ANNUAL Travel Insurance

[RetiredNow]

Hi HAL experts! Does anyone know of a good travel insurance plan that is for an entire year? We seem to be spending an astronomical amount on travel insurance, which we would not be without. In 35 years, we have used it about 7 times (from just an overnight hotel when a flight is cancelled to a medical disembark). As I said, we would not travel without it. Looking forward to your responses.

Thanks!

[serendipity1499]

delete sorry

[serendipity1499]

AIG has annual travel Insurance but don't know prices.. It might be calculated according to age of the insured..:p

[OlsSalt]

We use DAN - Divers Alert Network. They have a variety of options, including their basic plan that comes with their annual membership. You do not need to be a scuba diver or have a diving accident.

 

A well traveled friend uses "Squaremouth" which is a insurance comparison website. I have not yet explored it myself but looks like a good way to start the process and learn what features are better than others when making the selection: https://www.squaremouth.com/100?gclid=CLSchbXL0dMCFdq2wAodN4gPLA

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We have Med Jet 3 year contract and G O Blue yearly .

[KirkNC]

We do the same as Marty, MediJet and an annual GeoBlue. Be aware that some policies limit the amount of consecutive time you can gone. With Geo, it's 70 days.

[rogerd99]

I have used Squaremouth for each overseas trip in recent years -- for both trip cancellation and medical cover. It works very well indeed, at least for single trips. They have a year-long policy search. However, when I used their service to say that I expected to travel three times per annum with the longest trip as 120 days, there were no policies available. When I dropped the trip length back to 50 days, there will still no policies available. So perhaps not a good option for this particular context.

[rguy123]

We use GeoBlue

 

 

 

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[sail7seas]

We have Med Jet 3 year contract and G O Blue yearly .

 

 

 

Med Jet is for evacuation and repatriation. . They do not pay medical bills. You seem to have a good combination.

[Hlitner]

Our main insurance concern is medical costs. If we had to cancel a cruise (without insurance) it would hurt...but not be financially devastating (since we could afford to pay for the cruise in the first place). Because of our heavy travel schedule we have been purchasing an annual travel medical policy for many years. Our current policy from GeoBlue gets us $250,000 or medical coverage (compare this to the puny limits sold by cruise lines) and $500,000 of evacuation. That policy, which covers the first 70 days of each and every trip we take throughout the policy year, costs us $450 (total cost for DW and me). As to cancellation insurance, we have chosen not to buy it....up until this last year. We recently obtained a high-end Chase Credit card that includes $10,000 (up to $20,000 for 2 persons) of cancellation insurance as a card benefit. The cost for this insurance is just that the trip (or part of the trip) must be charged to this card. While this will not always cover the full cost of our trips. its a pretty good deal :).

 

Hank

[Tampa Girl]

Our main insurance concern is medical costs. If we had to cancel a cruise (without insurance) it would hurt...but not be financially devastating (since we could afford to pay for the cruise in the first place). Because of our heavy travel schedule we have been purchasing an annual travel medical policy for many years. Our current policy from GeoBlue gets us $250,000 or medical coverage (compare this to the puny limits sold by cruise lines) and $500,000 of evacuation. That policy, which covers the first 70 days of each and every trip we take throughout the policy year, costs us $450 (total cost for DW and me). As to cancellation insurance, we have chosen not to buy it....up until this last year. We recently obtained a high-end Chase Credit card that includes $10,000 (up to $20,000 for 2 persons) of cancellation insurance as a card benefit. The cost for this insurance is just that the trip (or part of the trip) must be charged to this card. While this will not always cover the full cost of our trips. its a pretty good deal :).

 

Hank

 

Unless your fare for the cruise is $40,000-plus, in which case the CPP is better, particularly if the Chase card does not include cancel for any reason, in which case, my Chase, low-end card would not be worth it.

[Hlitner]

Unless your fare for the cruise is $40,000-plus, in which case the CPP is better, particularly if the Chase card does not include cancel for any reason, in which case, my Chase, low-end card would not be worth it.

