Total Believer in Travel Insurance

[dodger1964]

My handbag was stolen in Barcelona. We had just disembarked from a cruise, not yet checked into our hotel so I was carrying lots of valuables. My jewellery, money, credit cards etc etc. Our insurance covered the cost of replacing everything I lost. That alone covered the cost of travel insurance for many years. Like most savvy UK travellers we don’t leave home without it, especially for travel to the US or cruising.

 

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I don’t think it is nessecary to have insurance to be considered “Savy travelers”.

[fshagan]

But I believe the thrust of this thread is about trip cancellation/interruption insurance, not medical coverage. Two VERY DIFFERENT things.

 

So, you log into your favorite online vacation insurance store and price out the policies. One with medical only coverage is going to run $100 per person. One with the same medical coverage but also with an array of trip cancellation features is $115 per person.

 

Are you going to spend $30 to get the extra insurance? I often find myself in that exact situation. I usually buy it because it's a cheap add on for the extra protection.

[LondonTowner]

fshagan

 

If the cost of a comprehensive insurance is 30USD, yes, I would snap it up.

 

 

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[fshagan]

How do I get evac ins? I always buy ins

When book cruise is that part of it?

 

It is usually listed as one of the coverages. Others can chime in here, but I always try to get a policy that has both medical coverage for accidents or illnesses, then medical evacuation / repatriation of remains insurance. I check to make sure the latter is able to fly me to a hospital near my home if I can't be released from the foreign hospital right away.

 

Some policies have a single amount for all three, but most have medical illness and accidents separate from the medical evacuation.

[LondonTowner]

I don’t think it is nessecary to have insurance to be considered “Savy travelers”.

You don't have to be considered a 'savvy traveller' to buy travel insurance, but very silly not to. We would never go anywhere abroad without it. We like to know if something were to happen, then everything will be covered.

[sippican]

I know I’ve said this before, but there still seems to be some misconception about medical evacuation insurance so I think it is worth repeating. It is very rare to have a policy that will evacuate you to a medical facility near your home unless there is not a facility that is deemed qualified to treat you near the site of the emergency. In other words, if you are in Europe and need surgery for a broken leg, most policies will only evacuate you to a nearby hospital that can perform that surgery. You will be on your own to get home when you are well enough to travel. Medical evacuation does not mean getting you out of a foreign country and back to the US for treatment. MedJet Assist is the only exception I am aware of. If anyone knows of some others, please post them as a resource to those who may be interested.

[waterbug123]

We also don’t carry thousands of dollars (or pounds in our case) either. I was simply pointing out that insurance covers you for more than cancelled flights and medical emergencies. For us to have the latter happen on a trip to the US would be a major disaster. The comfort of knowing if the worst were to happen we would be able to have medical treatment if needed is well worth the relatively small annual insurance premium.

 

But your post was about how your insurance saved the day because it covered the cost of your stolen money/jewelry and by doing so, paid for the cost of many years of travel insurance. So I have to wonder just how much cash and jewelry you were traveling with that you had to make such a big claim against your insurance. If my handbag was stolen abroad, I'd lose maybe $500. Getting that back via travel insurance would hardly cover many years worth of future travel insurance.

[sandancer]

It depends on how much you pay for insurance. We can get a fully comprehensive worldwide annual policy covering 2 people for around £100.

 

 

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[kelmac]

This. I get it if people are concerned medical coverage and evacuation coverage. And I get it if someone rarely travels but saves for years and plans a big extravaganza of a trip. But for those of us who cruise multiple times every year and take multiple land-based vacations as well, it doesn't always make sense. Even if we had to cancel a cruise/trip and we had insurance that reimbursed us a couple thousand dollars of non-refundble trips costs that we'd paid, that would be nowhere close to the amount we would have spent on hundreds of insurance policies over the years if we insured every trip.

