami where she went in for surgery. The bills for ship and Nassau were over $4000 and then you will have Miami and she didn't have travel insurance and maxed out two credit cards to pay.

 

Travel insurance is a game of do I really need to pay that $100 for peace of mind or just chance nothing happening. I don't want to chance it and I always purchase TravelGuard with extras added in, hospital of choice, more coverage on medical, etc.

 

 

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[moki'smommy]

I don't think you are disagreeing with me at all. I said that I buy it for the medical coverage. We've been lucky and not had anything horrible happen while on a cruise. But should something happen, I do have the coverage.

 

Similar to your situation, I've seen a teen on board fall and sustain a compound fracture. Bad stuff can happen to anyone and can cost a lot without the insurance coverage.

 

For most people who purchase, it is not a good investment--we've purchased it dozens of times and used it twice for very low dollar claims. This is the typical situation for most purchasers. BUT for the one person who has a serious illness or injury, it can be critically important.

[fshagan]

An interesting example' date=' but as you noted it is irrelevant to those of us who have policies that specifically exclude coverage for anything outside the US.

 

The medical insurance coverage is my main reason for purchasing travel insurance. If necessary, I could afford to lose the cost of the trip (I wouldn't be happy, but .....) On the other hand, a large medical bill with no coverage could be devastating.[/quote']

 

This is exactly how we feel too. Primary vs. secondary medical coverage is moot in our case, and there's no reason to pay the extra $25 to $50 for it. Because of our age we feel it is prudent to spend the extra money for medical coverage, as taking a $50,000 to $100,000 hit to our retirement savings - the only way we could pay those bills - would be money we couldn't recover quickly. We have had cruises that we take out only medical insurance and skip trip cancellation insurance.

[fshagan]

If someone's regular policy has a $5k deductible(!) and would still expect a copay (of any amount) after the primary travel insurance had covered far more than the copay on that claim, s/he should be looking for a new regular health insurance carrier. The same goes for restrictive Medicare supplements: choose one whose coverage transfers to a "basic policy" with international coverage whenever traveling outside the US.

 

That said, please understand that I'd still pick up a comprehensive travel policy with waiver of preexisting conditions (in my case, preferably as primary) and make all travel related purchases on a travel savvy credit card (actually two from the same company [e.g., United Explorer Visa] to effectively double the card's coverage limit). Perhaps a touch of overkill but, also, tremendous peace of mind.

 

Most of us in the States get our health insurance through our employers, and often don't have a choice of plans. Last year, my only choice was a plan with a $3,500 deductible. But the math still works; even if my health insurance had a $1,000 deductible, and my travel insurance was primary but did not cover the entire cost, my regular health insurance coming in as secondary insurance would apply the deductible to the balance before paying. I would owe whatever my deductible was.

 

The problem is that most people do not realize that their health care coverage does not extend beyond the borders. Many Australians believe their national policy will cover them "on the high seas" between two ports in Australia on a cruise, but it will not (unless it has recently changed). Many seniors in the US believe that Medicare will cover them "on the high seas" or in foreign countries, but it will not.

 

There are three important costs I think are worth insuring against: medical bills, medical evacuation, and repatriation of remains. In some places you cannot leave the hospital without paying, and you don't pay "resident rates" for your care. Medical evacuation insurance covers your travel back to home where the continuing medical costs might be much lower to you. And repatriation of remains is an especially bad issue; it can cost $10,000 to have your spouse's body removed from the ship by a mortuary should they die while on board, and then more to have them transported home.