Travel insurance options

[RocketMan275]

4 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

Correct Rocketman275.  Medicare won't cover you outside US. So first the bills go to Medicare, they refuse coverage, and it bounces back. Then bills get submitted to Tricare (for LIfe) to pay. It's scary at first when you get the bill back from Medicare!

Tricare (for LIfe) is great coverage.  It essentially covers everything that medicare doesn't to include co-pays and deductibles.  

 

I contact Humana about a medicare supplement when I turned 65.  They said they would sell me a policy but that Tricare for life was better than any supplement they offered and it was free too.

 

Staying in the National Guard to qualify for retirement was one of the best decisions I've made.

Edited January 8, 2020 by RocketMan275

[Hlitner]

Travel cancellation, travel med, and travel evacuation insurance is a complex issue that a few of us address here on CC's Cruise/Travel Insurance blog.  There is no one size all solution as folks need to look inwards regarding their own risk tolerance, current insurance, etc.  Personally I do not like any of the cruise line policies (including the one's sold by HAL) because I think their medical limits are simply too low.  But for some folks, especially those over 80, it might be their best or even only option.  

 

For those folks that travel/cruise multiple times a year, you might want to look into purchasing annual travel or travel medical insurance policies.  

 

Hank

[mamaofami]

we usually buy independent insurance but on our last cruise decided to go without the insurance. I thought we would be in Canada for a few days and then in the US where we were covered. We will never do that again. Insurance for medical and peace of mind is really important.

[TriumphGuy]

When we were young we never gave a second thought to trip insurance. Now that we're "older" we wouldn't leave without it. For our April TA  we insured the entire trip, which includes a week in France at the end of the cruise, with US Fire, through Tripinsurance.com . The policies have a generous medical emergency evacuation provision of $250K, which although we've never had any major issues, is nice to have. The premiums were very reasonable. 

Hopefully we'll never have to use it...

[sail7seas]

3 hours ago, TriumphGuy said:

When we were young we never gave a second thought to trip insurance. Now that we're "older" we wouldn't leave without it. For our April TA  we insured the entire trip, which includes a week in France at the end of the cruise, with US Fire, through Tripinsurance.com . The policies have a generous medical emergency evacuation provision of $250K, which although we've never had any major issues, is nice to have. The premiums were very reasonable. 

Hopefully we'll never have to use it...

Healthy youn people can have accidents that re

[pmjnh]

19 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

We used Trip Mate on a Viking cruise and needed it. My husband got heat stroke after 2 full busy days in Cuba and ended up hospitalized by the time we got to Costa Rica. They paid in full.

 

We are using the HAL Platinum plan for our 6 week cruise coming up.

 

We are retired Army and have used USAA as well. They are our regular Tricare network too.

 

The bottom line is, read the fine print. As we get older, that insurance charge is just part of the trip cost.

 

Sorry to read your husband became ill but glad that it wasn't as serious an outcome as it could have been.

 I am curious about  your choice using the Platinum plan on your  6 week cruise...I would think that after needing to use insurance on an international trip that you would opt for more medical benefit. Do you have another policy for enhanced medical coverage? 

 

 

 

[pmjnh]

13 hours ago, TriumphGuy said:

When we were young we never gave a second thought to trip insurance. Now that we're "older" we wouldn't leave without it. For our April TA  we insured the entire trip, which includes a week in France at the end of the cruise, with US Fire, through Tripinsurance.com . The policies have a generous medical emergency evacuation provision of $250K, which although we've never had any major issues, is nice to have. The premiums were very reasonable. 

Hopefully we'll never have to use it...

 

 

Thank you, I will check out the plans.

[pmjnh]

15 hours ago, mamaofami said:

we usually buy independent insurance but on our last cruise decided to go without the insurance. I thought we would be in Canada for a few days and then in the US where we were covered. We will never do that again. Insurance for medical and peace of mind is really important.

 

We did a recent New England/Canada cruise and booked it last minute. We decided against buying a medical plan for the same reason...we would be close enough to a port and our supplemental insurance provides some international medical benefit. We will probably do the same on our next last minute cruise to Canada from our summer home port of Boston.  But with a TA coming up next year, we will choose a full package medical. 