 

 

 

 

I guess if you always travel with thousands of dollars/euro/pounds in cash and lots of valuable jewelry you have an additional risk, but most would advise doing neither. Personally, other than a couple of pieces of inexpensive costume jewelry, I don't travel with any fine jewelry besides the ring and diamond stud earrings I always wear, so there's very limited risk of having valuable jewelry stolen. Credit cards can be replaced so losing them doesn't have to be a costly event, and we don't carry thousands of dollars in cash; we use a debit card to get money from ATM's as needed. We make sure that our assorted cards are divided between us too, in case one of us loses a wallet or whatever... we still have access to credit/debit cards that the other person is carrying.

 

Hi wb (Meg),

 

I agree 100%. There is a reason insurance companies are dripping in cash. Fear drives their market and people fall for it all the time. The CEO of our car insurance/home insurance made 90 million dollars last year.

We travel 10 -- 12 weeks of the year, our health insurance covers us world wide even though I'm receiving medicare. We do have a year long evacuation/supplemental program that costs less than $200.

 

We've cruised 64 times and never needed any insurance*. We did have to pay a $475 bill on a ship for their doctor to do an exam and prescribe some meds, but so what, about the cost of full travel insurance. We are not even close to being wealthy, but we "self-insure" just like rich people do.

 

If insurance gives you peace of mind -- go for it. If you are saving for a trip of a lifetime and only get to travel once in a while, buy the insurance. If you are in really poor health, or have family that needs you at a moments notice, buy the insurance.

 

For some of us, it makes no sense and is very expensive.

Enjoy!

Kel:D

[sanger727]

My handbag was stolen in Barcelona. We had just disembarked from a cruise, not yet checked into our hotel so I was carrying lots of valuables. My jewellery, money, credit cards etc etc. Our insurance covered the cost of replacing everything I lost. That alone covered the cost of travel insurance for many years. Like most savvy UK travellers we don’t leave home without it, especially for travel to the US or cruising.

 

 

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We also don’t carry thousands of dollars (or pounds in our case) either. I was simply pointing out that insurance covers you for more than cancelled flights and medical emergencies. For us to have the latter happen on a trip to the US would be a major disaster. The comfort of knowing if the worst were to happen we would be able to have medical treatment if needed is well worth the relatively small annual insurance premium.

 

 

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So which is it? You were carrying enough valuables and money that the insurance recovery paid for many years of travel insurance (presumably that means high hundreds to low thousands’; or you didn’t carry thousands in jewelry and cash in your handbag?

 

 

 

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[sandancer]

I’m checking out of this thread. I always try to post information that someone might find helpful but it seems I am just riling other posters. So goodbye.

 

 

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[parrotfeathers]

An insurance employee (even ceo) salary is $90 million per year?? Wow that's steep. Is that a straight salary or with stock options?

[sanger727]

It amazes me how many Americans travel without taking out some kind of travel insurance. What happens if you need an emergency airlift from the cruise ship? We've seen this happen a couple of times. Who is going to pay for the helicopter?

 

What happens if you need to be flown home by air ambulance from a foreign hospital with an accompanying nurse.

 

Emergencies can and do happen every day. Although within the EU we have medical treatment covered, but it doesn't pay for any kind of transport costs or repatriation.

 

It's just madness to go away without travel insurance, especially as medical bills can be so expensive.

 

 

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I think that there is a cultural difference here between people in the US vs people in countries with socialized medicine. If you live in a country where you don’t need health insurance or auto insurance because all medical is covered, that’s great. In the US, virtually everyone has health insurance, whether private or government sponsored Medicare. My private insurance is a combination of a cost to me plus a benefit provided by my employer and costs several hundred dollars a month (last time I was advised of a potential layoff and offered cobra (allows you to keep the employees health plan for awhile after a layoff) to keep my health plan was $600 a month and this was several years ago. So we are insured, and pay quite a bit for this. This insurance does cover us out of the country and covers medical evacuation. Now I would have to pay upfront and get reimbursed later, but after growing up in the US and becoming used to health care costs that others would consider ‘shocking’, when I hear reports of what people pay for care in other countries - it really doesn’t sound that bad.

