cary999

I'm interested in only medical insurance for travel. I don't care about insurance coverage on the plane ticket, lost luggage, etc. Want insurance that will provide treatment locally (place of incident), medivac to USA if necessary, and extended treatment at home if necessary. I know this is covered in the usual travel insurance policies but again, I don't care about "trip delay" coverage etc.
From my inquiries, the quoted coverage cost for single trip insurance varies by cost of trip and duration of trip (for example TravelGuard policies). For what I want the policy cost should vary only by trip length. Because I only care about medical which is dependent on the length of the trip and not on the cost of the plane tickets. Obviously, the longer the trip the longer you are exposed to accident or illness. So, should I purchase travel insurance that provides the medical coverage I want for the length of time/trip and just use the lowest trip cost, maybe $1,000?
Do you know of any insurance like this?
regards - tom
ps - does this make sense to anyone?

santharamhari

Hi Tom,

Doesnt the travel insurance cover it anyways?

Here in India, we have something called the Overseas Mediclaim policy which covers health insurance during travels. I renew the policy annually meaning, i dont need to do one each time as some of my travels are very last minute (on business etc etc.,)

I am sure there are equivalents in the US. Let's wait to hear from the rest of the folks.....

Hari

sandi

On the www.insuremytrip.com site, once you've input your details (cost, length, etc), just click for Medical & Medical Evacuation Insurance. Those offerings will appear and you can select the one that fits your need. There is also Medjet which is the only operation that will actually evacuate you to your home hospital. The others, unless it's deemed absolutely necessary, will get you to another hospital - can be in Europe, South Africa, Israel or the US. You will, however, with these policies still need Flying Doctor's who will get you out in the bush to NBO or JNB or Lusaka (other). From here, your insurer takes over.

Marija

We bought a travelex policy for $500,000 medical per person for a month for $73 total for the two of us.

Louise

Marija - I have friends who just wanted medical coverage and was unable to come up with anything like you quoted. Are you in the U.S.? I tried Travelex and found the website rather user unfriendly and insuremytrip was no help for what you are talking about either. Thanks for any help.

SylviaCaras

I live in the US and use TravMed Abroad, MEDEX insurance services, 1 800 732 5309. I'm pleased, but I've never made a claim.

Sylvia

sundowner

Louise, if you use insuremytrip.com like Sandi suggested, you'll find what you are looking for.

Click on "quotes" and fill in the info like you are insuring a whole trip. Then when you get to the next page where the quotes are, scroll down to the Travel Medical Policies portion. I believe that's what you want.

Louise

Thanks, Sylvia but it is not good for all states including Washington state.

cary999

Yes, you can get quotes that include medical coverage. BUT the coverage I'm seeing ALSO includes, baggage lost, baggage delay, trip cancelation, etc. Since that "stuff" is included (in addition to medical) then it has a cost associated with it. Right? I do not want to pay for that other stuff, only for medical. Sooooooo, the quote should list only medical related coverage. If the insurance quote includes baggage delay, car insurance, room insurance, etc. then there is a cost for it in the quote.
Maybe I missed it. Are there quotes where you can canel out the baggage etc and just leave the medical parts for cost quote?
regards - tom

Louise

Thanks, Sundowner. I am pretty familiar with insuremytrip and have used it often in the last 5 years or so but I can't find anything close to what Marija is quoting. A $500,000 policy at $73 total for 2 for a month is pretty inexpensive.

hguy47

Tom,

As sundowner said, fill in all the blanks on insuremytrip's Quotes page, then scroll down past the Package Policies until you get to the Travel Medical Policies. These may have some very minimal coverage for a couple of items, but I believe that any incremental cost (if any) for such low coverage should be immaterial.

sundowner

I checked insuremytrip for my age and one month travel and there are several policies in the $75 range. Then I changed it to 2 months travel and it doubled. Changed the age to 65 and it really jumped up there. Now I get it.

cary999

FWIW, I've purchased TravelGuard insurance for past trips but never had to make a claim. So, I went to their web site and see that in addition to "trip insurance" they offer medical insurance called "Worldwide Health". Just for a base line, I plug in a 64 year age (me), 28day trip, $100K of medical coverage includes emergency evacuation, $250 deductible, and the cost is $132 for this coverage (and some other stuff). You can change the deductible and coverage $$$ and the cost of policy changes as expected. Note - if you change the trip cost, I used $10,000, the policy cost does not change.
But perhaps the most interesting thing is that if you inquire of regular trip insurance of my age, with $10,000 trip cost, 28 days, the policy quotes vary from $389 to $907. Different costs for how much "missed connection, baggage delay" type coverage you want.
regards -tom