 

We would not be concerned about the $40,000 cruise (our risk would now be $20,000) but if booking a super expensive cruise (say an $80,000 world cruise) then we would seek some kind of coverage. But when you get the CPP....how much medical coverage are you getting? Because these days, anything less than $100,000 (which we think is a bare minimum) is crazy. Sure you could lose $40,000 on the cruise fare....but you could also lose $100,000 on the medical. I am more concerned about the nearly unlimited risk of major medical.....versus the know and limited risk of the trip cost.

 

Hank

[OlsSalt]

There are so many layers to evaluate when drilling down competing travel medical payment plans.

 

Does it pay directly or does it pay only after your own insurance kicks in up to its limits, thereby drawing down your own life-time exemption for plans like Medigaps or ACA plan that covers some limited extraterritorial medical expenses.

US residents: Medicare and You when traveling abroad:

 

DAN's very basic medical evacuation included in the membership fee does not mean they will get you back to the US, only to an appropriate medical setting. However they do offer repatriation of remains back to the US as well as a for a companion. However for its $40 a year membership fee, it is always in our own wallets as our minimum Plan A,

 

Covering the ship's doctor is another area that can be fraught with high costs and insurance repayment complexities. Hope others can provide stories about using any of the ship's medical services. And how they got reimbursement; if any from either their regular medical plans or any additional travel medical plans.

[Sunseeker1001]

We use Allianz and find that it's coverage and costs beats anything that cruise lines or AAA/CAA can offer.

[RedneckBob]

We use Allianz and find that it's coverage and costs beats anything that cruise lines or AAA/CAA can offer.

 

We also use Allianz. A one year policy cost $1,100 for me and DW. Since we cruise +4 times a year plus travel a lot on our own, worth the price. Be aware there are limits per year for refund if cancel a cruise. Ours is limited to $7,000 per person per year. If cruises spread out then any issues could be addressed timely that might limit exposure beyond limits

[Krazy Kruizers]

We bought GeoBlue the last couple of years.

Wish we had known about them back in 2010. We had a major snow storm that destroyed part of house -- and AIG would not cancel us -- claimed that if there was even one room we could live in -- go on with the cruise. They wanted us to just go away and leave our house in shambles.

[serendipity1499]

We don't need cancellation insurance but do need Medical.. DH is older than 85 & I have not found an annual travel medical policy which would cover him..

 

Therefore we buy one for each trip since they do not require ages to be entered..:cool:

[Schooner-ca]

Never travel without travel insurance. The decision to buy an annual package or a defined term is simple economics. In Canada we have universal health care. Have used our travel insurance twice in the last 15 years. Hospitalize in Vegas on our first cruise. 6 hours in a hospital and ambulance was $8,000. I paid $300 deductible.

 

16 cruises later the number of times I have witnessed air evacuations , off loaded in a far away port in serious condition the costs are enormous. Unless you easily afford to cover the costs your self insurance in a no brainer

 

The only suggestion I have is don't buy more than u need. If you buy a 2 week annual package and plan a trip for 28 days you buy a defined period 14 day top up package from the same company you bought the annual policy.

 

 

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[easyboy]

GeoBlue would be a good option.

 

 

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[senorjim]

Never travel without travel insurance. The decision to buy an annual package or a defined term is simple economics. In Canada we have universal health care. Have used our travel insurance twice in the last 15 years. Hospitalize in Vegas on our first cruise. 6 hours in a hospital and ambulance was $8,000. I paid $300 deductible.

 

16 cruises later the number of times I have witnessed air evacuations , off loaded in a far away port in serious condition the costs are enormous. Unless you easily afford to cover the costs your self insurance in a no brainer

 

The only suggestion I have is don't buy more than u need. If you buy a 2 week annual package and plan a trip for 28 days you buy a defined period 14 day top up package from the same company you bought the annual policy.