 

I’ll give you an example. I had a deviated septum and wanted to have it fixed. That was a 30ish minute outpatient procedure done in a surgical center (not a hospital) with all diagnostics done previously with my doctor. I was there for 3-4 hours in total. The first bill I received was for $10,000. With the insurance write off (insurance contracts pre-negotiated rates) it came down to $5,000. So after insurance I paid $1,000. That didn’t include any pre or post op doctors visits, the surgeons fees, or diagnostic testing. All in all my total cost for this issue was between $1,500 and $2,000 since I had to pay my deductible before insurance kicked in. So we are living in a place where we pay thousands for the privilege of having insurance, and still have to pay thousands if we ever want to use it. We simply live in a reality where if you get hurt or sick it’s going to cost you. Plenty of people with insurance have gone bankrupt due to hospital bills - and this is at home.

 

I saw a post from someone who needed their appendix removed on a cruise in the Caribbean and was rushed to a local hospital. They needed a guarantee of payment and ran her card for $10,000 - but the final cost was quite a bit less. There’s no way you are getting rushed to a hospital, diagnostic testing, emergency surgery, and post surgery hospital stay for anywhere close to $10,000 in the US. If I’m in that situation, my insurance won’t fight me on that. My co-pay would probably end up being less than at home.

 

 

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Edited January 29, 2018 by sanger727

[LondonTowner]

sanger727

 

Yes, I find the medical insurance and costs that you pay in the US quite shocking. In the U.K. We have some of the best treatment in the world and it costs us a fraction of what you pay. It also includes reciprocal agreements for emergency treatment in any other EU country.

 

However, that still doesn't mean we don't need additional travel insurance. At the end of the day you just don't know what is around the corner.

 

 

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[chicagopaul]

Whenever this issue comes up here on CC we like to present a different point of view to show that it is not a "one size fits all" issue. DW and I cruise 70-100 days a year and have not purchased any kind of trip insurance except for 1 cruise (out of over 100 cruises). The one time we made the purchase was when my Mother in Law was experiencing some serious health issues (we did cancel that cruise).

 

So why would somebody, such as me, be so stupid as to not get Trip Insurance? Because, over a period of about forty years as cruisers (and travelers) we are ahead of the game by well over $100,000 which is all the money we have saved by NOT paying for Trip Insurance. In industry terms we choose to "self-insure" cancellation and interruption. We do purchase an ANNUAL Travel Medical Policy (GeoBlue) which gives us $250,000 or medical coverage (and $500,000 of evacuation coverage). This single policy costs us about $450 a year (total cost for a couple) and covers the first 70 days of every trip we take throughout an entire year.

 

However, last year we did obtain a Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa....which provided up to $10,000 (per card) of cancellation and interruption protection. The card was actually free for the first year...and then only $90 a year. Their more expensive Sapphire Reserve card also provided this coverage (to the extent that you charge the trip on the card).

 

We have a friend that got stranded (ironically it was in Atlanta) on the way home from a 10 day cruise. That night in Atlanta cost them about $100 for the motel and a meal. Consider that if they had bought trip interruption insurance the policy would have covered that $100. But that insurance policy would have cost them far more then $100! Just saying :).

 

My point is that some folks are more "risk adverse" then others. We are willing to accept a reasonable risk in order to save money. Gambling with no health insurance (or limited health insurance) is not ever a good idea since your personal liability for a major health issue can be virtually unlimited. But gambling on losing the cost of a trip is a reasonable risk (for some folks) when one considers the cost of insurance.

 

And finally my pet peeve. Many Trip Insurance Policies ONLY insure $10,000 - $20,000 or medical! Having worked most of life in the medical insurance industry I have always thought that $100,000 of Medical coverage should be considered a minimum for most folks. That cancellation policy might well cover a few thousand dollars of lots trip cost...but what happens if you have a major medical emergency that gets you a $75.000 hospital bill?

 

Hank

 

Hank - Very well put. So many people are quick to jump to conclusions and figure it is "one size fits all" scenario and just as bad some people avoid travel insurance completely because of the cost but like you said with some basic planning you cut your costs dramatically.

