Africa Travel Insurance- Help
 

I researched recommended insurers from Fodor's and Frommers. Prices range from $450 to $789 for 68 year olds. I also have quotes from our travel tour company, Go2africa, insurance company the broker for Go2africa administered by Specialty Risk internation Ins Co, Virginia Surety Company underwritten by LLoyds of London. The difference is substantial,ie.,$50,000,250 deductable, and $133/mo or 1.44/daily. Is there anyone who can advise on this. Big difference in cost. Is there a list of travel insurance companies to avoid? How do I find it? Help!

Have you checked insuremytrip.com? We used Travelex or Travelguard--I forget which--but luckily we didn't have to file a claim, need evacuation, etc., so it's hard to say how "good" they are.

I hope others here can advise you more specifically. You may also try searching for trip insurance on this board; there are numerous posts on trip insurance.

Best of luck, and please enjoy your trip.

What is the $50,000? Are you talking about life insurance? Or are you talking about trip cancellation, medical, evacuation insurance? Rates you are quoting sound like what they usually give for life insurance, which will be costly anywhere at your age.

You have to compare apples-to-apples. Many tour operators offer trip insurance, and though many offer discounted prices, they don't always cover what you find on a site as www.insuremytrip.com

If you are purchasing Comprehensive Insurance that covers cancellation and interruption, flight and baggage delay, baggage loss, medical/dental and emergency evacuation, life insurance, the prices, depending on cost of your entire prepaid trip (Intl air/land) should be in the range as you found on the message boards (age dependent).

For medical/medical evacuation you should have at minimum coverage at $100,000/person. The $250 deductible is standard, so that isn't of concern. Generally a Comprehensive plan averages 6% of your total trip cost. If less than that, something may be missing.

Again, ask for the details from your tour operator and compare to those policies on insuremytrip.

caton - I'm going through same decision process and after reviewing (on insuremytrip.com) the policies, leaning towards Specialty Risk International too, their round trip package. Read the fine print on the the web-sites as well. One thing I though was important for 60+ yr olds is to consider pre-existing conditions. Many policies had exclusions. Another one that wanted for Africa was the terrorism / acts that would stop travel on your planned itinerary. That may be peace of mind, but it is important to me. And finally, having a medical evacuation coverage that fit the needs -- just in case.
Had good advice from the board to consider "Flying Doctors", which was not being included in my quoted safaris, and will plan to purchase that directly prior to travel. Money to a good cause too when buying/paying for Flying Doctors. Gets you to a larger city for medical evaluation (e.g. Nairobi). http://www.amref.org/index.asp?PageID=36

I've not put my down on it yet either. Did notice you can choose to cover the "non-refundable" portion of the trip with SRI (specialty risk int'l) and you'll still get full medical + other benefits. Or if you want to waive protection for cancellation protection entirely, you can pay less than $100 pp and still enjoy all the other Round trip benefits. Might give them a phone to ask. They were helpful when I called.

Please let us know what you decide.

I believe that Caton is going to southern Africa, so Flying Doctors won't be an option. I don't know if there is an equivalent organization for Botswana. I also used the insuremytrip.com website to compare policies. Compare Go2africa's policy to those you find on the website.

Caton, what did you decide? I've not purchased our insurance yet.

I purchased medical emergency/evacuation insurance from American Express for $109. It's slightly higher for over 65. Coverage is $100,000 and includes emergency medical treatment, evacuation, travel for a family member to Africa if one is hospitalizated for 5 days or more, and repatriation of insured. It even covers repatriation of mortal remains. :-)