mjkacmom Posted July 2 #1 Share Posted July 2 My daughter is 23 and flying to Italy from the US next month for 10 days with friends. Flights and Airbnb costs are around $2200. Mostly I’m concerned about health insurance. I looked on insure my trip, and it looks like she can get about $100,000 in medical coverage plus trip reimbursement for under $100. Since this trip is pieced together, with flights booked first, would the day she booked her flights be the date of first deposit? Is $100,000 enough? We are currently dealing with 2 car accidents last week by 2 family members in the range of $20,000 (and we are choosing to pay oop for at least $8000 so we aren’t dropped), so don’t want any surprises. I figure it’s a no brained due to her age to get the travel insurance (my kids have traveled many times out of the country and never got insurance but right now I’m risk adverse). Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CDNPolar Posted July 3 #2 Share Posted July 3 (edited) 14 hours ago, mjkacmom said: My daughter is 23 and flying to Italy from the US next month for 10 days with friends. Flights and Airbnb costs are around $2200. Mostly I’m concerned about health insurance. I looked on insure my trip, and it looks like she can get about $100,000 in medical coverage plus trip reimbursement for under $100. Since this trip is pieced together, with flights booked first, would the day she booked her flights be the date of first deposit? Is $100,000 enough? We are currently dealing with 2 car accidents last week by 2 family members in the range of $20,000 (and we are choosing to pay oop for at least $8000 so we aren’t dropped), so don’t want any surprises. I figure it’s a no brained due to her age to get the travel insurance (my kids have traveled many times out of the country and never got insurance but right now I’m risk adverse). Any suggestions? Your questions are rather hard to give an answer to. Instead, I may just ask some questions to spark some thought, or make some statements. Medical insurance is not about age. Any age person can have a medical event that requires hospitalization ranging from a vehicle accident to a serious food poisoning. The amount of insurance you buy should not be tied to budget/cost but what you think appropriate to take care of any unforeseen incident. This is what insurance is really for - unforeseen incidents. Make sure that the insurance covers medical evacuation and repatriation, and not just medical bills. I don't know Italy, but some countries may require you to pay for medical costs upfront and the insurance to reimburse you later. Can your daughters credit cards take a hit for 10K+ for initial costs? Will the insurance you buy pay the hospital directly? Payment direct may likely require you to contact the insurance company before presenting at the medical facility as they may direct you to certain hospitals or clinics or doctors. They may not pay direct any doctor, clinic, or hospital. (Because of this we travel with several credit cards that would allow us to cover most if not all costs if necessary.) Is your daughter going to participate in any "extreme sports" such as scuba diving or hang gliding, or rock climbing? Most standard medical policies do not cover injury from these types of sports. Regarding when flights were paid for and the insurance coverage, this is different with each insurance policy and what it covers. Medical usually requires a stability of pre-existing conditions for a certain time before departure, and or no reasonable expectation that something medical could go wrong, and cancelation requires no situation that was reasonably expected when booking the flights or trip. If cost is not a deterrent, then I would go for a package that covers more, but that is me. For the sake of a hundred bucks, I would rather be well covered. Edited July 3 by CDNPolar 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkacmom Posted July 3 Author #3 Share Posted July 3 2 hours ago, CDNPolar said: Your questions are rather hard to give an answer to. Instead, I may just ask some questions to spark some thought, or make some statements. Medical insurance is not about age. Any age person can have a medical event that requires hospitalization ranging from a vehicle accident to a serious food poisoning. The amount of insurance you buy should not be tied to budget/cost but what you think appropriate to take care of any unforeseen incident. This is what insurance is really for - unforeseen incidents. Make sure that the insurance covers medical evacuation and repatriation, and not just medical bills. I don't know Italy, but some countries may require you to pay for medical costs upfront and the insurance to reimburse you later. Can your daughters credit cards take a hit for 10K+ for initial costs? Will the insurance you buy pay the hospital directly? Payment direct may likely require you to contact the insurance company before presenting at the medical facility as they may direct you to certain hospitals or clinics or doctors. They may not pay direct any doctor, clinic, or hospital. (Because of this we travel with several credit cards that would allow us to cover most if not all costs if necessary.) Is your daughter going to participate in any "extreme sports" such as scuba diving or hang gliding, or rock climbing? Most standard medical policies do not cover injury from these types of sports. Regarding when flights were paid for and the insurance coverage, this is different with each insurance policy and what it covers. Medical usually requires a stability of pre-existing conditions for a certain time before departure, and or no reasonable expectation that something medical could go wrong, and cancelation requires no situation that was reasonably expected when booking the flights or trip. If cost is not a deterrent, then I would go for a package that covers more, but that is me. For the sake of a hundred