Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

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Bbddl
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Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by Bbddl »

For my Costa Rica trip coming up in January, my wife and I are strongly considering travel insurance. We have never taken out travel insurance before, we are not really that familiar with it. Is there coverage out there at a reasonable cost that does actually provide proper coverage without the small print and exclusions.

Thank you
AlohaJoe
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by AlohaJoe »

No, there is no such thing as insurance without small print and exclusions.

If you drunk drive in a stolen car with no licence, they will have small print saying they don't pay out when you are doing illegal things.

They all provide the full contract before you pay. So read it and see if covers what you want or not. There's no way out of reading the contract.
Last edited by AlohaJoe on Sun Oct 24, 2021 6:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by ResearchMed »

Bbddl wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 5:45 am For my Costa Rica trip coming up in January, my wife and I are strongly considering travel insurance. We have never taken out travel insurance before, we are not really that familiar with it. Is there coverage out there at a reasonable cost that does actually provide proper coverage without the small print and exclusions.

Thank you
AlohaJoe is correct... there is no insurance policy without at least some "fine print".

But I assume that OP means without so much fine print as to make the policy virtually useless, either in terms of being able to collect or to collect enough to matter.

Yes, there are "good" policies, but you MUST read that fine print to make sure the coverage is what YOU want/need.
A good insurance broker cah be of great help here, as they've already learned the fine print of each type of policy they sell. (There's never a guarantee that "your specific claim", if such occurred, wouldn't be something weird that somehow falls between the cracks, but good policies from good insurers aren't playing that game. They figure the odds, and charge costs that they expect to provide enough profit for them, same as with life insurance, etc.)

I'd suggest that you contact www.TripInsuranceStore.com
They are a broker, but the traveler doesn't pay any extra cost.

But CALL them; do NOT try to read all the fine print on the website summary because... "all of the fine print" isn't in the summary in the first place. And some of it can easily be misunderstood, for better or for worse. (For example, "pre-existing condition" for travel insurance can be very different from common usage, plus different policies can define this differently. And some policies have no such exclusion to start with, as long as one purchases the policy within a deadline and is "fit to travel" on the day of purchase.)

We've used TIS since learning about them on CruiseCritic (where there are two active sub-forums on travel insurance if you want to read there a bit more0.

And... we had a large claim the first time we bought a policy through them. (They can also help with any claims, IF that is ever needed.)
We found them very patient in terms of answering all of our "what if" questions, and we just had several more a few days ago, for a new "trip situation" issue that concerned us as we plan to travel again. They do not try to upsell; quite the opposite occasionally.

We've had several claims total, and a few of them were large. There was no "nonsense" with any claim. Just make sure that you have a receipt for anything AND if there is any medical reason for anything, make certain that you SEE a physician (virtual visits may be okay these days) and get the recommendation such as "don't travel during the next X days" or whatever... in writing.
This is the part that people who have complaints often didn't get "right". They self-declared themselves "sick", etc. And even if one is seriously sick, if you don't have a formal medical statement from some authorized practicioner/hospital/etc., there's no way to fix this after the fact.

The only claim part we've ever had denied was for tips for a taxi driver. We didn't think to have hime add a handwritten note on the taxi fare receipts each direction back to the hotel after a flight cancellation. ("Duh!" By then I should have known better, but the amount was trivial.)

Some people only want medical/medevac coverage and others want to include the nonrefundable costs of a trip.
Note that "real travel insurance" gives cash back in case of a claim, not some "credit" that must be used with a particular provider and within a certain deadline. That latter tends to be more "travel protection" and not real "insurance", which is regulated.

And then enjoy your travels!

RM
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SRenaeP
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by SRenaeP »

What exact coverage do you want? Trip cancellation or interruption, medical costs, COVID-related expenses, something else? Policies exist for all of those things. Knowing what you want will help people give you better responses. There have also been a number of previous threads on the topic that you could review.
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Watty
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by Watty »

Just FYI, most travel insurance needs to be purchased within a week or two of when you make your first payment for the trip to exclude preexisting conditions. Without this it will be of limited value. There may still be some more expensive policies that you can look into.

