Travel insurance - do you buy it?

[justme]

The question is in the title - do you buy travel insurance for your trips? Have you had to use it?


Historically I have not. First time I had travel insurance was on a family cruise last year where my mom wanted to make sure if someone couldn't go that we wouldn't be stuck making a decision. Then I went to Alaska in May and figured it was smart to have insurance because I was flying across the country and if I got hurt in Alaska there was a damn good chance I'd have to be medevac home or to a better hospital. Which was a good choice because I got great coverage through my TA Costco for only $40. I lost a bag somewhere between the airport and my hotel and insurance reimbursed me the $116 it'll cost to replace everything. 

My credit card has decent trip cancellation/interruption/delay coverage. It covers up to $3k and that's enough for any of my vacations so far and probably most of my future ones too. But it doesn't cover any medical. The only cards I know of that do cover medical have a hefty annual fee and I haven't broken down to get one yet. I might ask my friend who has one to see his terms, because online they are very vague and it's hard to tell whether they just cover evacuation or if they cover bills not associated with medevac.

I'm going to Canada next month, and just did a final payment on a cruise in Oct with another cruise booked in March. I was looking at insurance for the Oct cruise and was looking at the medical only since my credit card would cover the cancellation part and a multi-trip policy popped up. Anyone here have a multi-trip/year policy?

[CCL]

I use my Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa. It saves me a lot of money on trip insurance. We have had to cut vacations short because of family emergencies several times due to deaths, kids with broken bones/surgeries, that sort of thing.

[justme]

Jun 17, 2019 10:17:14 GMT -5 CCL said:

I use my Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa. It saves me a lot of money on trip insurance. We have had to cut vacations short because of family emergencies several times due to deaths, kids with broken bones/surgeries, that sort of thing.

That only helps with the cancellation/delay/interruption right? There's no medical coverage?

[CCL]

You mean to pay actual hospital bills? We have health insurance for that, at least in the US, for sure.

Let me check the other with Chase.

ETA: No, I don't think it covers actual medical bills, but offers "assistance."

Another thing I like about it is the rental car insurance is primary, so wouldn't need to use my own insurance in case of an accident.

www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirepreferred/travel

[justme]

Yeah, hospital bills or anything like that. I'd say at least half of my travel is out of the country and my insurance might pay out of network benefits if it is life or death. With a higher deductible I'm out about $6k before they even give me anything. And I've discovered from reading a lot of travel articles/websites that there's a decent amount of countries where the hospitals require the money up front from foreigners which regular health insurance definitely doesn't do. 

I know on the cruise I screwed up my ankle on that the bill would have been probably been around $1000 if I didn't get injured during a cruise activity. And from what I've read a lot of insurance doesn't cover cruise ships for various reasons, one of which they usually don't do all the coding and such insurance wants. 

[CCL]

We haven't travelled out if
the US much, so far, but that will probably change at some point. For you by yourself the cost is probably minimal, so might be a good idea to add it. For me, I sometimes have 5 people to pay for, so more expensive. Our health deductible is less than yours, so the amount I'd be out (within US) for deductible is less than the extra trip medical insurance would cost me.

Outside the US, I haven't researched it yet, but cross my fingers when we go to Canada lol.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Right now, the primary medical insurance we have is through TD’s job.  As he works at an international company, it covers travel overseas.

When I first looked into it, it was for our trip to South Africa.  I think it was $700 pp, so we decided to pass on it.  I want to say that when I made our reservations for the Viking cruise last Dec. that their insurance added about $500 pp to the cruise.  Again, we passed on it.  That also includes trip cancellation as well, but I have heard that it is difficult to get anything from Viking.

I know when we both are on Medicare, we will have to look at this more closely.  

[justme]

It was only for trips I booked through Costco though. Comparable plans not bought through the partnership were around $80. And the total cost of the trip was only $2500. 

Part of it also could be my age. But as a whole it's way better not to buy it through any travel provider - it's usually way more expensive for less coverage. The only times it might be more advantageous is once you start getting up in age since they usually have a flat ratio to cost only instead of including risk factors like age. (FWIW the vendors aren't actually the underwriters for the insurance though if they offer something that insurance doesn't - like cruises and their cancel for any reason options those are by the company.)

And more and more travel companies are moving to non-refundable options. I frequent a consumer advocacy site and their forums are utterly filled with people who didn't get travel insurance yet bought the cheapest option which was non-refundable (and for flights often non-changeable) and then are in a snit they lose all this money because of a reason that travel insurance would have covered. 

[justme]

Wow! You've been lucky as all get out that it's not a lot of difference between refundable airfare and non. With the exception of Southwest flights anyways. The difference between a non-refundable non-changeable rate and one that was refundable on a recent flight I booked was $700 one way. So that's an additional $1400 for round trip and my ass would still be sitting in economy. (Hell I could buy a non-refundable business class ticket for about $200 less than a refundable economy fare!!) The fare that is still non-refundable but only has a $25 change fee was $100 more - or more than 50% more than the cost of the non-refundable non-changeable. I wish I could find some without a big difference. 