Marija

I used www.squaremouth.com which was recommended by the Wall Street Journal, I think.

safarichuck

Tom,
If I understand you correctly, you want plain old medical evacuation coverage with no frills and no extras. This sounds like the MedJet coverage. They WILL evacuate from Africa, Egypt or wherever, back to the U.S. and the cost is reasonable. Many people buy this in addition to their regular travel insurance (with its medical coverage) in order to be certain that they will be taken home (to the U.S.) should they require medical care. There is no reason you need to have both the general travel insurance and MedJet, unless you just want the assurance. I understand that MedJet keeps the policy cost constant, regardless of age. Hope this helps, Cheers, Chuck

Dana70

Hi, I am new to these forums but one thing I can tell you is --buy travel insurance! You buy it for the "unexpecte and the unplanned" events that could occur OR you would not need it!
We were on an island and the night before we left a couple came in from U.S. (It was Tobabo - not on the usual US travel route); the husband went for a swim immediately upon arrival - he ended up hitting his head while bodysurfing and the worst one can imagine happened - he died immediately. The couple had no insurance. The few Americans visiting in the area banded together with the shell-shocked grieving widow; she had to wait until her church came up with the money to help her out..It was a lesson to all of us...Your life is worth an outlay of 500plus for a trip so far away. They were not properly advised - I would cut my trip a day short in order to have trip insurance. You do not know what is going to happen. Be prepared.
Other than that I have also had to use it for the cancellation due to a parent's illness. It is a real life saver - of course if you have a bank account that would cover thousands (and thousands more) than don't sweat it. Its there for peace of mind.

sandi

Nobody buys travel insurance hoping to use it. Insurance for that matter, is really a lousy investment... until you need it.

But back to you. Even with only medical and evacuation, you're making an investment of some thousands of dollars for your safari. Of course, you have no reason to be considering cancelling, but a slip or fall and you've got a bum leg, maybe in a cast. Once in a cast, you may need 2/seats on your homebound flight; may have to interrupt your trip. Most of these policies even cover if you're delayed getting to the airport to start your trip. Anything can happen to anyone whether you're young or old and at any point of your trip.


On my trip last year, only had medical and evacuation as I have these past years... and my leg gave out. Luckily, it wasn't as catastrophic as I initially thought, and was able to go on safari. But had I had interruption insurance, I probably could have cancelled. No more, am I traveling with just medical/evacuation... I'll pay the full price for cancellation and interruption.

The portion of your premium that pays for loss of baggage, documents, delays, is so small it barely puts a dent in the total premium... most is for the cancel, interruption and medical/evacuation.

Your choice.

cary999

Ok, here's my standard spiel on insurance. The purpose of insurance is to cover unacceptable losses. Read that three times please.
1) If you have made an expenditure/investment" and if it is lost and to recover it does not burden you, then, that expenditure should not be insured. If losing that expenditure/investment would cause you hardship then it should be insured.
2) If an event should happen to you that would cause you financial difficulty in recovering from, then you should be insured against it happening.
3) Insurance is a gamble, you are betting it will happen and the insurance company is betting that it won't happen. The insurance company wins more than it loses.
4) You must determine what your acceptable loss risk is for you. Is it $10, $100, $1,000 or ? Weigh that loss against the cost of insurance and the probability of the loss occuring.
5) Insurance is emotional and that is the way the insurance companies want it. "Piece of mind" for insurance companies can be measured in $$$ profit for them.

cary999

Just GREAT, now why did that post before I was ready????
Since I can't now edit it, I'll leave it at that and hope it brings some rationality to people considering insurance of any kind.
regards - tom

afrigalah

Tom,

We all know insurance companies exist to make a profit, and that taking insurance out is a gamble. But it's not like betting on a horse race, to gain money you don't have. I don't regard spending a few hundred bucks to protect several thousand dollars of mine or guard against the unexpected expenditure of many more thousands of dollars of mine to be an unwise gamble. Not taking it out <i>is</i> an unwise gamble. Witness my mother, who, if you read another thread, you will know had a fall in Dubai on her way to the UK. Her two major costs, her hip replacement operation in Dubai and her evacuation flight home, amounted to something like 40 grand AUD, and were met without question by her insurers...all for the outlay of a few hundred dollars. They met other costs as well.

I'm just as grumpy about the corporate world in general as you are about insurance companies. With the quality of manufacture nowadays, you're gambling every time you buy a car or a computer