 

 

We have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and this covers us for any trip interruption, delays, etc. We also purchase travel medical at a fraction of what it would cost to insure the entire cruise. For us (granted we're in our 30s) a 2 week cruise will typically cost around $50-70 total for medical / medical evac. We make sure we have a minimum of $50k per person in medical coverage and find that the medical evac is at the very least 250k pp or in some cases unlimited.

 

If we start cruising or flying internationally more than 5 times a year I think we'd definitely get the GeoBlu policy you mentioned.

[kelmac]

An insurance employee (even ceo) salary is $90 million per year?? Wow that's steep. Is that a straight salary or with stock options?

 

I was wrong -- sorry, I looked up the wrong company. He only made 2.5 Million last year. Big difference; my mistake.

[Lastdance]

You really do not need insurance until you need it. Age, risk tolerance, part of the world etc... all make a difference. My DH and I took trips for years and never purchased insurance...we were young, innocent and did not even think about it! Now, times are different for us and we take care of my dad...however, the suggestions on hear touch all the bases, but whether you will need it or not is the question...only you can make that decision with your own information...but it is great to have so many ideas to consider when making up your mind!

[LondonTowner]

Lastdance

 

What absolute nonsense. You obviously have a crystal ball to see in the future and will know when something untoward will happen to you so you can buy the insurance policy.

 

 

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[Hlitner]

Lastdance

 

What absolute nonsense. You obviously have a crystal ball to see in the future and will know when something untoward will happen to you so you can buy the insurance policy.

 

 

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Au contraire my friend. Lastdance makes absolute sense. It is not about a "crystal ball" but simply about analyzing one's own situation, risk tolerance, and the cost of insurance and then making an informed decision that fits the circumstances. As we have posted (many times in the past) one should always make sure to have some type of medical insurance when traveling as the risk benefit tilts very far to the side of needing insurance. But when it comes to all the other travel issues covered by "trip insurance" (i.e. lost luggage, delays, cancellation, etc) it is not a one size fits all issue. As I pointed out earlier, my bank account is about $100,000 bigger because of all the money I have saved by not buying "trip insurance." In some cases people are sucked into purchasing insurance that covers things for which they many already have coverage :). For example, in the USA most home insurance policies cover lost luggage. Some credit cards also cover lost luggage, travel delays, and even trip cancellation (for a good reason).

 

And another issue not often discussed here is about annual insurance vs buying a policy for each trip. In many countries it is possible to purchase annual travel medical insurance and even annual cancellation insurance. Many frequent cruisers are not even aware of various annual options which can save them money (and often get them better coverage). And insurance needs/coverage can really vary depending on which country one resides. The rules in the EU are different from the rules in the USA. And the USA is somewhat different then the rules that apply to Canadians.

 

Here in the USA there are actually a few pretty reputable private insurance brokers that specialize in travel insurance and can give advice to those who need help or have no clue. One oft mentioned example is the Trip Insurance Store owned by Steve Dasseos. Many here on CC have praised his advice over quite a few years. And we also have some US-based web sites such as insuremytrip.com and squaremouth.com where one can research many different insurance options. Personally I have no clue as to what is best for those in the EU...and suspect that most in the EU have no clue as to our situation here on the other side of the pond :).

 

And finally I have to go back to the OP's topic "Total Believer in Travel Insurance." I know a guy who is a Total Believer in the Earth Being Flat (a member of the Flat Earth Society) and once met an interesing Irish guy who truly believed in Leprechans. Just saying :).

 

Hank

[Fouremco]

Lastdance

 

What absolute nonsense. You obviously have a crystal ball to see in the future and will know when something untoward will happen to you so you can buy the insurance policy.

 

 

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Pot, kettle...

[JimInBuffalo]

We found out that it pays to have the insurance after we missed a flight out of Buffalo and could not get to the port on time for our cruise. We got all of our money back from the insurance company.

 

We get the insurance every time. It’s worth it.

 

One other thing. Make sure when you arrange for the insurance that you include travel days before/after the cruise or vacation. Most agencies will automatically use the dates of the cruise as your “covered period”. If you are flying ahead of time or staying after the cruise, the additional days are not covered. Make sure that the policy shows the dates that your are away from home, including air transportation or travel by car for any trip that is covered by insurance.