We Have International health Insurance... do we need Travel Insurance too?

[SimplyMarvie]

This is my first proper grown-up vacation where I wasn't booking last-moment at a deep discount, and I'm trying to sort out whether we need travel insurance in addition to our existing insurance. 

 

The thing that most people seem to be concerned about here is needing to see a doctor in a foreign country, or a medical emergency. We're expats, so we already have expat health insurance that covers us everywhere in the world, with a very few exceptions (and since we're not cruising to North Korea, I'm not too worried). It doesn't include Medical Evacuation coverage, but I think we've got enough assets and credit to cover that in a worst-case scenario -- and I work with medical evacs, so I have a very good grasp of the costs and complications.

 

Our deposit is 100% refundable until September and *knock wood* our jobs are both pretty good about not suddenly going back on leave. I don't think that everything we'd pack would be worth $1000, much less per-person if it was lost or delayed. I don't know... I was reading through the website and the costs are reasonable, I'm just looking at the coverage (and the rider for like, $5000 worth of jewelry and things) and thinking jeeze-louise... do we actually NEED all of this? Maybe just medical evacuation coverage would be more reasonable..?

[GeezerCouple]

37 minutes ago, SimplyMarvie said:

This is my first proper grown-up vacation where I wasn't booking last-moment at a deep discount, and I'm trying to sort out whether we need travel insurance in addition to our existing insurance. 

 

The thing that most people seem to be concerned about here is needing to see a doctor in a foreign country, or a medical emergency. We're expats, so we already have expat health insurance that covers us everywhere in the world, with a very few exceptions (and since we're not cruising to North Korea, I'm not too worried). It doesn't include Medical Evacuation coverage, but I think we've got enough assets and credit to cover that in a worst-case scenario -- and I work with medical evacs, so I have a very good grasp of the costs and complications.

 

Our deposit is 100% refundable until September and *knock wood* our jobs are both pretty good about not suddenly going back on leave. I don't think that everything we'd pack would be worth $1000, much less per-person if it was lost or delayed. I don't know... I was reading through the website and the costs are reasonable, I'm just looking at the coverage (and the rider for like, $5000 worth of jewelry and things) and thinking jeeze-louise... do we actually NEED all of this? Maybe just medical evacuation coverage would be more reasonable..?

Where are you based; what country are you 'in' in terms of the insurance policy?

 

This can be very country specific, and in the USA, a bit state specific.

Your mention of the jewelry rider doesn't sound like typical "travel insurance" that emphasizes medical costs and perhaps cancelled or interrupted travel itself.

 

GC

[SimplyMarvie]

Our state of legal residence is MN, so that's what I put in insuremytrip.com.

 

Our health insurance is through a company based in the US, but is good worldwide. Basically, as long as I can legally travel there on my US passport, I'm covered (so no to North Korea. I am okay in Cuba, however, so that's nice...)

[pcur]

8 hours ago, SimplyMarvie said:

Our state of legal residence is MN, so that's what I put in insuremytrip.com.

 

Our health insurance is through a company based in the US, but is good worldwide. Basically, as long as I can legally travel there on my US passport, I'm covered (so no to North Korea. I am okay in Cuba, however, so that's nice...)

 First of all, check the medical insurance coverage required by the Cuban government:  I planned a cruise to Cuba and they do NOT accept US-based medical coverage, and require you get a certain limit of coverage accepted in Cuba.  You can buy it from them, but I found an international coverage cheap that covered in Cuba.  It cost us $27 each for the week.

 

Like you, I am covered anywhere in the world with our Kaiser Senior Advantage coverage, but I always want to make sure I have the medical evacuation coverage, because that's almost always you pay and get reimbursed, so I got coverage that pays with my primary Kaiser benefits assigned to them when Kaiser pays.  

 

I picked Allianz annual travel insurance, because we have multiple trips over the next year, and individually they were too expensive.  The higher level annual policy was $700 for the two of us, and the medical evacuation is $500,000 per person.  The other benefits were good, too, and each trip can be up to 90 days.  I liked the other policies I saw with Allianz, too.

 

It's a good thing to have trip interruption coverage in case of a delayed flight, missing the ship in port, etc. 

 

If you want evacuation only coverage, I had MedJet for a year, and it was reasonable, too.