[pmjnh]

On 1/7/2020 at 10:31 PM, crystalspin said:

We have annual Geoblue Trekker (on our second year) for medical, and Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card with many travel benefits, including cancellation for many (not all) reasons. Including illness/injury of family members, which is pretty important to us at present.

 

We often cruise with family members, so far only to Alaska, where we may have flirted with disaster by buying only HAL Platinum, but didn't have to use it on two cruises so far. If I can get my mom to come with us to CPH to sail to BOS, I will be looking into medical coverage through GeoBlue or InsureMyTrip.

 

ETA: the Blue in Geoblue is BlueCrossBlueShield, so they have good credentials by me.

 

Thank you. With at least 2 international trips next year ( one land and one TA cruise), It may be best for me to look into  this type of an annual plan.

[pmjnh]

22 hours ago, Jersey42 said:

The Cruise/Travel Insurance boards on Cruise Critic has a lot of good information if you have time to search through some of the posts. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

 

 

Thank you. I did not know that this board was here. I will certainly read up over there!

[Seasick Sailor]

4 hours ago, pmjnh said:

 

Sorry to read your husband became ill but glad that it wasn't as serious an outcome as it could have been.

 I am curious about  your choice using the Platinum plan on your  6 week cruise...I would think that after needing to use insurance on an international trip that you would opt for more medical benefit. Do you have another policy for enhanced medical coverage? 

 

 

 

 

Yes, we got travel insurance thru USAA and also have Tricare for Life, which covers medical. Our credit card has a small ($10,000) policy as well.

[RocketMan275]

For those who rely upon Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel insurance, Chase has announced the annual will increase to $550 in April.

[knittinggirl]

We get travel insured.  First, we had 30 days to purchase it and get the pre-existing medical coverage, and we also upgrade to Primary medical.  It's only $25 pp more for USAA members.  If you don't get primary, then you have to file w/ primary insurance, wait for the EOB, then submit it with your bills to the insurance company.

 

We're at the point where we need to visit medical almost every cruise.  So, we put the policy in a separate envelope, and add all pertaining receipts as we receive them.

 

When we were still w/ Travel Guard, we had to file w/ medicare for the ship medical appointment that was still in the Boston Harbor, then file the rest with Travel Guard.

 

Lately, we've been buying the insurance for the amount of our deposit only.  Then when we start making payments on the cruise, we bump the covered up to the cost of the cruise.  But w/ travel insured, you have to call them with each add on, or  you'll lose the pre-existing medical waiver.

 

So far, we've had two claims for the entire cruise.  Our very first cruise when DH got injured, and the last segment of a B2B2B when I got sick.  Most claims are for only a few hundred dollars, but what you're really getting insurance for are the big ticket items like cancelled cruises and evacuation or high ticket medical.

[AlanF65]

53 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

For those who rely upon Chase Sapphire Reserve for travel insurance, Chase has announced the annual will increase to $550 in April.

Do we still get a $300 annual; statement credit and global entry entry or TSA pre every 5 years?

550-300-(100/5)=230

For 1 cruise a year that's $230 for travel insurance that covers a lot. It does max at 10k per person  per trip

 

I have a UHC  Safe Trip annual plan and it cost me about $235 a year for a 1M policy medical. https://www.uhcsafetrip.com/our-insurance-products/annual-frequent-traveler/

They are my primary for my Medicare advantage so the same company is primary and secondary.

 

[RocketMan275]

24 minutes ago, AlanF65 said:

Do we still get a $300 annual; statement credit and global entry entry or TSA pre every 5 years?

550-300-(100/5)=230

For 1 cruise a year that's $230 for travel insurance that covers a lot. It does max at 10k per person  per trip

 

I have a UHC  Safe Trip annual plan and it cost me about $235 a year for a 1M policy medical. https://www.uhcsafetrip.com/our-insurance-products/annual-frequent-traveler/

They are my primary for my Medicare advantage so the same company is primary and secondary.

 

I'm not sure, the article I read didn't mention those perks.  It did say that Chase was adding perks for Lyft and Doordash.

Here's the article which maybe behind a paywall.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/chase-hikes-the-annual-fee-for-its-popular-sapphire-reserve-card-to-550-and-rolls-out-new-perks-2020-01-08?mod=home-page

[AlanF65]

23 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

I'm not sure, the article I read didn't mention those perks.  It did say that Chase was adding perks for Lyft and Doordash.