I'm with you on hotels though. Not worth the $10 savings for a non-refundable option.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

So far, the only travel costs we had to eat was when I got infected.  We had a trip to Mexico planned the Feb. after I lost my first hip.  I did get back our resort costs though.  

I could have rebooked the airfare, but by a year out, I was not yet capable of travel.

[bookkeeper]

We paid around $300 for travel insurance covering flights and a cruise to Panama for 2 people.  It included medical coverage, and since I am the queen of clumsy, it gives me great comfort!


The travel agents can provide the coverage at a cheaper rate than the cruise lines offer.  Our medical insurance is high deductible and will not cover us out of the country, so we feel that $300 trip insurance is a good value compared to scrapping a $5000 cruise booking or being left behind in a foreign country to deal with a medical issue.

[phil5185]

In general, I self-insure all things that I can afford to pay for -  eg, travel, all service contracts, all extended warranties, etc.  I only insure things that would have a major effect on our family - major medical, fire, car liability, etc.  I base that on the fact that insurance is a high-profit business - ergo, I self-insure to make money.

[justme]

Jun 17, 2019 18:49:10 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

In general, I self-insure all things that I can afford to pay for -  eg, travel, all service contracts, all extended warranties, etc.  I only insure things that would have a major effect on our family - major medical, fire, car liability, etc.  I base that on the fact that insurance is a high-profit business - ergo, I self-insure to make money.

Having to be medevac back to the states wouldn't have a large effect? On a cruise form I'm on I've seen 30k+ to get back from the Caribbean. While on a smaller scale, I've also seen reports of the ships medical facility charging them 6k and their regular medical insurance paid 0.

[Deleted]

Jun 17, 2019 18:49:10 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

In general, I self-insure all things that I can afford to pay for -  eg, travel, all service contracts, all extended warranties, etc.  I only insure things that would have a major effect on our family - major medical, fire, car liability, etc.  I base that on the fact that insurance is a high-profit business - ergo, I self-insure to make money.

I agree and I don't have dental insurance for that reason.  BUT:  I started buying travel insurance when DH was getting older because of his health issues, then realized that I was the one scrambling over rocks at the bottom of volcanoes, snorkeling in 42-degree water off Alaska, taking hikes with names like "boulder bash", etc. I don't buy trip insurance for short domestic jaunts, but where's what I DO want to cover:

1.  Evacuation.  If you're injured in a remote area and need to be transported by ambulance or helicopter to a hospital, regular medical insurance won't cover it and it can run tens of thousands of dollars- or more.
2.  Getting back home, especially if your original flight was in Coach and now you need to be in Business Class to accomodate a cast or reduce risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis.
3.  Not a nice thing to think about, but repatriation of your remains if you die away from home.  (Remember that some countries prohibit cremation.)
4.  Medical care outside of the US if you're on Medicare.  My Medigap covers it but has a $50K lifetime limit.  It's also nice to have medical coverage that's primary over your regular coverage- no hassles over paying a large deductible up front.
5.  My Dad is 88 and some of his systems are "failing".  We're very down-to-earth people and I've already asked him whether he'd expect me to rush back from a trip if he were to take a turn for the worse, assuming I had insurance, and he said no.  I'd expected that would be his answer but would still like to have that option.

I use Insuremytrip.com.  Very easy to compare multiple policy options.  I select whatever has the best coverage in areas such as Medical and Evacuation.

[jelloshots4all]

We bought it the last 2 years we went to Jamaica.  It was about $100 a person.  It helped us argue our case when our resort was changed 48 hrs before arrival.


My one friend did have an infected toe due to a poor manicure in the US before we left.  The costs to get her to the hospital and be seen was $200 cash.  Before treatment.  Luckily I had some amoxicillin that she was able to take and avoid the hospital.  I know, I shouldn't have shared medication but we had all been giving our kids amox since babies, and she knew she was not allergic.  And we decided that she would try it before going to a Jamaican hospital after dark.

Out of the country, yes if it is a reasonable cost.  Also we were traveling close to hurricane season

[CCL]

Jun 17, 2019 11:53:16 GMT -5 justme said:

Wow! You've been lucky as all get out that it's not a lot of difference between refundable airfare and non. With the exception of Southwest flights anyways. The difference between a non-refundable non-changeable rate and one that was refundable on a recent flight I booked was $700 one way. So that's an additional $1400 for round trip and my ass would still be sitting in economy. (Hell I could buy a non-refundable business class ticket for about $200 less than a refundable economy fare!!) The fare that is still non-refundable but only has a $25 change fee was $100 more - or more than 50% more than the cost of the non-refundable non-changeable. I wish I could find some without a big difference. 

I'm with you on hotels though. Not worth the $10 savings for a non-refundable option.

No way I'd pay that much, especially not for all of us. $25-$50 change fee wouldn't be a problem.