For health insurance you should also check with your current health insurance company. If you are not on Medicare then it will likely still cover you when you are out of the country but you may need to pay for any emergency healthcare then get reimbursed.

I have bought travel insurance for some of my trips and the main thing I was interested in was getting coverage if I was injured and needed to be flown back to the US on a special medical evacuation flight since those can be crazy expensive.
Iorek
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by Iorek »

+1 on calling the trip insurance store if you have questions, but also squaremouth (and insuremytrip) do a decent job of comparing different policies.
ModifiedDuration
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by ModifiedDuration »

I would second the recommendation for the http://www.tripinsurancestore.com/

I used them for an overseas annual health insurance policy after seeing the recommendations on the cruise critic forum.

The owner, Steve, was very helpful on the phone.
ModifiedDuration
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by ModifiedDuration »

Watty wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:30 am
For health insurance you should also check with your current health insurance company. If you are not on Medicare then it will likely still cover you when you are out of the country but you may need to pay for any emergency healthcare then get reimbursed.
For someone on Traditional Medicare (Parts A and B), several of the Medigap plans include 80% coverage for emergencies outside of the US, with a $50,000 lifetime limit.

The most common Medigap plans with that coverage are Plans F, G, and N.
afan
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by afan »

I have never bought trip insurance, so no real world experience.

I note that some credit cards include trip insurance. You could check whether that is enough for you.

My homeowners insurance company sells a policy for ~$340/year for a family. This seems to cover more than my credit card benefits.

Both have some medical coverage.

Depending on your circumstances, these options might be alternatives to shopping for a policy.
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miket29
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by miket29 »

To me insurance is to protect against large losses. So if you've been saving for this trip for years or it's a huge splurge then you might want to protect the actual trip cost. But if not, while it is sad to pay for a trip and not actually go or complete the trip, it may not be a huge financial hit because you already were able to pay for it. On the other hand a $25K hospital bill or $75K medevac charge would be a big hit. So we buy trip insurance using www.squaremouth.com which allows covering just medical and evac. The cost is usually under $100 per person. This doesn't cover pre-existing conditions, to get that coverage you need to buy within a short period of time after making your first trip payment and also insure the full value of your trip that is not refundable.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by ResearchMed »

ModifiedDuration wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:46 am
Watty wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:30 am
For health insurance you should also check with your current health insurance company. If you are not on Medicare then it will likely still cover you when you are out of the country but you may need to pay for any emergency healthcare then get reimbursed.
For someone on Traditional Medicare (Parts A and B), several of the Medigap plans include 80% coverage for emergencies outside of the US, with a $50,000 lifetime limit.

The most common Medigap plans with that coverage are Plans F, G, and N.
This is a good reason, IF you get travel insurance, to make sure that it is *primary*, meaning the travel insurer does not require that you first file with your own medical health insurance. That way, you aren't eating into your $50k lifetime limit, and that can remain accessible for some lesser, perhaps unexpected, trip when you didn't get travel insurance.

I've also heard reports that Medicare can take a long time to "deny" your travel medical costs, and during that time, you still can't get the reimbursement from the travel insurer.

Most overseas medical costs will be "pay and get reimbursed". Foreign healthcare providers may not be at all familiar with USA (or other country) based insurance plans and even if they are, they aren't likely to be required to accept that coverage or even deal with the billing.

There *are* times when a travel insurer will help to either pay some health care costs upfront or to guarantee payment, but again, the provider isn't required to accept this or even deal with it at all.
At one ER overseas, a place where lots of USA tourists visited, there was a sign inside the ER billing office. It listed a few familiar travel insurers and stated that they would accept guarantees from these, but there was no assurance that they'd accept that from other insurers.

These are good reasons to keep extra charge $$ availability when traveling, so IF some unpleasant medical situation arises, you can just hand over your charge card, and get reimbursed when you return (or when you send in the claim under less stressful conditions).