Here's the article which maybe behind a paywall.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/chase-hikes-the-annual-fee-for-its-popular-sapphire-reserve-card-to-550-and-rolls-out-new-perks-2020-01-08?mod=home-page

 

So they are keeping the $300 travel credit and every 5 year TSA or global entry credit. The lift is priority airport pickup and 15% off lyft rides. I guess doordash could be useful, I have never used it.

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/significant-changes-confirmed-for-chases-sapphire-reserve-card/

[RocketMan275]

54 minutes ago, AlanF65 said:

 

So they are keeping the $300 travel credit and every 5 year TSA or global entry credit. The lift is priority airport pickup and 15% off lyft rides. I guess doordash could be useful, I have never used it.

 

https://thepointsguy.com/news/significant-changes-confirmed-for-chases-sapphire-reserve-card/

You have no idea how excited I am to get "free bike and scooter rentals" each month in New York.  I think I'll just have to sit and rest a bit until my heart beat slows.

[AlanF65]

3 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

You have no idea how excited I am to get "free bike and scooter rentals" each month in New York.  I think I'll just have to sit and rest a bit until my heart beat slows.

Take a flight to New York, Take a lyft to a AirBNB, order a door dash meal and ride a free scooter. You'll be in freebie heaven

 

[Hlitner]

The first year we got the Sapphire Reserve card we had a major medical emergency while in Asia.  As a result we had to interrupt a long cruise.  Chase eventually paid us $10,000 so that has given us a good reason to be a fan of the card.  Another benefit which we really appreciate is that Chase's auto insurance waiver is Primary vs AMEX's cards where the insurance is secondary.  

 

I am not surprised to see Chase increasing the annual fee.  We think the card was previously priced reasonably to lure folks away from AMEX Platinum.  Chase Sapphire Reserve and AMEX Platinum are really in a competition to attract the frequent higher end travelers that tend to charge big bucks on their card.   We have been waiting for 2 years to see if AMEX would try to fight back with an improvement to their benefits and we are still waiting.  Another great benefit with the Chase card is that the points are very valuable when used for hotel booked via Chase's own booking site.  

 

Hank

[AlanF65]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

The first year we got the Sapphire Reserve card we had a major medical emergency while in Asia.  As a result we had to interrupt a long cruise.  Chase eventually paid us $10,000 so that has given us a good reason to be a fan of the card.  Another benefit which we really appreciate is that Chase's auto insurance waiver is Primary vs AMEX's cards where the insurance is secondary.  

 

I am not surprised to see Chase increasing the annual fee.  We think the card was previously priced reasonably to lure folks away from AMEX Platinum.  Chase Sapphire Reserve and AMEX Platinum are really in a competition to attract the frequent higher end travelers that tend to charge big bucks on their card.   We have been waiting for 2 years to see if AMEX would try to fight back with an improvement to their benefits and we are still waiting.  Another great benefit with the Chase card is that the points are very valuable when used for hotel booked via Chase's own booking site.  

 

Hank

An AMEX Platinum rep called on us in our office last year when we were trying to use points on Amazon and they couldn't solve it over the phone. I was amazed that they actually had people in the field to call on customers.

They encouraged us to use the card for our vendors so we switched a lot of  accounts that didn't charge for credit cards to AMEX, we average about 50k a month on AMEX platinum. My brother gets those points although I used some of them for a new camera and lenses.  They have been accumulating for close to 10 years.

 

I went with Chase because of the travel insurance and the fee was lower than the AMEX for a personal account.

[crystalspin]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Another great benefit with the Chase card is that the points are very valuable when used for hotel booked via Chase's own booking site.

Hank:

THANKS! I just found out I've been using Chase Reserve points all wrong. They show up on Amazon (after each statement is posted) and I thought my husband was DOING something to put them there and that I should use them on whatever sundries I might be buying. 

 

~15000 points is worth $119 on Amazon -- it is worth $224 spent on Chase's travel site. That's more than 50% -- it is 87% more! Yikes, I have been wasting our points since we got the card in October 2018. No more of that!

 

ETA: money is not my strong suit, although I'm pretty good at finding good deals on cruises!

Edited January 10, 2020 by crystalspin