 

 

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We are also Canadian and for years bought multi trip travel health insurance from Blue Cross. When I read the fine print I found it did not cover evacuation from sea. That could cost up to $50,000 for a helicopter evacuation.

 

I have since bought from Cooperators Insurance. It is multi trip up to 125 days per trip with $10 million limit per person. We are both under 60 and the cost is about $1200 a year.

We winter in Florida and go back to Canada for the holidays. That's the reason for 125 days.

Jim

 

 

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[pris993]

We don't need cancellation insurance but do need Medical.. DH is older than 85 & I have not found an annual travel medical policy which would cover him..

 

Therefore we buy one for each trip since they do not require ages to be entered..:cool:

 

I 70 and my dh is also 85... we have been buying an annual health insurance, travel insurance for "business travelers" from Travel Guard... all I really care about is medical and evacuationg coverage... I do not worry about covering trip costs, even though there is some coverage for delay flights, lost luggage in this package. Runs about $518 for the year to cover us both... you can check it out on line.

[serendipity1499]

I 70 and my dh is also 85... we have been buying an annual health insurance, travel insurance for "business travelers" from Travel Guard... all I really care about is medical and evacuationg coverage... I do not worry about covering trip costs, even though there is some coverage for delay flights, lost luggage in this package. Runs about $518 for the year to cover us both... you can check it out on line.

 

Thanks I'll do that! Never thought to look at their Business policy..I thought that Travel Guard also had the 85 age limit?

[Tampa Girl]

We would not be concerned about the $40,000 cruise (our risk would now be $20,000) but if booking a super expensive cruise (say an $80,000 world cruise) then we would seek some kind of coverage. But when you get the CPP....how much medical coverage are you getting? Because these days, anything less than $100,000 (which we think is a bare minimum) is crazy. Sure you could lose $40,000 on the cruise fare....but you could also lose $100,000 on the medical. I am more concerned about the nearly unlimited risk of major medical.....versus the know and limited risk of the trip cost.

 

Hank

 

The CPP is not travel or medical insurance, although it does provide some insurance. It is primarily a cancellation for any reason policy and would need to be supplemented with medical-evacuation coverage. We find the CPP very desirable because we both have pre-existing conditions.

 

Glad to hear that you don't think a $40,000 cruise is a super expensive policy. My checkbook, unfortunately, thinks otherwise, so we will definitely be getting a CPP if we are fortunate enough to book the Grand Asia cruise. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And we certainly will be adding a medical-evacuation policy to the CPP.

[sail7seas]

The CPP is not travel or medical insurance, although it does provide some insurance. It is primarily a cancellation for any reason policy and would need to be supplemented with medical-evacuation coverage. We find the CPP very desirable because we both have pre-existing conditions.

 

Glad to hear that you don't think a $40,000 cruise is a super expensive policy. My checkbook, unfortunately, thinks otherwise, so we will definitely be getting a CPP if we are fortunate enough to book the Grand Asia cruise. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And we certainly will be adding a medical-evacuation policy to the CPP.

If your usual medical insurance, pays out of country, good b ut if not, you may wish to b ercertain to have adequate medical coverage in the unhappy even you might become ill or have an accident while traveling . My DH and I stopped insuring our cruises many years ago. We were willigg to take the hit for cancellation but never were willling to not have enough medical insurance. We would not like to lose the price of our crfuise but thankfully,we never lost due to cancellation though we saved tens of thousands in premiums we didn't pay.

 

 

We knew we could afford to lose the cruise fare or would not have booked the cruise. We wre not willint to expose ourseslves to some un know, possibly very high amount of money for medical.

[OlsSalt]

Link to DAN - Divers Alert Network - travel insurance. If you don't want trip cancellation insurance along with the medical insurance, just enter a nominal amount in the "value of trip" box. http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/trip/ You can adjust this amount to obtain new quotes for their various comprehensive travel insurance packages.

 

DAN also offers a multi-trip annual policy.