RM
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ResearchMed
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by ResearchMed »

Watty wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 10:30 am Just FYI, most travel insurance needs to be purchased within a week or two of when you make your first payment for the trip to exclude preexisting conditions. Without this it will be of limited value. There may still be some more expensive policies that you can look into.
Many travel insurance policies do have a 10-20 day limit to start the travel insurance from the date of the FIRST payment, even a refundable deposit. But one usually only needs to insure the deposit amount and can up the coverage as more payments are made.
The number of days can vary with the insurer and the state (insurance is regulate by the states, so there are some differences in coverages available depending upon which state you live in).

But there is at least one major insurer that will still allow a waiver of pre-existing condition exclusion (that double negative is how it's typically phrased for "pre-existing conditions are included") if it is started no later than when final payment is made. One must be fit to travel on the day the insurance is started.

If one wants "Cancel For Any Reason" (CFAR) from a regular travel insurer (rather than some vendor's "trip protection" that usually offers credit with restrictions), then AFAIK, the coverage must be started within that 10-20 day window that applies. This usually pays 75% cash, and I consider it "Cancel for NO Reason". :wink: We do include this type of coverage, which costs extra, but we've never used it.
And despite this higher additional cost, after many policies (and geezers typically pay a bit more) and several claims, we've still - very unfortunately - come out "ahead". :annoyed We hope that does not continue.

However, the claims were all paid without nonsense, with the exception of two taxi tips as mention above. These were almost entirely for trip cost cancellations/changes, although we had purchased the coverage primarily for medical care costs.

RM
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beyou
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by beyou »

Have used this company and was successful at getting reimbursed when someone in the party had a death in their family and canceled.

https://travelsafe.com/
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thursdaysd
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by thursdaysd »

I won't travel without medical and medical evacuation insurance, but I would only bother with trip interruption etc. if I had bought an expensive tour or cruise. I buy my insurance from https://www.sevencorners.com/#start which I recommend. In addition to Squaremouth you can compare policies at https://www.insuremytrip.com/
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adamthesmythe
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by adamthesmythe »

OP has to say what risk(s) he wants to insure against. The most obvious risks are trip interruption/ cancellation, medical care, and medical evacuation. Personally I have only rarely had expensive tours where the first makes sense.
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StevieG72
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by StevieG72 »

I had a policy from TravelEx I believe underwritten by Berkshire Hathaway. Long story short, 2 days prior to departure for a cruise, my daughter was not fit for travel. Policy covered everything for 3 people that had to cancel the trip.
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maxq
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by maxq »

I flew into Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago. They've done away with their requirement that all non-citizens/residents had to have travel insurance that included COVID medical expenses and quarantine expenses, but the local paper had an article saying it might be reinstated if hospitals start filling up again. Currently though, if vaccinated, no travel insurance policy is required. I think only the US-approved vaccines qualify. If not vaccinated, travel insurance with a COVID medical coverage and a quarantine benefit is still required. They do require the last dose to have been received at least 14 days before arrival there. A digital Health Pass has to be filled out on-line 2 or 3 days in advance of travel for each traveler, and the vaccine card can be attached to it. It was quick and easy, and immigration/customs in San Jose was a breeze.
flyingaway
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Re: Travel insurance, a policy that has true coverage

Post by flyingaway »

maxq wrote: Sun Oct 24, 2021 7:40 pm I flew into Costa Rica a couple of weeks ago. They've done away with their requirement that all non-citizens/residents had to have travel insurance that included COVID medical expenses and quarantine expenses, but the local paper had an article saying it might be reinstated if hospitals start filling up again. Currently though, if vaccinated, no travel insurance policy is required. I think only the US-approved vaccines qualify. If not vaccinated, travel insurance with a COVID medical coverage and a quarantine benefit is still required. They do require the last dose to have been received at least 14 days before arrival there. A digital Health Pass has to be filled out on-line 2 or 3 days in advance of travel for each traveler, and the vaccine card can be attached to it. It was quick and easy, and immigration/customs in San Jose was a breeze.
This is good to know. Thanks for reporting the experience.
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