bucks, I would rather be well covered. Thank you, with age I meant getting travel insurance for a 23 year old appears cheaper than if I got it for myself (which I always do, heck myself and my 16 year old son had appendicitis in the same year, no one is immune). She’s an authorized user on one of our cards with about a $60,000 limit, plus we have access to quick cash. I’ll definitely look for evacuation insurance, it’s the unlikely very expensive costs I’m looking to have covered, getting $2200 back would just be a nice bonus. She has no known preexisting condition, very healthy and git. Ad this is a budget trip, I doubt extreme sports, but that’s good to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted July 4 #4 Share Posted July 4 A friend of mine in their 20's just had a life and death medical situation (she was very healthy). They had planned a trip to Europe using AirBbB and they lost all of their money on that. For air - they got a voucher. So they did not lose that money. Buy insurance. Medical issues can happen at any age. For example - a car accident can happen to anyone at any age and cause medical issues. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkacmom Posted July 4 Author #5 Share Posted July 4 11 minutes ago, Coral said: A friend of mine in their 20's just had a life and death medical situation (she was very healthy). They had planned a trip to Europe using AirBbB and they lost all of their money on that. For air - they got a voucher. So they did not lose that money. Buy insurance. Medical issues can happen at any age. For example - a car accident can happen to anyone at any age and cause medical issues. It’s mainly for the medical part, sure it would stink to lose $2200, but it’s was a sunk cost. It appears that most of the medical policies also come with insuring the trip cost. I was thinking $100,000 and evacuation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted July 4 #6 Share Posted July 4 27 minutes ago, mjkacmom said: It’s mainly for the medical part, sure it would stink to lose $2200, but it’s was a sunk cost. It appears that most of the medical policies also come with insuring the trip cost. I was thinking $100,000 and evacuation? I agree. I broke my wrist on my last trip. You are right - I won't go bankrupt losing the cost of the trip. I would go bankrupt over having a medical emergency where my insurance doesn't cover me. Look at what her current insurance covers. Some people are covered well over seas. I suggest you call Steve at https://tripinsurancestore.com He can make a recommendation based on her trip. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkacmom Posted July 4 Author #7 Share Posted July 4 1 hour ago, Coral said: I agree. I broke my wrist on my last trip. You are right - I won't go bankrupt losing the cost of the trip. I would go bankrupt over having a medical emergency where my insurance doesn't cover me. Look at what her current insurance covers. Some people are covered well over seas. I suggest you call Steve at https://tripinsurancestore.com He can make a recommendation based on her trip. Good idea, thank you. She’s a graduate student still on our policy that doesn’t kick in overseas. We went about 10 or so years with emergencies helping us meet our high deductible by March (broken wrist, ankle, a few ambulance rides, hospital stays, surgeries - 5 kids, just bad luck), my kids have taken several international trips, but this past week with a couple of car accidents causing 5 figure damages, I’m not feeling lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted July 4 #8 Share Posted July 4 1 hour ago, mjkacmom said: Good idea, thank you. She’s a graduate student still on our policy that doesn’t kick in overseas. We went about 10 or so years with emergencies helping us meet our high deductible by March (broken wrist, ankle, a few ambulance rides, hospital stays, surgeries - 5 kids, just bad luck), my kids have taken several international trips, but this past week with a couple of car accidents causing 5 figure damages, I’m not feeling lucky. At her age, travel insurance will be cheap. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klfrodo Posted July 4 #9 Share Posted July 4 To get the $100K medical and evacuation coverage, you don't HAVE to cover ALL the costs of the trip. (Unless your local/State/Province laws require you to do so). If you cover the entire cost all you're really insuring is trip cancellation. trip interruption, and trip delay. The last 2 coverages pay back up to 150% of loss. If the total trip cost is $5K, but you can risk the $5K loss, then report the trip cost as $1000 (or even $500). You still get the full $100K medical coverage and evacuation, you still get $1500 for hotel, meals & transportation should something happen for trip delay or trip interruption, & you save a bit on the insurance costs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CDNPolar Posted July 6 #10 Share Posted July 6 I recognize that this man was assessed as not medically stable to travel after the fact, but this is a reason that you have to pay close attention to having medical insurance and IF you are considered stable with any pre-existing conditions. Buying a medical package does not automatically cover you. There are many, many things to consider. I also recognize that the USA has some of the highest health care costs, but this man was charged 620K in Florida. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-man-suffers-cardiac-arrest-in-florida-this-is-why-insurance-won-t-cover-his-620-000-hospital-bill-1.6948922#:~:text=Ontario man suffers cardiac arrest in Florida.,cover his %24620%2C000 hospital bill&text=An Ontario man who wanted,to fly back to Canada. We hope nothing happens when we travel, but I never buy medical insurance under 2 million in coverage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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